Hanoi Food Tour in the Old Quarter: 5 Train Street Walks Compared

Meeting Points and Operators

Four operators run these walks. Crossing Vietnam Tour runs the $18 egg coffee walk and the 12-tasting walk, and both meet at its booking office at 38 Bat Su street in the Old Quarter. The walk with a drink at Train Street is run by VIETNAM TRIP 24h and offers two starting locations depending on the option chosen, shown at checkout. Add your WhatsApp number when booking so the guide can reach you. The 13-plus tastings walk from Vside Travel meets in front of 1 Cho Gao street in Hoan Kiem. The evening walk with 7 tastings from Vietnamtravelers shows its exact point at checkout, and the guide holds a small Vietnamese flag.

Hotel Pickup

On most of these walks you make your own way to the meeting point. Hotel pickup inside the Old Quarter is offered on the egg coffee walk, the 13-plus tastings walk and the evening walk with 7 tastings only with the private option. On the 12-tasting walk it depends on the option you pick.

Confirm at checkout. The walk with a drink at Train Street does not include hotel pickup at all. If you would rather ride, the motorbike alternatives on the Hanoi motorbike food tour page work differently.

All five are guided Old Quarter street-food walks, and each one names Train Street in some form. They differ in how the stop works, how many tastings you get and price.

The most-booked option is Old Quarter Food Tour with an Egg Coffee at Train Street ($18), which holds a 4.9-star rating from 8,433 reviews and includes an egg coffee or soft drink at the trackside café. For the lowest price, Street Food Tour with a Drink at Train Street ($17) has the same 4.9 rating across 3,209 reviews and ends at Train Street with one drink of your choice. If you want volume, Old Quarter Street Food Walk with 12+ Tastings ($20) lists 12 tastings on its sample menu with Train Street as an optional add-on, and 13+ Tastings Street Food Walk Ending at Train Street ($27) lists 13 or more tastings and ends at Train Street, with drinks there not included. Evening Street Food Tour with 7 Tastings and Train Street ($28) lists 7 tastings with all food and drinks included. None of them can promise the Train Street stop or a passing train.

Dishes Tour by Tour

The egg coffee walk serves bún chả, dry mixed chicken phở, bánh mì and kem xôi, sticky rice with ice cream, plus one cà phê trứng or soft drink at Train Street. The guide may swap dishes but five tastings or drinks in total are guaranteed. The 12-tasting walk has the longest sample menu: bánh mì, dry mixed chicken phở, beef phở rolls, papaya salad with beef jerky, fried spring rolls, fried pillow cake, shrimp cake, a mung bean donut ball, a savory fried donut, egg coffee, passion fruit jelly and pandan sticky rice with ice cream. The drink at Train Street walk serves 4 to 6 dishes such as bánh cuốn, bánh xèo and kem xôi. The 13-plus tastings walk works through xôi com, bánh xèo, bún bò Nam Bộ, bún bò Huế, chè and nem nướng, and hands you a written list of foods to try afterwards. The evening walk covers bánh cuốn, bún chả, grilled rice paper, bún bò trộn Nam Bộ, grilled pork sticks, and chè or egg coffee. Grilled oysters, bánh mì or phở may be added depending on group size and time.

What the Dish Names Mean

A quick line on each dish helps before the first stop. Bún chả is grilled pork patties and slices in a sweet-sour broth with cold rice noodles. Bánh cuốn is a delicate steamed rice sheet filled with minced pork and wood-ear mushroom.

Bánh xèo is a crisp turmeric pancake you wrap in herbs. Kem xôi is sticky rice served with ice cream. Xôi is sticky rice with toppings, chè is a family of sweet dessert soups, and cà phê trứng is egg yolk whisked with sugar and condensed milk over robusta coffee.

Vendors can change with availability, weather and the guide, so treat every menu as a sample rather than a promise.

The Cost Side by Side

The cheapest way onto the tracks is the drink at Train Street walk at $17, down from a struck-through $25. The most reviewed is the egg coffee walk at $18 (struck through at $33) with 8,433 reviews at 4.9. The 12-tasting walk costs $20 (struck through $29). The 13-plus tastings walk is $27 with no discount shown. The evening walk shows $28 against a struck-through $31, and adds a $10 surcharge on Tet and the holidays of 30 April, 1 May and 2 September. Tips are not included on any of the five, and extra drinks or food beyond the listings are on you except on the evening walk.

For context on what the dishes themselves cost, a bowl of phở runs roughly 40,000-80,000 VND (about $1.55-$3.10) in the Old Quarter, per the cheap food in Hanoi guide.

The Catch on Each Price

The low headline fares buy different things. On the egg coffee walk the group takes a taxi to Train Street and back, and the listing does not say who pays that fare, so confirm at checkout. On the 12-tasting walk the Train Street visit is an optional 30-minute add-on with transport, 1 drink and a seat, so confirm its price at checkout.

On the 13-plus tastings walk the walk simply ends at the tracks and drinks there are not included. On the evening walk all food and drinks are covered, so there is nothing extra to budget for the meal. Free cancellation up to 24 hours applies to all five listings.

The Official Position

In 2025 the Hanoi Department of Tourism told travel businesses not to organise tours to the trackside café street and to warn staff about accident risk. That instruction followed an earlier commercial ban in 2019, with barriers and warning signs already in place and fixed barriers at the entrance to Trần Phú street, according to VnExpress. Vietcetera reports that the Ministry of Construction and the city then agreed to scale back rail through the area, halting freight and reducing passenger services, with no passenger trains between Hanoi and Long Biên stations if fully implemented.

Tuoi Tre News reports that trackside cafés were still opening and an officer patrols the area, and the city has proposed rerouting passenger trains off this section. In short, the cafés trade against standing bans and thousands still enter daily, VnExpress says.

If You Go Anyway

Entry is free but inconsistent: some entrances are open, others blocked, weekdays are easier than weekends. Vietnam Tourism's guide puts a drink at a trackside café at about 30,000-70,000 VND (about $1.16-$2.71). It also advises arriving 45 minutes early if watching a train matters to you and standing against the wall with about half a metre of clearance, since there are no barriers along the tracks.

No train time is guaranteed. The plain consequence for a booking: the stop can be skipped or moved on the day, and a guide cannot guarantee a passing train. A supervised alternative is the Hoa Xá café inside Long Biên Railway Station, which the city opened in 2023 as an official option.

The listings name these dishes. Vendors and the exact order can change on the day:

• Dry mixed phở with chicken or beef phở rolls at a family counter
• Bún chả, charcoal-grilled pork with vermicelli and herbs
• Bánh mì, bánh cuốn or bánh xèo from a long-running stall
• Egg coffee (cà phê trứng) or another drink at a Train Street café, on the tours that include the stop
• Nem nướng (grilled pork sausage) or fried spring rolls between stops
• Kem xôi (sticky rice with ice cream) or chè to finish

Not suitable for

• Mobility impairments: the egg coffee walk, the 12+ tastings walk, the Train Street drink walk and the 7 tastings evening walk are marked not suitable, and the egg coffee walk also lists wheelchair users. The 13+ tastings walk is listed as wheelchair accessible, so confirm with the operator
• Pregnant women: the 12+ tastings, 13+ tastings and 7 tastings walks list it as not suitable
• Food allergies and gluten-free: the 12+ tastings walk is marked not suitable for food allergies and the Train Street drink walk is not suitable for gluten-free diets
• Very fussy eaters, because the guide orders for the group

What to bring

• Comfortable walking shoes for uneven Old Quarter pavement
• A little cash for extra drinks, which none of the listings include
• An umbrella or poncho, since the egg coffee walk runs in normal rain
• An empty stomach, because the tastings add up to a full meal

Good to know on Train Street

• Train Street access is not guaranteed. In 2025 the Hanoi Department of Tourism told travel businesses not to organise tours to the trackside café street, and the cafés trade against standing safety bans
• Entrances can be barred on the day, and rail services through the strip are being reduced, so a train may not pass
• Keep bags and feet off the rails and stand back if a train does come

Vegetarian and Allergy Rules

The egg coffee walk is the most flexible: vegetarian, gluten-free and pescatarian diets can be accommodated, with a stated risk of cross-contamination. The drink at Train Street walk warns that vegetarian and vegan food is cooked in the same pot as meat at local shops, so tofu and mushroom are unavailable and the choice narrows to onion, bean sprouts and vegetables. The group tour is not suitable for gluten-intolerant guests. The 12-tasting walk is listed as not suitable for pregnant women, people with food allergies or mobility impairments. The 13-plus tastings walk does not state a rule but asks you to tell the guide about allergies before the tour. The evening walk says it caters to allergies and vegetarians if you tell the guide in advance, and lists pregnant women, people with mobility impairments and people over 95 as unsuited. If you eat plant-based by principle, note that Hanoi has dedicated options such as the MICHELIN Guide Bib Gourmand 2026 vegetarian restaurant Ưu Đàm, 55 Nguyen Du street, open 10:00-22:00 daily.

Drinks and Children

Alcohol appears only where a listing names it: the drink at Train Street walk lets you choose beer, coffee, juice or a smoothie as your included drink. The egg coffee walk offers an egg coffee or a soft drink, the evening walk includes all drinks, and on the 13-plus tastings walk drinks at the tracks cost extra. None of the listings compared here states a minimum age, so ask the operator at checkout before booking with children. Bring small cash bills for extra drinks and tips, since many family eateries are cash only, as the cheap food in Hanoi guide explains.

Cancellation and Weather

All five listings on this page offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. The egg coffee walk spells out a weather rule: it does not run in a typhoon, tropical storm or landslide but runs as usual in normal rain, which matters in Hanoi's wet months. Secret Food Tours, another Hanoi operator, does not refund for weather at all, so the 24-hour window is your safety lever. If your plans wobble, cancel inside the window rather than hoping for a rain call.

• Cancel free up to 24 hours before the start
• Normal rain does not stop the walk, storms do
• Bucket List Bri suggests booking on your first or second night
• Bring cash for extra drinks and tips

Late Arrival and Small Print

If you are 10 minutes late to the egg coffee walk, contact the operator to get the first stop and join the group there. On the drink at Train Street walk your WhatsApp number is how the guide reaches you, so give a working one. Several listings ask you to confirm details at checkout: the taxi fare arrangement on the egg coffee walk, the Train Street option on the 12-tasting walk, and the duration on the 13-plus tastings walk, where the header says 2.5 hours while the itinerary says about 3 hours on foot across roughly 2 km.

Bucket List Bri suggests sharing portions with a companion if you eat little, since the tasting counts add up fast.