Ninh Binh – quick travel guide

Known as “Ha Long Bay on land”. One of Vietnam’s top destinations (and my favorite tourist destination). Beautiful nature and relaxing peaceful vibes.

Beautiful, but not loud crazy crowded tourist vibes. A perfect escape from Vietnam’s noisier destinations. Although you can see Ninh Binh’s most popular highlights in a day tour, it’s a grave mistake not to put at least 2 nights here. It’s such a beautiful and spiritual escape from the rest of Vietnam’s noisier destinations. I love that it’s actually real nature beauty. I think it’s even more beautiful than Ha Long Bay, especially during bad weather (the clouds adding to the mysterious atmosphere whereas Ha Long Bay looks sad/dull with clouds).

2 days for the minimum, 3 to really relax and recharge your soul. Also know that a place like this, it definitely affects where you stay. As different properties have vastly different views of Ninh Binh. Some feel like just a cute outdoor garden. Others have a massive view of the water, trees, and surrounding mountains…basically a mini Ninh Binh right in their back (or front) yard.

Where to stay:

• Whatever you do, please pleeeeease do not stay in town center.
• Stay near either the Trang An river or the Tam Coc river. Basically, you want to be in the beautiful nature part of Ninh Binh, not the boring/uneventful city part. Trust me and thank me later.

The place you stay at will most definitely affect your experience of Ninh Binh. I definitely recommend staying in a more isolated nature place rather than in the city center. The isolated places are very resort-ey and also serve food and rent motorbikes (also usually providing free bikes and kayaks). Isolated places are much more fun, peaceful, and give you that beautiful Ninh Binh vibe. They can also be more social since everyone is stuck around at breakfast and dinner instead of going out. At night, you might chat up on some strangers for a drink and enjoy the beautiful views together.

Hostels:

• Trang An River View Homestay – amazing view! Peaceful vibe. We stayed here and honestly, I think it was the best decision ever. The surrounding nature is super beautiful, and also their vibe is much more peaceful than the nextdoor neighbors “Trang An For Your Homestay”. But we were still able to walk onto their bridge and island connect regardless. I highly recommend this spot without question to anyone and everyone staying in Ninh Binh. It was the highlight of our trip for me.
• Trang An For Your Homestay – amazing view, right next to and same view as ours. Their Google reviews are lower because of cleanliness and annoyingly loud karaoke parties at night. It’s truly annoying and ruins the peaceful vibe! They don’t do it every night so it’s a gamble when you go.
• Green Mountain Homestay – awesome vibe. Isolated and therefore everyone stays in for dinner and contributes to a more social vibe. But still located compared to a big city hostel. Without having tried all, I guess this is probably the fanciest and most social hostel in the area.
• Trang An Mountain House – beautiful, chill, helpful family staff. Great peaceful vibe, low on social atmosphere.
• Tam Coc Mountain Bungalow – beautiful, chill, restful home vibe. Low on social atmosphere if you wanted to meet people, quiet and people keep to themselves.
• Tam Coc Banana Bungalow – nice resort vibe, great free breakfast.
• Banana Tree Hostel – kind of a party hostel but not cozy, seems everyone’s locked in their groups. I guess it depends on the groups you run into.

Neighborhoods & Walking areas:

• Around your stay – assuming you picked a cool resorty spot in nature (like I suggested), hanging around your place in the morning and late afternoons and nights are the most fun.
• Trang An center & boat area:
  • Do the boat tour, takes 2.5-3 hours depending on if you do all the stops (sometimes ppl get tired in the evenings and seen enough) and also if you help with the paddling. They have 3 options, and I hear #1 is the worst and #2 and #3 are better. We did #2 and loved it, will do #3 next time. You can also look up the name of the King Kong movie filming location…we had it on #2 but not sure if it’s also on the others.
  • The Trang An tour is run by an official government organization and everything is professional. You can always hang around the museum and water area, to eat and take photos, etc. It’s nice to hangout if you have extra time.
  • Go early enough so it doesn’t get dark near the end, or your tour gets cut short. Another tip to make sure you see everything is don’t take too long taking photos on each stop.
• Tam Coc center & boat area – this one seems less official, but still pretty. Boat tour is only 1.5hrs I think and also with lots of annoying sellers colluding together with the boat paddlers to get your money.
• Hang Mua Viewpoint and Tuyet Tinh Coc – nice areas to walk around, relax, and take beautiful photos. Hang Mua isn’t just the mountain viewpoint, you can hang at the cafe and water areas inside. Or also walk around the wooden planks on the outside (with the views of the mountains and water). Tuyet Tinh Coc is a nice concrete walk path around a lake.

All of these are suitable hangout spots and have more to offer than just the primary activity they advertise.

Activities to do:

• Hang Mua Viewpoint – absolutely the very first thing you must do. It’s a short 15 minute climb up some really steep steps, and then you’re provided with 2 amazing views. My tip is when you climb up the stairs, you’ll be present with a LEFT path and a RIGHT path option. Make sure you pick the left one! It provides a much better view, since it’s higher and can see the other path in your photos. All the other stuff in the area, you can hang around and take nice photos by the water or in the fields…but try to save time for the Trang An boat ride.
• Trang An Boat ride – 2nd most important thing. You are peacefully paddled out in the water by boat with breathtaking views of the water, mountains, and temples. It’s a 3-hr ride (depending on if you do all the steps, and if you help paddle) and you have 3 destination options to choose from. I’ve heard option #2 is the best, #3 is second, and #1 is last. With 2 and 3 being about equal. I chose #2, it was not only amazing but also has the path where the King Kong movie was filmed. Try to go before it gets dark. Last boat leaves at 5pm (which is when they allow you to buy the last ticket), I think.
• Tam Coc Boat ride – I didn’t do it. I heard great reviews about the sights and nature, but bad reviews about the pushy/scammy nature of the boat paddlers and sellers colluding together to ripoff tourists. Also, I hear the Trang An is already better and perhaps features similar terrain as this one. However, I also saw that the typical Ninh Binh tourist boat picture with the yellow stuff in the water on the sides is the one from Tam Coc river.
• Bike through Ninh Binh – so easy. Just bike around the fields! Easy enough to do if you’re not staying in the town center. Nature is everywhere and all around you!
• Bai Dinh Pagoda – biggest pagoda in southeast Asia. Also a good place to go if it rains. We bought the cheapest ticket that also included the electric car shuttles (to take you around). And saw all the main stuff within 1.5-2 hours. If you want to be fast, walk straight to the 2 main things (the big pagoda and the stupa). Then take photos on your way out. Otherwise, you’ll blow much more time than you really need. I would climb the stupa first so you can look down and contextually decide what things you want to see, and the order.
• Hoa Lu Ancient Capital – temples and old architectural buildings within walls surrounded by greenery. Nice place but I heard you can skip this if you already saw Hue Historic City (aka “Hue Ancient Capital”), which we did…so we skipped this.
• Tuyet Tinh Coc – popular spot where many people take wedding photos. It’s a lake within the rocky mountains surrounded by a concrete walkway with a temple on the end. The end by the temple has fish by the water edge, boats, and lanterns on the trees…making it all very picturesque for photos. An easy place to relax and walk around for 30 minutes taking nice photos, but not historically important if you don’t have time for it.
• Chua Ky Lan & Thap Chua Bac temples – easily seen in Trang An town center. They are lit up at night and look pretty.
• Van Long Nature Preserve – yet another boat ride (but only 1hr) and not as beautiful as Trang An. You’ll also experience pushey sellers here. The main selling point here is the wildlife and many people are disappointed when they don’t see the endanger langur monkeys or that they see fewer birds here than in Trang An. People will tell you to see this last, only if you have extra time.
• Cuc Phuong National Park – sounds like a long day (of hiking) to spend here so I didn’t do it. Preferring to save time for other stuff.
• Bich Dong Pagoda – the temple and parking is free, but many scammers are outside trying to make you pay for it. Ignore them and don’t let them bully you and tell you where to park, etc.
• Walk around your area – chances are you’ve biked past many awesome places to hang out. You can simply walk around Ninh Binh and take in all the nature and local life. It’s so beautiful and peaceful.

Don’t feel pressured like you have to do everything. If you’re short on time, do the Hang Mua viewpoint and one of the boat rides and that’s enough. If you got more extra time, you can visit the Bai Dinh pagoda and Tuyet Tinh Coc. Extra time, I would rather hang around the fields, walking around and taking photos. It’s so much fun and beautiful!

Restaurants & Cafes:

• Usually you eat at your place (where you stay) or at the tourist points above.

Bars & Clubs:

• This isn’t the place for that stuff. Have drinks at your river resort place, sitting with nature (and company if you have any).

Miscellaneous tips:

• Transportation – you’ll need either motorbike or taxi/rideshare. Using a bicycle is fine to explore around your area but many tourist things are further out from you. Motorbike is the most convenient to stop and go as you please. Don’t worry about the danger, the roads are totally empty so you can ride as slowly as you need. Ninh Binh is very remote, I didn’t see public buses or even enough people to have public buses.

Itineraries:

• DAY 1 – arrive and rest. Explore the area around your accommodation. Or if you’re staying in the city or your accommodation area is boring, you can go to into Trang An town center and see Chua Ky Lan & Thap Chua Bac temples (they’re lit up at night). Then eat in town or at your accommodation.
• DAY 2 – Hang Mua Cave and then boat ride at either Trang An or Tam Coc. I feel Trang An is better. Depending how early you start your day, you might also be able to squeeze in Bai Dinh Pagoda or Tuyet Tinh Coc.
• DAY 3 – Bai Dinh Pagoda and then Tuyet Tinh Coc if you have time. Ride around the nature in your area and take pictures of local life.
• DAY 4 – one of the bigger parks like Van Long Nature Preserve or Cuc Phuong National Park.

Nearby towns:

• Ha Long Bay** (2hr bus) – probably Vietnam’s #1 tourist destination. Big bay with forested rock islands spread across picturesque turquoise waters. Can experience as a cruise boat tour, or stay on the island and use small private boats to hop around. Getting here requires bus to Haiphong ferry point where take a boat to your island.
• Hanoi** (2hr bus) – major city and definitely worth seeing. Main city of the north with many tourist activities and cultural destinations.

Unfiltered notes: