Hanoi Train Street is where the railway passes through narrow alleys lined with houses on either side of the track. Houses in the alleys set up cafes to allow people to watch the trains pass by.
This infrastructure anomaly of seeing a train pass through a populated urban area became a big tourist attraction. The alleys were getting so crowded that authorities closed down the cafes and blocked people from entering the alley.
[Notification that Train Street is closed.]
The closure of the Train Street cafes made international news, but there is still a section that is open (for now).
The south section is still open, and there is a way to see trains up close in the Old Quarter section.
Index
Hanoi Train Street map
Le Duan Train Street
Le Duan Train Street timetable
Old Quarter Train Street
Old Quarter Train Street timetable
The future of Hanoi Train Street
Hanoi Train Street map
[Map of Hanoi Train Street.]
Le Duan Train Street
The Hanoi Train Street where the cafes are still open are in Le Duan Alley in Dong Da District.
This “Train Street” runs through an alley (ngõ) south of Hanoi Railway Station (Ngõ 224 Lê Duẩ).
If you are coming from the Old Quarter or Hanoi Station, the entrance to the alley is via Kham Thien. The south entrance to the alley is at 222 Le Duan.
[Hanoi Train Street at 222 Le Duan.]
There are cafes set up in houses in the alley, and some cafe put tables and chairs next to or on the railway track.
About 5 minutes before the train arrives the cafes will pack up the tables and chairs, and you will be instructed to stand close to the wall.
[Train in Le Duan Train St.]
You can visit the alley when throughout the day, and it won’t be as crowded in the long hours between trains. If you want to do a photo shoot for Instagram or a dance routine for TikTok, don’t do it when the train is approaching.
[Train track in Ngo 224 Le Duan.]
Le Duan Train Street timetable
The Le Duan Train Street is the line of the North-South Railway. The train schedules change over time, so to find out when trains are passing though you can check the timetable. I use Baolau as they have the most user-friendly search.
Check schedule of trains from Hanoi.
Check schedule of trains to Hanoi.
The cafes in the alley show the timetables, so can also check there if you are nearby.
Old Quarter Train Street
The old quarter section is the line north of Hanoi Station for north and eastbound trains. Trains from Hanoi to Haiphong use this route.
This line became the most popular section as it goes around the edge of the Old Quarter in Hoan Kiem District (the most popular area to stay in Hanoi). I visited this section of Hanoi Train Street in 2019 and it had become a circus.
The section is closed and security guards will stop you if you try to enter at the Tran Phu entrance.
[Closed Train Street entrance at Tran Phu.]
There is another entrance in the Old Quarter along Phùng Hưng, and that is also closed. I saw some tourists enter only to be told to leave by security guards.
[Closed Old Quarter entrance to Train Street.]
It’s is still possible to see trains in a cafe on this track at A99 Cafe. This cafe is on Nguyễn Thái Học, and because it has a frontage on a main street it may not get closed down.
[A99 Train Cafe.]
A99 Cafe has seats on the ground level and first floor.
This cafe has the seated section inside the cafe, which might be why it is still open.
Old Quarter Train Street timetable
Trains that go through the Old Quarter are going to Haiphong.
Check schedule of trains from Hanoi.
Check schedule of trains to Hanoi.
Note that some trains from Hanoi depart at Long Bien Station, which is at the edge of the Old Quarter and next to the Long Bieng Bridge (which is also worth a visit). The Haiphong train had stopped running to Hanoi Station but they have been restarted. Check the timetable for latest times.
The future of the Hanoi train street
Watching the train pass through this narrow passageway is a spectacle from a tourists perspective, but it’s no way to run a railway for a city that is approaching a population of 10 million people.
Vietnam is planning to build a high-speed railway from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, which will replace the current railway. The future Hanoi terminal station will be moved to Ngoc Hoi station (10 km to the south). so this line will no longer exist. The line from Ngoc Hoi Station to Hanoi Station with Line 1 of the Hanoi Metro.
There is also a plan to upgrade the Hanoi to Haiphong Railway, so the section that passes through the Old Quarter would also be retired from use.
At the current rate of planning and development, it will be years before this line is decommissioned, so you still have time to see this.
Like the Bamboo Railway in Battambang and the Maeklong market train in Thailand, the Hanoi train street should become a relic of the past as Southeast Asia modernises.
For more rail stories in Vietnam and for Southeast Asia check out the Southeast Asia railway guide. Read more train stories from around the world.
Thanks for the classic photos of the Railway Street. Unfortunately we didn’t know about it when we arrived in Hanoi several years ago but we did catch the night train to Lao Cai and then by van up the hill to Sapa.
We did of course travel in that train along Railway Street at dusk and could look into the homes of people eating their evening meals maybe 3 metres away.
I highly recommend the night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai which was very smooth and comfortable and has optional compartments with 4 bunks; 2 up and 2 down. Not luxurious but clean with good toilets. Also recommended is the day and a half walk down Sapa Valley with a guide and staying in a local house with a family for the night; sleeping on bags of rice in the loft. Language no problem with the guide helping over a couple of glasses of beer or rice wine with the family in the evening. Guides are often, in our experience, trained school teachers who can’t get a teaching job and want to improve their English.
Hey James, I was there today, south of the station, and even though they banned putting things on the track, the restaurants are back at it, I guess, filling the tracks with tables, chairs and wood to walk on. I guess tourists just love the spectacle of sitting on railroad tracks…
Hi Mark, thanks for the update. Sounds like a common scenario where the police swoop in to clear the streets and then things return as they were.
I’ve been following the hashtag #hanoitrainstreet for a while and I hope someday I can be there and live it in person!
Hi, thanks for writing this blog post, it was really useful and interesting. Me and my boyfriend really want to visit Vietnam in the future and it’s cool to find some interesting places to visit before we go.