Visiting Hanoi Train Street as a Wheelchair User

Seeing pictures and videos online, Hanoi Train Street is definitely one of Hanoi’s most famous attractions.  This is where you can see a train pass through a narrow street surrounded by cafes.  A friend and I visited Hanoi a couple months ago and we had to see this in person.  This is something that would never happen in the west due to safety issues but fits right into the culture of Vietnam.

Getting There

We were staying in the Old Quarter at Hanoi Le Chateau Hotel & Spa so it was only a 10 minute walk/stroll for us to get to Train Street which is located at the rail crossing of P. Tran Phu street in the Hoan Kiem area.  There was a long street of cafes along the tracks and we just chose an intersection that was the closest.  It is totally free to visit.

was only a 10 minute walk/stroll from our hotel in the Old Quarter area

There are also great options to join a Hanoi Train Street tour.  These walking tours let you sample some Vietnamese cuisine, which includes a visit to the famous train street.  You get to learn some Vietnamese history, have food and coffee all included for a great bundled price.  We did not do a guided tour as we wanted to go at our own pace.

getting busy

About Train Street

Hanoi Train Street is a narrow alley where a train passes very close to houses, cafes and bars.  This offers a unique and picture worthy experience for tourists.  The train does pass through multiple times a day and it is best to ask the cafe and shop owners for a more exact time as schedules may vary.

definitely a tourist attraction

Authorities did close Hanoi Train Street in 2019 over safety concerns and when covid shut down travel, train street was not monitored so it kind of reopened to locals and tourists staying in Vietnam.  It closed again in September 2022 due to another safety incident and reopened the next year.

so crowded

Now, there are police officers and guards restricting access at certain spots with barricades and whistle blowing.  When the train comes, there are also alarms blaring and authorities pushing and yelling at tourists to get off the tracks.

a guard whistle blowing and getting everyone out of the way as a train is own its way

Our Visit

Once we arrived at Hanoi Train Street, we immediately noticed all the chaos.  There were people everywhere trying to take pictures on the tracks and trying to walk by the cafes.   Cars and motorbikes were all packed and trying to cross the tracks at the intersection.  We just parked my chair on the corner by one of the cafes to just watch all the craziness around us for a while.

we parked on the corner by a cafe and this busy intersection

My wheelchair could not go down the tracks line because of all the rocks and uneven surfaces.  So my friend just moved me up slightly closer to the tracks and took a bunch of pictures.  He also went up and down the tracks a bit to take pictures for me.  We were also bombarded with street vendors walking by trying to see stuff because they knew that the area was full of tourists.

I couldn’t go up and down the tracks but could take a picture on this intersection

We asked cafe shop owners when the next train would pass by and we still had a bit of time to go around the block to get to another intersection of Train Street.  Since it was hard to wheel my wheelchair along the tracks, our only option was to take the long way around.  We took some pictures there and decided that our original spot would be better so we went back.

people buying food and drinks get to sit directly in front of the cafes

We went back to the our spot which gave us a perfect view of the road intersection and the train tracks.  All the spots directly in front of the cafes where the tracks are reserved for those buying drinks and food anyways.  This is how the local shop owners make their living and should be respected.

fence barricade up and guards keeping people off the tracks as a train is about to pass

When the train was minutes away from arriving, the guards start pulling out the fence barricade and start whistle blowing and shooing everyone to back away from the tracks.  It was really cool seeing the train pass by real close with everyone cheering and having their phones out recording and taking pictures.

how close we are to the train

After the short train passed by, the fence barricade was moved back and people swarmed back on the tracks.  Within a few minutes the alarms went off again and the guards brought back the fence barricade as an even shorter train passed by from the other direction.  It was neat as we got to see this twice within minutes of each other.  After that, we were ready to leave for some food.

we were lucky to see a second train pass by within minutes coming from the other direction

Final Thoughts

Overall, my friend and I spent almost 2 hours to visit the famous Hanoi Train Street.  It has a lot of charm and you can get some amazing photos and get to witness this organized chaos.  After being closed on and off for so long, it is great to see tourists now being able to enjoy one of Hanoi’s best attraction again.  Even though I wasn’t able to wheel down along the tracks in my wheelchair, I still feel I got the full experience and would definitely visit again.