Hanoi's Train street is probably the most popular thing to do in Hanoi. It's a very narrow residential alley, where real trains pass by extremely close to cafés and homes.
It is exceptionally thrilling, but with the trains coming past at full speed you'll want to keep children and bags close!
How to get here:
Over the last few years the Vietnamese has placed some (understandable) restrictions on tourists coming to Train Street.
It took us a while to work out how to access as there are security guards blocking the entry points to the tracks.
We ended up finding a local cafe owner, who took us to their cafe that lined Train Street.
A note on visiting with kids:
Honestly, I was so nervous to take our kids here. Prior to visiting I had only seen videos of people sitting right next to the tracks with the train whizzing past super close! While that looked thrilling and all, doing it with kids didn’t sound very safe.
So, we opted to sit up on the balcony where the kids were able to move around without us having to worry about their safety.