Hanoi Travel Blogs

Hanoi travel will offer you many magnificent tourist attractions, amazing local food and vibrant nightlife. See the highlights & hidden gems of Hanoi with a local on your side. For first-timers, this travel blog will be your best friend to ensure your satisfaction in the trip to Hanoi.

Hanoi Train Street – The Full Travel Guide

3 years ago, you could have asked any tourist about Hanoi Train Street and received nothing but blank looks in return. Now, the track that curves through the centre of the Vietnamese capital is one of the best places to visit in Hanoi and a popular tourist attraction for anyone wanting to see something a little out of the ordinary on their holiday. This full travel guide to Hanoi Train Street, brought to you by one of Vietnam’s leading tour operators – Incredible Asia Journeys - will tell you everything you need to know about the city’s newest tourist attraction.If you’re looking for more things to do in Hanoi after your trip to Hanoi Train Street, feel free to take a look at our full-day Hanoi tour all run by a professional guide from Incredible Asia Journeys.What is Hanoi Train Street?The name gives away the game with Hanoi Train Street. At its most simple, it’s a street for trains in Hanoi. If you’re thinking “isn’t a ‘train street’ called a railway?” you’re absolutely right, but that name doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.The street cuts through the western side of Hanoi’s Old Quarter, the bustling ancient heart of the capital where businesses and local houses are literally piled on top of each other. This clamouring for space eventually led to residents settling down next to the train tracks, with the government’s comically lax health and safety laws allowing it to happen.Houses are built high here and are mere inches from the trains when they pass through at multiple times a day. Because the locals of Hanoi Train Street have been putting up with the inconvenience for so long, they are very nonchalant about ceasing their activities, moving their possessions to the side and waiting for the train to pass before carrying on their activities.Life has operated this way for years, since the early 20th century when Hanoi railway station was built and Tonkin (north Vietnam) was connected to Annam (central Vietnam) and Cochinchina (south Vietnam) under French colonial rule. The generations of locals living on the train tracks have seen much, but many are still confused about the fascination in the cramped area of Hanoi they call home.What to do at Hanoi Train Street?While, in the past, visitors to Hanoi Train Street might have been content with simply standing to the side and snapping pictures of the trains and the gorgeous street lined with houses and green foliage, tourists nowadays can expect a lot more. Here’s your guide to Hanoi Train Street and the things you can do by the side of the tracks:• Get the perfect photo – Hanoi is considered a hugely photogenic city and it’s not hard to see why. Hanoi Train Street is one of the best places to take photos in Hanoi, especially when the train is coming around the corner and is framed beautifully by mismatched buildings and trees that lean over the tracks to create a beautiful tunnel. Of course, when the train is not passing through, you can take excellent, Instagram-friendly selfies, though it’s getting increasingly harder to avoid tourists doing the same thing.• Sit down for a coffee – This wouldn’t really be one of the top things to do in Hanoi if there weren’t any cafés here! Fortunately, Hanoi Train Street has you covered in this regard. Many cafés have sprouted up along the tracks as tourism continues to go, all providing an excellent, unobstructed view of the train pass about a metre in front of you. Like any tourist attraction in Vietnam, be prepared to pay a little extra for your coffee, beer or fruit shake here, but still at a price that is very affordable for most international visitors.• Enjoy shots of rice wine – If you want to ramp up the energy a bit, consider going to Hanoi Train Street at night and taking a seat at Ray Quan, a fantastic bar that was one of the first businesses along the tracks. The gimmick here is to take a shot of rice wine every time a train passes in front – so grab some friends, grab a table and grab some local liquor from the wide selection available here.• Find fantastic and unique souvenirs – One shop stands out amongst the tourist-hoarding cafés on Hanoi Train Street – The Zó Project. This is a shop that specialises in traditional paper made by ethnic minorities, which was a piece of heritage almost lost until the Zo Project stepped in. Now you can buy postcards, sketchbooks, paintings and fans made of zó paper, with much of the proceeds going to the ethnic minorities in Mai Chau that produce them. Incredible Asia Journeys runs day tours from Hanoi to Mai Chau where you can see the beautifully simple lives of the valley’s ethnic minorities and their gorgeous green home.When to go to Hanoi Train Street?If you’re looking to get some great snaps, you’ll likely want to know the Hanoi Train Street schedule. Trains pass by here regularly, far more common than many other sources, who only report two passings per day, would have you believe.Weekdays+ Afternoon: 3.30pm + Evening: 7pm, 7.45pm, 8.30pm, 10pm Weekends+ Morning: 6am, 9am, 11.20am+ Afternoon: 3.20pm, 5.30pm, 6pm+ Evening: 7pm, 7.45pm, 8.30pm, 9pm, 11pmAs you can see by the table, the best time to go to Hanoi Train Street is on the weekend, as trains are more common and more evenly spaced throughout the day. Naturally, coming at either 6am or 11pm will mean you’ll run into far fewer tourists than at the peak times of the day in the afternoon and early evening.It should be noted that the train times at Hanoi Train Street can be rather approximate, given that Hanoi’s public transport system can be pretty unreliable. Trains can be held up at road crossings because of Vietnamese motorists who refuse to obey the traffic lights (no surprises there!) and delays are common. Get to the street early and stay there for a while – your train will be with you at some point.Is it Safe to Visit Hanoi Train Street?Totally. Other sources might have you believe that the trains that run along the cramped tracks do so in a ‘hurtling’, ‘whizzing’ or ‘speeding’ manner, but this simply isn’t the case. All trains putter along the tracks very slowly and make their arrival known by a loud whistle beforehand. Business owners and other locals will ensure that everyone is safely to the side of the track before the train makes its passing. In fact, with all of the chaos of Hanoi’s overflowing pavements and its crowded roads, walking down Hanoi Train Street might even be the safest way to explore the city!Where is Hanoi Train Street?Unsurprisingly, if you follow the train tracks in Hanoi for long enough, you’ll find Hanoi Train Street. It’s located to the west of the Old Quarter, around 167 Phung Hung Street; or this is at least where many of the tourists gather. This is the corner where the train looks the most impressive in its arrival, though the street carries on for longer in both directions.If you want to get away from the tourists, we advise following the tracks down to the train station on Le Duan Street or heading further up Phung Hung Street, where the cafés and shops give way to residential houses.Nearby Attractions to Hanoi Train StreetHanoi Train Street is an excellent stopping-off point on your explorations of the Vietnamese capital. It lies in between the Old Quarter and Ba Dinh district, meaning that some of the city’s most attractive things to see can be found on either side of it:• St Joseph’s Cathedral (850m away) – This is Hanoi’s most famous cathedral and serves as an excellent, if slightly out of place, background to photos.• Hoan Kiem Lake (1km away) – The true centre of Hanoi is Hoan Kiem Lake, where walkers, joggers, tourists and locals meet at all hours of the day. Come here on weekend evenings when the surrounding road is closed off to motorists.• Temple of Literature (1km away) – Vietnam’s oldest university is also one of the most ancient buildings still standing in Hanoi, with a 1000-year-old history and some gorgeous architecture and grounds to show for it.• Ba Dinh Square (1.3km away) – This is the political heart of Hanoi and the place where Ho Chi Minh gave his famous independence speech after breaking free of French colonial rule. The revered leader’s mausoleum is also here along with the Presidential Palace and One-Pillar Pagoda.Visit these attractions and more on a full-day Hanoi city tour with Incredible Asia Journeys. We are committed to showing you the best of our capital through safe and professional guidance. When you are in Hanoi you may wish to visit Halong Bay as it is the MUST destination in Vietnam to visit. There are a lot of cruises in Halong Bay for you to choose. You can choose the 1 day itinerary, 2 day 1 night cruise itinerary or even 3 day 2 night itinerary.For 1 day cruise to Halong Bay you may check Halong Bay Tour with Incredible Cruise or Lan Ha Bay Luxury Escape Sails for more information.For 2 day or 3 day cruise itinerary please check Halong Bay Cruises or Lan Ha Bay Cruises for different options for different budget and style of the cruise to pick up the best cruise and itinerary for your group. Thanks for reading this full travel guide to Hanoi Train Street!

How to Spend One Day in Hanoi

Through 1000 years of being the political and economic centre of Vietnam, Hanoi has accumulated a history that many other cities around the world would envy. Its proud traditions are still worn very much on its sleeves, through its pagodas, temples and ancient universities. Even the influences of the French colonials who lived here remain an important part of Hanoi; their grand buildings flank the sides of wide boulevards lined with overarching trees, as a constant reminder of from what this modern Hanoi has emerged.Though the prestige of the capital requires a few days to soak up, many tourists fly into Hanoi just to visit its outer attractions like Sapa, Halong Bay and Ninh Binh. For those pushed for time, we hope that this guide on how to spend one day in Hanoi will prove useful. This is not an itinerary, but a suggestion of how to travel, what to eat, and things to do in Hanoi, that we at Incredible Asia Journeys hope will prove useful for your trip to the beating heart of Vietnam.Hoan Kiem LakeMorningIf you’re looking to just spend one day in Hanoi, then you’re going to want to start early. Life in Hanoi begins before sunrise, with elderly ladies rolling outside in their invariably flowery pajamas and beginning their morning exercises, either performed solo along the pavements or through group classes in parks.Start with breakfast at about 6:00 am by finding any of the buzzing masses of locals, sitting on plastic chairs and shoveling hot phở into their mouths. 25,000 – 30,000 VND should see you full with a delicious bowl of Vietnam’s national dish. If beef-stock soup doesn’t sound like your idea of a good breakfast, you can start instead with bún riêu, a tomato-based soup with tofu – the perfect way to begin your one day in Hanoi.Starting this early gives you a great chance to watch the sunrise from Long Bien Bridge. Following breakfast, either walk or take a motorbike taxi to Long Bien Bridge, a favourite spot for photographers because of the colourful train that passes regularly through the rustic iron girders along the bridge. On either side of the train tracks, you will experience the continuous whirring of motorbikes, as commuters cross the Red River, illuminated by a vivid red sun that rises from the east. Buy some fresh bananas from any of the vendors on the bridge who collect them from the verdant plantations running underneath, along the banks of the Red River.Long Bien BridgeHead back out into the Old Quarter and follow the activities of the locals over a Vietnamese coffee, one of the most unmissable Vietnam experiences. For 20,000 VND, you can sit in a street-side café and watch the organised chaos of Hanoi’s roads. Tread the paths of the Old Quarter’s 36 ancient roads, where people of the same trade have settled alongside each other, creating close-knit communities and a very outward-living atmosphere. Explore the various winding alleyways, where smoke from both cooking and incense combine and seep upwards through the tangled mass of electricity cables. Getting lost in the Old Quarter is not only inevitable, it’s one of the quintessential things to do in Hanoi, as so many small and personable treasures can be located down its side streets.Continue your Hanoi one-day itinerary with a visit to Hoa Lo Prison, the infamous POW camp where former senator John McCain spent many long and excruciatingly difficult years, along with Everett Alvarez Jr., the first POW of the American War. A tour around the prison will reveal some of the horrors (if a touch biased) that the captured Americans went through, along with a full account of the French torturing of Vietnamese prisoners during their colonial occupation.Money SpentDistance TravelledBreakfast: 50,000 VNDHoan Kiem Lake to Long Bien Bridge: 1.5kmBananas (0.5kg): 20,000 VNDLong Bien Bridge to Old Quarter: 1kmVietnamese coffee: 30,000 VNDOld Quarter to Hoa Lo Prison: 1kmHoa Lo Prison entrance fee: 30,000 VNDMotorbike taxi: ~35,000 VNDTotal: ~165,000 VNDTotal: 3.5kmAfternoonRest and refuel for the rest of the day’s activities at 12:00 pm with a classic Hanoian dish, bún chả. This meal has been a firm lunch favourite of the northern Vietnamese for years, but a visit to Bun Cha Huong Lien by then-president Barack Obama in 2016 pushed this dish of noodles, leafy greens, pork rind and meatballs into the international limelight. For 30,000 VND, you can be following in the footsteps of America’s widely loved president, and kicking off the afternoon of your one day in Hanoi with one of the city’s most delicious meals.Jump into a taxi or onto the back of a Grab bike after lunch to check out Hanoi’s attractions that lie outside the Old Quarter. Around Ba Dinh Square, you will find a whole host of history-soaked sites, as well as the large open square itself where Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent country, following over 60 years of rule by the French. Ho Chi Minh’s stilt house is located just behind here, and his body lies in the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in the middle of the square (closed in the afternoons). Take the time to check out the One-Pillar Pagoda before taking a cursory look at the bright yellow building used by the French Governor-General of Indochina, the Presidential Palace.Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Ba Dinh SquareWalking north from here for about 5 minutes, you will reach Thanh Nien, the beautiful tree-lined road that snakes in between the twin lakes of Tay Ho and Truc Bach. Grab a cheap bò bía (coconut roll) as a belated dessert from one of the roadside vendors and take a stroll around the quiet shores of Truc Bach Lake, where John McCain crash landed and was captured after being shot out of the sky.  The views across Tay Ho Lake are of the city’s skyline, and this makes the perfect westerly-facing platform to enjoy sunset, which is one of the most naturally beautiful things to see in Hanoi. Explore the lakeside outcrop of the beautiful Tran Quoc Pagoda to learn more about the city’s Buddhist history.In the last daytime hours of your Hanoi one-day itinerary, take a motorbike taxi to the Temple of Literature, just south of Ba Dinh Square. Van Mieu, as it is known in Vietnamese, is the country’s oldest university, specialising in the teaching of Confucian principles for the incredibly small collection of gifted students who passed the entry tests. The names of successful graduates are engraved on steles atop statues of tortoises, surrounded by beautiful gardens, temples and areas of study.Money SpentDistance TravelledLunch: 50,000 VNDOld Quarter to Ba Dinh Square: 3kmHo Chi Minh’s Stilt House: 40,000 VNDBa Dinh Square to Truc Bach: 1kmTemple of Literature entrance fee: 10,000 VNDTruc Bach to the Temple of Literature: 2.5kmMotorbike taxi: ~70,000 VNDTemple of Literature to Old Quarter: 2.5kmTotal: ~170,000 VNDTotal: 9kmEveningReturn to the Old Quarter to enjoy an evening of either relaxation or nightlife. Start the whole thing with some mỳ xào bò (fried instant noodles with beef) or, if you’re slightly bored of noodles by this point, cơm rang dưa bò (fried rice with beef and pickled vegetables) for around 40,000 VND. If you’re looking for what to do in one day in Hanoi during the weekend, then head to the city’s night market, which runs the length of Hang Dao street from Hoan Kiem Lake to Dong Xuan Market. You can find great deals on clothes, electronics and food here, as well as having the opportunity to practice your haggling skills with the vendors.You may want to return to your hotel or retire to a café for some relaxation, but if you’re feeling more social, you can head to Hanoi’s famous Bia Hoi Corner to drink some of the cheapest beer in the world. Bia Hoi is brewed daily and is a very light, but refreshing beer, and the swarms of people that crowd the blue plastic stools of the Bia Hoi Corner can attest to this. This is one of the best spots in the city for cultural exchange; you can learn a lot more about Vietnam from the friendly locals here.Have "Bia Hoi" in the Old QuarterIf, afterwards, you don’t feel like drawing your one day in Hanoi to a close, walk up one of the adjacent roads of the Bia Hoi Corner to find a plethora of nightclubs, most famously amongst the twinkling lights of Ta Hien Street. This narrow alleyway is flanked by bars and clubs, where patrons spill out onto the pavement – a nightly communal atmosphere is a given. Just around the corner lies Hang Buom and Ma May, two streets where the party continues until the police shut it down (or try to, at least).Money SpentDistance TravelledDinner: 700,000 VNDNight Market to Bia Hoi Corner: 400mNight MarketBia Hoi Corner to Ta Hien Street: 5mBia Hoi: 7000 – 10000 VND per glassNightclubTotal: Depends on your shopping and drinking habits!Total: 405mOf course, all of the above is just a suggestion, though it guarantees you the best of Vietnam’s capital in a short timeframe. Ideally, you would stay for at least three days to get the most out of the city, but with time or budget pressures, this is a comprehensive suggestion on how to spend one day in Hanoi. 