Ninh Binh is also known as the Ha Long Bay on land for an obvious reason – it looks like Ha Long Bay but on land instead of water. Only an hour and a half drive in private car to the south of Hanoi. The city is known for its limestone mountains topped by dense trees that scattered around the city with rivers flowing through them and caves formed in them.
Trip Experience
Upon arrival in Hanoi, I hired a private car for our group of four to Ninh Binh. There are many places to visit such as Bai Din Temple, Hao Lu Ancient Village, Mua Cave, Trang An, Tam Coc, and Bich Dong Pagoda. A few of them are further out from the main attraction area like Phat Diem Cathedral, Chicken Village, Thung Nham Bird Garden. On this trip, we managed to visit only the main highlights.
Hao Lu Ancient Village: If you have time, you can nearly spend half a day here. Hao Lu was Vietnam’s very first capital city, the compound consists of several structures in old bricks surrounded with trees.
Bai Din Temple: This is an enormous complex with many structures. The temple was built in 2003 and completed in 2010. From entrance, you need to take to purchase the ticket with electric car to gain access to the temple. It took about at least 2 hours to see the whole complex.
Mua Cave: This is where we stayed. There is a small lodge right at the foothill of Mua Cave. The lodge is small with decent decor and services for the night. The con is that all guest rooms are hidden away from the main tourist path to the cave, it could be noisy. The pro is that you can conquer the top of Mua Cave early in the morning where the tourists have not arrived and still cool.
Trang An: After the morning hike up Mua Cave, the next stop was Trang An. Best is to take the boat ride starting at 9AM or 10AM and to finish by noon otherwise it will be very hot. The boat ride at Trang An offers you a great experience to stay in touch with nature. You get to choose the route when you are buying the ticket. Along the way, the boat will stop at temples which are hidden away in the middle of no where and it is a must to get off the boat and explore. All in all, a night in Ninh Binh is good and two nights would allow you to see everything in Ninh Binh.
travel ^ explore ^ inspire 