Railway Cafe Hanoi Review: For the best and ORIGINAL Railway Train Crossing Experience!

Railway Cafe in Hanoi offers one of the best railway experiences among the cafes lined up along the railway tracks. In this post, we’ll share with you all the things that you have to take note of when visiting the railway cafes in Hanoi. It is indeed an unique experience to feel the gush of wind and vibrations on the ground as the train rushes by you…

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@2bearbeartravel Visit Rail Cafe Hanoi for the best experience when the train passes by! #train #railcafe #cafe #cafehop #eggbeer #cafehopping #exciting ♬ original sound – 2bearbear

But before we even get there, we will have to share with you what goes on among the owners at the railway tracks in Hanoi…

What You Need To Know Before Visiting Railway Cafe Hanoi

First, a little bit of history.

Originally, there were no cafes along this stretch of track that leads to the nearby Hanoi Station (Ga Hà Nội). However, Tuan, the owner of Railway Cafe decided to start a cafe in 2017 to bring the railway experience (and the train) to the guests for them to feel it up close. At first, nobody believed that he could do it. In fact, some even mocked him for even trying. However, only after a few weeks, Railway Cafe became crazy popular. And as they say, the rest is history.

Not really.

After Railway Cafe gained popularity, some other owners along this stretch of tracks also began to convert their abodes to cafes for visitors. This gave rise to a competition of sorts as well as the need for crowd control and safety during train arrivals. This is also why there is today, a Vietnamese official guarding entrance to the railway tracks. Visitors today are not allowed to enter the premise of the tracks unless you’re escorted by a staff by one of the cafes along the tracks. This is where you will have to contact Tuan via his website (Railway Cafe Hanoi Website) either through mobile apps or good old email.

There is actually another way to enter the tracks without pre-booking…

Touting by railway cafe owners in Hanoi along railway track (extreme right people standing next to track)

If you take a look at the photo above, there is a group of people standing next to the track as the train passes. Among them are railway cafe owners who will tout passers-by to enter their cafes. If you have not made your bookings, you can approach one of the touters there to catch the railway experience. At this point, there are 2 things that we want to share with you

Railway Cafes at Hanoi are NOT all the same

One of the reason we went with Railway Cafe was because of its location and the way it controls the crowd.

Firstly, Railway Cafe actually has seats on both sides of the railway tracks. This is a plus for guests because you can traverse both sides of the tracks if you prefer views on either side. Also, along this particular stretch of cafe, Railway Cafe is the last cafe (there are cafes further down the track). This means that you will not be blocked by other cafe patrons as the train arrives (see video above).

Secondly, there are some cafes that restrict the movement of guests. As they find it hard to control the crowd, they implement physical barriers and prevent patrons from venturing unto the tracks. No such restrictions at Railway Cafe. This is because Tuan is quite chill about his guests. He doesn’t tout (at least we didn’t see him tout during our visit) and limits the number of guests visiting his cafe. During our visit, eventhough there were up to 7 seats available in our nicely decorated booth, he didn’t tout for more patrons to visit during schedule train arrivals. Hence, we had the whole booth to ourselves.

Remember to ASK about scheduled train timings before following a cafe owner in

According to Railway Cafe’s schedule, trains are supposed to arrive at the following timings:

Mondays to Fridays
1900 to 1915
1945 to 2000
2045 to 2115
2130 to 2200

Saturdays and Sundays
0830 to 0930 to 1130
1520 to 1630
1920 to 1945
2045 to 2115

During our visit, the train arrived right on schedule at 1030. Hence, the schedule seems to be accurate for the first arrival time. But the next train (the one that we saw), arrived at 1150, some 20 minutes after the scheduled time. Also, it seems that after 1130, the next train would be 4 hours later at 1520. Hence, it’s always better to ask the timings.

Although our scheduled timing to be picked up by Tuan was supposed to be at 1030, he didn’t respond to our message until close to 1050. By then, we had visited a nearby cafe just to discuss our next steps on whether to go along with one of the touts. Thankfully, he contacted us – just as we put in our orders for the flat white, coconut coffee and burnt cheesecake at Vui Cafe. We actually wanted to try out Aroi Cafe due to its balcony at the 2nd level. But unlike Vui Cafe, they did not accept credit cards…

Vui Cafe - Flat White, Coconut Coffee and Burnt Cheesecake — Vui Cafe – Flat White, Coconut Coffee and Burnt Cheesecake

The burnt cheesecake was quite good, as was the flat white. Unfortunately, we had to wolf down what we just ordered to meet Tuan at the entrance of the railway tracks.

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What We Ordered at Railway Cafe Hanoi

Railway Cafe Hanoi Menu - Alcoholic Beverage — Railway Cafe Hanoi Menu – Alcoholic Beverage

Railway Cafe Hanoi Menu - Food, Coffee and Juices — Railway Cafe Hanoi Menu – Food, Coffee and Juices

We waited by the tracks for about 30 seconds and there were touts from the other cafes approaching us during this time. Even though we mentioned that someone will be picking us up, somehow, the touting became slightly more persistent. Thankfully, Tuan recognised our denim wear that day and brought us to Railway Cafe. Once seated, we browsed through the menu and order the house specials of Egg Beer (70k) and Crazy Train Coffee (80k) as well as the Nem Ran (fried prawn spring roll) – which Tuan enthusiastically recommended…

What we ordered from Railway Cafe Hanoi - Egg Beer, Crazy Train Coffee and Nem Ran (Fried Spring Roll) — What we ordered from Railway Cafe Hanoi – Egg Beer, Crazy Train Coffee and Nem Ran (Fried Spring Roll)

Railway Cafe Hanoi - Nem Ran (Fried Spring Roll) as recommended by the owner Tuan — Railway Cafe Hanoi – Nem Ran (Fried Spring Roll) as recommended by the owner Tuan

Tuan recommended Egg Beer and Nem Ran, which were both eggcellent. See what I did there? 😂

The Egg Beer is actually a sweetened egg froth laid on top of the beer. The method to drink this (as taught by Tuan), is to take in a little bit of the froth in your mouth, then go for a mouth of the beer. Somehow the egg and the beer complements each other. But drink it fast (at least at first) because the froth will build up as more gas is released from the beer upwards. An innovative drink. #Like

The Nem Ran was also recommended by Tuan because the shrimps were caught by the river, fresh. On our first bite, we could taste the freshness of the shrimp. Also, Tuan would monitor our speed of eating because you’d have to eat this dish hot. Otherwise, if you wait a little longer, the outer layer would lose its crispiness. We’re happy to report that we enjoyed all the fried spring rolls in its crispy state. 😋

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The Train Crossing Experience at Railway Cafe Hanoi

Railway Cafe Hanoi - Beautifully decorated booth — Railway Cafe Hanoi – Beautifully decorated booth

View of the railway tracks from Railway Cafe Hanoi

As mentioned above, we’re thankful that Tuan is not an owner who is desperate for customers but one who emphasises on the experience of his guests. Despite having 5 more empty seats at our booth, Tuan was contented just to have us seated there, enjoying and having the experience exclusively to ourselves. Also, our booth was so nicely decorated that as guests (to be led to other cafes) passed by our booth, they actually wanted to sit next to ours. Unfortunately, they had to follow the “rules of the jungle”, or in this the “rules of the railway track” where they will have to follow the tout to the cafe that they came from.

View of railway track around the bend from Railway Cafe Hanoi

One last thing that we want to share about Railway Cafe is that the position that it is at, allows guests to see the train as it comes around the bend. As you can see from the video above, when we saw the head of the train round the bend, we started the video and we were able to catch the head of the train passing right in front of us. The timing was perfect. Alternatively, you can observe the patrons at the cafe further down the track. Once they get all excited, you know that the train is about to arrive.

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All in all, we had an excellent visit to Railway Cafe Hanoi. If there were a rating system, we’d rate our experience 5 stars. To feel the rush of train, the gush of wind and the vibration on the ground as the train passed through was indeed an unique experience. If you’d like to have this experience, complete with some great food and drinks, visit Railway Cafe and you’ll be in good hands. Enjoy!

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