This guide covers whether you’re going from Noi Bai Airport to the City or Hanoi to Noi Bai Airport as you’ll need to know the best way to travel between these two destinations. There are several options for transport between Noi Bai Airport and Hanoi, but what’s the best way to go from Hanoi Airport to the city? And what are the options for traveling to Hanoi from Noi Bai Airport? We cover the local buses to the airport, the express bus service, airline shuttles, and private transfers. Here’s our guide on how to get to Hanoi from Noi Bai Airport.
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Hanoi Airport, or more correctly Noi Bai International Airport is located about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the city of Hanoi. There’s no train to the airport, which is the second busiest in the country after Saigon. There are technically 3 terminals at the airport, but, likely, you don’t want to visit the cargo terminal, so you’ll be interested in either the domestic terminal (terminal 2) or the international terminal (terminal 1). You CANNOT walk between the two terminals, but there is a shuttle bus.
BEST WAY TO TRAVEL
Easiest Way to Go to Hanoi from the Airport
This pre-bookable transfer is the easiest way to travel this route. It gets great reviews, you can prepay it and relax
How to Go from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi – Transport Options
Most people want to travel from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi Old Quarter and that’s where most of the transport options are. As it’s a fair distance – 30 kilometers (19 miles), you’ll need to be wary of the time this takes especially if the traffic is bad. The Express bus service that runs between Hanoi Railway Station and the airport takes anywhere from 45 minutes upwards. You’re best assuming it’s going to take an hour to go from Hanoi Railway Station to the International Terminal.
A private transfer will be the quickest way to go to the airport from Hanoi, a shared shuttle slightly slower, the express bus next, and then the local buses. There are also some airline-specific shuttles that run, but I’ll cover those shortly.
How to get to Hanoi from Noi Bai Airport
For transport from Noi Bai Airport to the city of Hanoi you have several options. You can take a public bus from Noi Bai Airport to the city, you can take an express bus to Hanoi from Noi Bai Airport, you can take a taxi from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi, or a private transfer or a shared shuttle.
Book a Private Transfer from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi
If you’re two or more, then a private transfer is cheaper than taking a shuttle bus to Hanoi from the airport and you have several options. You can check the prices of prebooked taxis to Hanoi here.
Book a shared shuttle to Hanoi from Noi Bai Airport
If you’re traveling solo, then a shared shuttle is the easiest and cheapest way to get dropped off directly at your accommodation in Hanoi. Check the prices of the shared shuttle to Hanoi from the airport here.
Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi Taxi
Taking a taxi to Noi Bai Airport is the quickest (and most comfortable) way to get to the city. It can take as little as 45 minutes to go from Noi Bai Airport to the city by taxi. This is the quickest way to go to Hanoi from Noi Bai Airport. You can book a taxi to City from Noi Bai Airport and pay for it here.
Or you can pick up a taxi outside the airport. You should ask the driver to put the meter on or agree on a rate before you get in the car. You’ll need to pay cash for your taxi. A taxi to Hanoi from the airport should cost from around 320,000 VND to 450,000 VND depending on where you are staying and the traffic. So if you get stuck in traffic it will cost more.
There are tour and taxi counters at the airport where they’ll take you to the Old Quarter for a fixed fee. This is 500,000 VND at the time of writing in March 2023.
Alternatively, you can pre-book (and prepay) a taxi from Hanoi airport to the center here.
Take the Express Airport Bus 86 from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi
The Express Bus, the number 86 runs from the railway station from 5:30 am until 20:30. The first bus from the airport to Hanoi is at 07:00 and the last one is at 22:00.
This is a convenient way to get to the airport from Hanoi and back. It runs a fixed route. There’s free WiFi on the bus and it’s cheap. Tickets on the Express Number 86 bus cost 45,000 VND per person. There is NO extra charge for luggage. This bus is air-conditioned and clean.
You can’t prebook this bus or pay with a card. You’ll need to pay cash. Drivers have change. Just jump on the bus and the driver will stop at some point and you’ll pay him then. You’ll get a ticket.
This bus is pretty quick – it’s on a predefined route, and there are stops on the way to and from the city.
The Express Bus 86 picks up and drops off at both the international and domestic terminals of Noi Bai Airport. It will drop you off at departures at both terminals. And this bus departs from RIGHT OUTSIDE THE arrivals area.
The list of stops of the Express Bus 86 from the Airport to Hanoi is
- Noi Bai Airport Domestic Terminal T1
- Noi Bai International Terminal T2
- Au Co
- Yen Phu
- Long Bien Transit Station
- Hanoi Central Post Office
- Melia Hotel
- Hanoi Railway Station
Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi Public Buses
There are also public buses that go from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi. These are the city buses number 7, number 17, number 90, and number 109. The bus stop for these is to the right of the terminal exit for both the domestic and the international terminal Tickets for these buses cost about 10,000 VND per person. They run about every 20 minutes from 0500 until 2200.
These Hanoi public buses run to different bus stations in the city.
- Bus 7 Hanoi International Airport to Cau Giay bus station
- Bus 17 Hanoi International Airport to Long Bien bus station
- Bus 90 Hanoi International Airport to Kim Ma bus station
- Bus 109 Hanoi International Airport to My Dinh bus station
These buses are the cheapest way to go from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi. You’ll need to pay cash to the driver.
Traveling from Hanoi to the Airport by Express Bus 86
To do this route in reverse. The bus starts from the Hanoi Railway Station. It will start on time. Don’t be late, or you’ll be waiting for the next one. The start point in the city is the Hanoi Railway Station (right out front, as you walk towards the station the bus stop is on the left-hand side.) There’s a booth there in orange with the number 86 on it and that’s where the bus starts and stops.
You can also pick up the bus at one of the defined stops on its route. These are:
- Hanoi Railway Station
- Melia Hotel
- Hanoi Central Post Office
- Long Bien Transit Station
- Yen Phu
- Au Co
- Noi Bai International Terminal T2
- Noi Bai Airport Domestic Terminal T1
Here’s what a bus stop looks like for the Express Bus
Airline Shuttle Buses
Various airlines that fly to Hanoi also provide shuttle buses. These tend to be the 16-seater minibuses and they’re designed to meet the airline schedules. They go to and from their offices in Hanoi and the Old Quarter to the airport along with a few stops along the way.
If you’re arriving at the airport and want to take it to Hanoi then you’ll find them painted in airline livery outside arrivals (at both domestic and international terminals). However, these buses tend to wait until they are full. You could have a long wait.
Vietnam Airlines Shuttle:
- Stops at Noi Bai Airport – Vo Nguyen Giap – Nhat Tan Bridge – Hanoi Old Quarter
- Start/End Point in Hanoi: Vietnam Airlines Office, 1 Quang Trung, Hoan Kiem (near Hoan Kiem Lake)
- Vietnam Airlines Shuttle Cost: 60,000 VND
- Runs every 45 minutes or so from 06:40 to 22:30
- How to book? Just turn up at the airport
Vietjet Air Shuttle – DOMESTIC TERMINAL ONLY DOMESTIC FLIGHTS ONLY
- Stops at Noi Bai Airport – Thang Long Bridge – Hoang Quoc Viet – Đao Tan – Nguyen Thai Hoc – Quang Trung – Tran Nhan Tong
- Start/End Point in Hanoi: 69 Tran Nhan Tong, Hanoi
- Vietjet Air Shuttle Cost: 40,000 per person
- Runs every 45 minutes or so from 04:00 to 22:30
- How to book: Contact Vietjet or book as an extra on your booking. Remember domestic flights only.
Jetstar Airport Shuttle
This service is only available for DOMESTIC flights operated by Jetstar and you must be flying on that flight to book the shuttles, which depart to meet the specific flights.
Contact Jetstar or book online as an additional option with your flight.
The quickest way to get from Noi Bai Airport to City
The quickest way to get to Hanoi from Noi Bai Airport is a private transfer, they’ll meet you at the airport and you won’t need to wait for a scheduled departure. You can book a prepaid transfer to Hanoi from the airport here. If you have a little more time (and you’re arriving during the times it is running, then the Express Bus 86 is a pretty quick option too.
Map of Transit points for Hanoi Airport to Hanoi
You can see the full Hanoi Airport to Hanoi map here.
Key Routes to Travel in Vietnam
Want to know more about different forms of transport in Vietnam? Our guide to Vietnam transport is here. And here’s how to travel some of the popular routes around Vietnam, your options, and how we did it.
- How to go from Ho Chi Minh Airport to HCMC
- How to get to Phu Quoc from Ho Chi Minh City.
- Go from Chau Doc to Can Tho
- How to go from Hanoi Airport to the City
- How to go from Phong Nha to Hanoi
- Best way to go from Mui Ne to Dalat
- How to go from Hanoi to Hue
- Go from Hue to Ninh Binh
- Ho Chi Minh to Dalat
- How to go from Hoi An to Hue
- How to go from Ho Chi Minh City to the Cu Chi Tunnels
- How to get to Phu Quoc Island
- How to go from Hoi An to Danang
- How to go from Vietnam to Cambodia
- How to go from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh
- How to go from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc (Cambodia to Vietnam)
- How to go to Mui Ne from Ho Chi Minh City
- How to go from Hanoi to Sapa
- How to go from Nha Trang to Hoi An
- How to go from Chau Doc to Phnom Penh (Vietnam to Cambodia)
- Hoi An to Nin Binh
- Going from Ninh Binh To Hanoi
The Best Way to go from Hanoi Airport to Train Station in Hanoi
The best way to get to the Hanoi train station from the airport is to take the Express Bus 86.
The cheapest way to go from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi
The cheapest way to get to Hanoi from Noi Bai Airport is to take a public bus. If you want to go as cheaply as possible, then the numbers 7 and 17 are the public buses to take.
The best way to go from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi
The Express Bus is a great option if one of the stops is close to where you are staying. If this is your first time in Vietnam, then navigating the streets when you arrive in the city may be a little overwhelming. A pre-booked transfer is always a good option, but this Express Bus 86 is a great option, quick and cheap.
Travel Tips for Exploring Vietnam
- Considering travel insurance for your trip? World Nomads offers coverage for more than 150 adventure activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation, and more.
- Get online immediately with an eSIM for Vietnam
- Download a VPN BEFORE you travel to Vietnam > discount coupon here
- Read our guide to transportation in Vietnam here.
- Prearrange your airport transfer with Welcome Pickups.
- Book the best Vietnam tours and guides on Klook or Get Your Guide
- Book Buses in Vietnam with 12goAsia
- Book accommodation in Vietnam with Booking
Final Words on How to Go from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi
The first – or last – journey that you do in each country does tend IMHO to be the most stressful. If you’re flying into a new country, then there is a new currency to navigate, new rules, and a whole different system. All when you’re likely tired from a long flight. Equally, when you’re flying out, the stress of getting there on time to check in is real. So I hope that this guide on how to go to and from the Noi Bai Airport is useful.
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