Ninh Binh: Tam Coc at first light, Hang Mua steps, Trang An route 3
12 playbooks shared · added to 30 trips
- 6:20 am1Scooter pickup and banh mi at the Tam Coc crossroadsNinh Binh
Homestays rent semi-automatics for 120,000-150,000 VND a day plus about 50,000 in fuel, and everything on this day is within eight flat kilometres. Take the helmet that fits, photograph the scooter before you leave, and refuse the offer to keep your passport.
13 min walk · 1000 m - 7 am2Tam Coc rowing boat from Van Lam pierNinh Binh
Buy the plain 250,000 VND ticket; the 340,000 combo just adds a car to Bich Dong you can ride to yourself in four minutes. Be at the ticket window when it opens and you are the first boat of the day through the three caves with nothing ahead of you. The rowers use their feet, and they will stop mid-river to sell embroidery: a firm no is fine, and 100,000-150,000 VND at the end as a tip is the honest going rate. Late May and early June is when the Ngo Dong rice is gold.
8 min by train or taxi · 2.4 km - 9 am3Hang Mua: 500 steps to the dragon ridgeNinh Binh
100,000 VND, gates from 06:00. At the top of the stairs go right along the dragon spine for the view down over the Tam Coc river bend; the left-hand path to the seated Quan Am statue is the crowded one. There is no shade on the steps, so this stops being pleasant after about 09:30 in summer.
8 min by train or taxi · 3.2 km - 10:45 am4Bich Dong Pagoda on the way backNinh Binh
Free, two minutes off the Tam Coc road, three pagodas stacked up a cliff with a cave passage between the second and third. Skip it without guilt if the morning has run long.
8 min by train or taxi · 2.5 km - 12 pm5Goat and com chay lunch in Tam CocNinh Binh
Ninh Binh's two dishes are mountain goat (de nui, grilled or with lemon leaf) and com chay, scorched rice crust served with a thick meat gravy. Order one goat plate between two: the portions are for a table of Vietnamese families.
9 min by train or taxi · 5.8 km - 1:30 pm6Trang An boat, route 3Ninh Binh
250,000 VND for any route. Route 1 is the famous one, nine caves and three hours, and it is also the one every coach takes. Route 3 covers the Kong: Skull Island set and Suoi Tien temple with a fraction of the traffic. Last boats leave around 16:00, so a 13:30 start is the back edge of safe. Some cave ceilings are low enough that everyone lies flat; there is a hard hat under the seat and it is not decorative.
13 min by train or taxi · 7.8 km - 5 pm7Am Tien valley at the end of the lightNinh Binh
A walled lake in a bowl of karst behind the old Hoa Lu capital, reached through a tunnel in the rock. Late afternoon is the only time it is worth the ticket; midday it is a car park.
9 min by train or taxi · 5.3 km - 7 pm8Dinner and a Bia Hoi at Chookie's, Tam CocNinh Binh
The village's default meeting point and the easiest place to find someone to share a car to Cat Ba or Phong Nha the next morning.