Long Bien Bridge is Hanoi\u2019s most famous bridge and one of the city\u2019s great symbols: a long, rusty, patched-up steel truss that carries trains, scooters and pedestrians across the Red River from the edge of the Old Quarter. Walking out onto it, with the trains rattling past and the river, banana fields and sandbanks below, is one of the most memorable things you can do in Hanoi.<\/p>\n
The bridge was built between 1899 and 1902 to a design by the Paris firm Dayd\u00e9 & Pill\u00e9, and was opened in 1902\u20131903 under the name Paul Doumer Bridge, after the Governor-General of French Indochina. Thousands of Vietnamese labourers worked on it. With its approach viaducts it is nearly 2.3 km long, and at the time it was among the longest bridges in Asia. It linked Hanoi with the port of Hai Phong and the north-east, and after 1954 it was renamed Long Bien.<\/p>\n
During the American war, Long Bien was the only crossing of the Red River into Hanoi and a vital supply line, so it was bombed many times between 1967 and 1972. Spans were cut, repaired, cut again and repaired again, often overnight. Look closely and you can see the difference between the original curved trusses and the flatter replacement sections. The bridge became a symbol of the city\u2019s resilience, and Hanoians are deeply attached to it.<\/p>\n
Cars are not allowed. The centre carries a single railway track, still used by trains to and from Long Bien station, and on each side there is a narrow lane for motorbikes and bicycles with a footpath on the outer edge. Traffic keeps to the left, unlike the rest of Vietnam. The deck is regularly repaired \u2014 most recently it closed to vehicles from late March to 28 May 2026 \u2014 and studies supported by France have looked at how to preserve the bridge for the future.<\/p>\n
Almost all our Hanoi tours cross or stop at Long Bien Bridge \u2014 14 in total, by jeep, electric scooter, e-bike, with our Green Sisters riders or with a photographer \u2014 often with a visit to the farms of Banana Island below.<\/p>\n
Yes \u2013 it is one of Hanoi’s great symbols. Built in 1902 to a Dayd\u00e9 & Pill\u00e9 design, bombed and patched repeatedly during the war, the long rusty truss still carries a railway, motorbikes and pedestrians across the Red River. Walking out onto the footpath, with trains rattling past and banana fields on the sandbanks below, is one of the most atmospheric free things to do in the city. It combines naturally with the farms of Banana Island beneath it and the Long Bien wholesale market at the Old Quarter end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hanois \u00fcber ein Jahrhundert alte Eisenbahnbr\u00fccke \u00fcber den Roten Fluss: Von den Franzosen erbaut, im Krieg mehrfach bombardiert und bis heute t\u00e4glich von Z\u00fcgen und Rollern \u00fcberquert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":66,"menu_order":8,"template":"","eta_destination":[9],"class_list":["post-172","eta_place","type-eta_place","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecotripasia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/eta_place\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecotripasia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/eta_place"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecotripasia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/eta_place"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ecotripasia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/eta_place\/172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecotripasia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecotripasia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"eta_destination","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecotripasia.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/eta_destination?post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}