With Hanoi's famous Train Street shut down, CNN recommends backup tourist attractions

By Hoang Phong December 14, 2022 | 04:57 pm PT

Coffee shops along Hanoi's Train Street are closed, October 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh

CNN has listed Hanoi's Train Street as one of top 10 global tourist attractions that "you need to cross off the list for 2023," along with Japan's Edo-Tokyo Museum and Singapore's Jurong Bird Park.

The Train Street, which used to be the home of makeshift coffee shops along the train track that sits just feet from buildings in the heart of Hanoi's Old Quarter, and which was a popular site for tourists taking photos, was closed in mid-September due to "safety concerns."

The American news channel advised tourists to instead explore the historic Old Quarter that is now home to an array of coffee shops, bars and food stalls. There are also a lot of small temples, 36 streets and historic architecture in the area.

A foreign tourists at a street food stall in Hanois Old Quarter, September 2022. Photo by Thanh Thuy

A foreign tourist at a street food stall in Hanoi's Old Quarter, September 2022. Photo by Thanh Thuy

St. Joseph's Cathedral on Nha Chung Street in the downtown Hoan Kiem District is also a must-visit destination at this time of the year as it gets spruced up and decorated for the Christmas holiday.

Construction of the church began in the late 1800s during the French colonial period, when it adopted a Gothic Revival style emulating Notre Dame de Paris.

Named after the patron saint of Indochina, it is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese.

Other tourist attractions that are saying a permanent goodbye include Hong Kong's Jumbo Kingdom Floating Restaurant, the 9/11 Tribute Museum in the United States, the Museum of London in the United Kingdom and the Dublin Writers Museum in Ireland.