I’ve been to the two most popular train streets in Asia—Train Street in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Maeklong Railway Market in Bangkok, Thailand. Which one’s better, you ask? Remember that each traveler’s experience is different, but I will tell you the one that gave me a more pleasant memory than the other.

What is it about trains and tourists? Aside from railway tourism being more sustainable and eco-friendlier than planes, it also promotes slow and cultural travel, allowing passengers or bystanders to soak in the views and experience local life. Trains in emerging and developing Asian countries also give a more rustic and rugged experience. I say this with fondness growing up in the Philippines, where we are used to living with questionable (hence, “rugged”) sanitation and safety standards.

The speeding train that’s a little too close to pedestrians and market vendors? We have that in the Philippines (Google the ’90s TV show, Home Along Da Riles), but it’s not as tourist-friendly as the ones in Hanoi and Bangkok, where you can sit in a small café and set up your camera and tripod without worrying about thieves and hold-uppers.

What It’s Really Like in Maeklong Railway Market, Bangkok

The Maeklong (or Mae Klong) Railway runs between Wongwian Yai, Bangkok, and Samut Songkhram in central Thailand. It’s famous for the route that ends in the Maeklong Railway Market nicknamed Talat Rom Hup, which means “umbrella pulldown market.”

You’ve seen this on countless social media reels: The market shops and stalls are dangerously close or even spilling to the the train tracks. The people are walking on and running around the tracks. As soon as the train approaches, the tables, awnings, and shop fronts are quickly tucked back from the rails. The people jump or run to safety in the nick of time. Don’t worry, this isn’t a bullet train. It’s a slower meter gauge railway.

After the train passes, they move everything back to how they were before the train passed. Repeat several times a day.

There are three main ways to visit this spot:

1. By heading straight to Maeklong Railway Market on your own to wait for the famous train to pass by. If you’re early, you can explore the market shops and take photos in different parts of the track before choosing your final spot with hordes of other tourists also looking for the best angle.

2. By booking a train ticket that ends at Mae Klong Station. This time you have the other POV where you watch the market people, like clockwork, push their awnings and store items out of the track’s way as the train arrives or departs. During my Bangkok trip in 2022, I watched the foreign tourists arrive via train with excited faces popping out of the windows.

3. Via organized day tour. This is what I did during my 2022 Thailand trip. I booked the Bangkok Classic Day Tour via Klook, and Mae Klong Station was the first stop that Sunday morning. By the time we arrived, hundreds of tourists were already huddled in the good photo spots, both in the end station and the busy market. Our tour guide helped us take photos on the tracks before the train arrived. As soon as the familiar chugging sound got louder, the tourists put their cameras, selfie sticks, and phones up in the air. There was no chance anybody was going to get that coveted Instagram photo without a sea of hands and heads.

As soon as the commuters hopped out of the train to make way for new commuters, the horde of tourists scrambled their way inside for an Instagram photo. Influencers would even dangle in their flowing dresses by the train door, while real commuters have to tiptoe their way inside to get to their paid seat.

What It’s Really Like in Train Street, Hanoi

There are three Train Street spots frequented by tourists:

1. Between Le Duan Train Street and Phung Hung Train Street in the Old Quarter
2. Entrance of Hanoi Train Station at Le Duan Train Street
3. Phung Hung Train Street near the Phung Hung Mural Street in the Old Quarter

Unlike Bangkok’s Maeklong Railway, options #1 and 3 for Hanoi’s Train Street aren’t train stations or stopovers. The train just whizzes by.

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There are two ways to visit this spot:

1. Via organized day tour, where it’s combined with other sights in Hanoi. The tour guide brings you to the best photo spots on Train Street. If the train doesn’t show up on the scheduled time slot, the tour guide might push the group to the next itinerary instead of waiting for the train.

2. DIY, where you just find Train Street on your own, and explore the railroad on your own sweet time. This is what I did this 2024. Among three spots, I picked the first one between Le Duan Train Street and Phung Hung Train Street in the Old Quarter (Hoàn Kiếm). It’s full of cute coffee shops and bars where you can take photos while you wait, and of course, order a drink to secure your spot or else incur the wrath of the owner.

The train schedule (which is plastered on the wall of many shops along Train Street) isn’t as busy or rigid, so the coffee shop owners will tell you that there’s no guarantee you will see it that hour. One Friday afternoon, I found the place on my own (after saying no to many pesky tour guides and drivers telling me that they could give a better tour of Train Street—for a fee, of course).

I walked around for a while to watch other tour groups pass by and travelers pose on the tracks. I was pleasantly surprised that it was not overly crowded. There were many empty tables and chairs in the bars and two-floor cafés that gave great views of the oncoming train.

I picked the quirky, cat-themed coffee shop and ordered my favorite coconut coffee.

I got a table at 5:30pm. It was only an hour later that I noticed the train schedule plastered on the wall. The train arrived at 7:05pm, and it was gone in 7 seconds.

So Which Train Street Did I Like Better?

Hanoi, by far.

Their crowd of tourists wasn’t as overwhelming and annoying as Maeklong Railway. Train Street’s cafés and bars, although touristy, allow travelers to get their Instagram moment without disrupting any real commuters of the train. The early birds can chit-chat with the local owners who are more than happy to entertain guests—just don’t forget to order something from the menu.

Culture vultures might say that Maeklong’s “umbrella pulldown market” gives a more authentic cultural vibe, and I can’t argue with that. But the tourists in Train Street don’t disrupt the personal space of local commuters and workers that take the train; the tourists of Maeklong Railway do.

I’ll take Train Street’s more ample breathing and moving space anytime over Maeklong Railway’s suffocating crowd.

That and the quirky cat café.