There are a lot of attractive places in Hanoi, and the Train street is one of the most popular spots for foreigners.
It is just the train track for the local people but many foreigners visit this wonderful place.
There are some cafes or shops kind of bars around here and some of them have terrace seats that you can see the train passing from above.
This is the report of Train street in Hanoi.
Contents of this Page
What is the Train street in Hanoi?
The Train street is the train track on which the trains pass on a daily basis and the people around here normally living.
There are a lot of hotels or accommodations around the Hoan Kiem Lake so many tourists visit Hanoi will choose to stay. And there are 2 Train streets where you can go easily from the Hoan Kiem Lake.
The Hanoi station is just in the middle of the two points. And trains from the Hanoi station divide towards Ho Chi Minh and Long bien.
This is what I mean. The red point is the Hanoi station and the two yellow stars are the Train streets.
For your information, the lake on the right side of the star above is the Hoan Kiem.
Of course, these two rails are connected with the track, but the trains from Ho Chi Minh City will stop at this big station and some of their final destinations are this city.
Therefore, the times that the trains pass by on the north side and the south side are totally different.
In this page, I will call the two spots as
- North Train street
- South Train street
About North Train street
The North Train street is close to Hoan Kiem area and the photos we often see in Instagram are also here.
The place of North Train street
The railroad is crossing with Trần Phú street.
It takes about 10 – 15 minutes by walk from the St. Joseph’s Cathedral.
You can come into the side of the truck so it is easy to find.
The time trains pass by at North Train street
This is the trains-passing-time written on the wall along the rail line.
And I sum up the times below.
| weekday | 6:00, 19:00, 19,20 |
| weekend | 9:15, 11:35, 15:20, 17:45, 18:40, 19:10 |
It is a really simple memo and we don’t the trains are inbound or outbound. If you want to know the exact times, you should ask the neighborhoods.
After 18:00 is getting dark by seasons, so I recommend to go in the daytime on weekdays to see the passing trains.
The place I recommend at North Train street
Since many tourists visit this North Train street, there are some cafes beside the railroad.
Among them, a coffee shop named “Station Coffee” is a good location where have terrace seats upstairs floor to see the train passing from the second floor.
On the Google Map, this cafe is written as “Dau Ma / Railyway Station Area” while written as “Station Coffee” in the menu of the store.
This cafe is consist of two buildings across the track.
The photo above is the main house taken from the terrace of the building opposite, and the below is the scenery of the railway from the second floor.
This coffee shop sells reasonable drinks, so it is possible to come and relax in the time trains don’t come. So hot, though.
This North Train street has a lot of cafes as stated above.
And the angle of the railway or the looks of other objects are different in each cafe. If you can spend much time here, it is also good to enjoy cafe-hopping.
About South Train street
The South Train street is located south of Hanoi station so it is hard a bit if you want to walk from around Hoan Kiem Lake.
The trains passing the south part are the ones from Ho Chi Minh or to go Ho Chi Minh, so the type of trains are different from the North I think.
The place of South Train street
As the railway gets crossed with Khâm Thiên, you can come into the small street beside the rail same as the North Street.
Or it is also possible to come into from Lê Duẩn street that runs parallel with the truck.
It takes around 30 minutes by walk from St. Joseph’s Cathedral, so it is possible to walk but better to use taxies or motorcycle taxies.
The time trains pass by at South Train street
This is the timetable of the South Street on the wall in a cafe where I will describe later.
This board doesn’t have weekdays and weekend.
| 11:55 | bound for Hanoi |
| 13:10 | bound for Ho Chi Minh |
| 14:30 | bound for Ho Chi Minh |
| 15:30 | bound for Hanoi |
| 19:12 | bound for Hanoi |
| 19:30 | bound for Ho Chi Minh |
| 19:58 | bound for Hanoi |
| 20:10 | bound for Ho Chi Minh |
The trains that pass after 19:00 account for 50%, but it is almost in the dark so you should go in the daytime for the beautiful shots.
On a side note, this is the atmosphere after the last train passed by.
The place I recommend at South Train street
Maybe “Train track cafe” is the only coffee shop around the South train street.
Since this place is farther from the tourist area and the distance of the rail is shorter than the North train street, there are not so many people here.
This is the opposite side of this cafe. You can take a seat the both side.
But those who sit this seat also have to come in the store side, so if you go for trains, you should stay the cafe side from the first.
Because the google’s score is high and it seems to related to TripAdvisor, this cafe is reliable (all handmade).
I didn’t see the train passing at the North train street, but this is the one in the South train street.
How to enjoy the Train streets and the important notice
The trains will not come on time
As the board on the North Street, trains do not always come promptly.
I visit to North and South 3 times and saw 3 trains, and all train passed by sooner than the timetable.
If you will visit for trains, you should arrive there well ahead of time
the passing time may change
Although it may not be a big change, it is possible to change the train diagrams.
This information is about September 2018, but Vietnam’s economy grew rapidly and have changed a lot of part in recent years.
So nobody can say what will happen in the future, or the day no more train street would possibly come.
If you are interested in this place, you should go today.
Maybe the railway will be more instagrammable than the trains
Those who never come to this place tend to think that the train is the main objects at the train street.
But for me, the neighbors coexisting with the railway were more attractive than the track.
You can see both of train passing by and the lives of people around here if you visit the time trains come.
But if you think about the train times too much and the precious time staying in Hanoi going wrong, I think you should not think about train.
And if you want to take photos of trains passing by, I recommend early morning or the time before getting dark.
There is too much sunshine in the afternoon.
