What is the inland Halong Bay? It consists of what is called "karst" landforms , meaning rock whose particular shape has been sculpted by the action of water. While in Halong Bay, these steep cliffs rise from the water, a similar type of landscape can be found in Ninh Binh , but this time, rising directly from the land, hence the name "inland Halong Bay."
Regarding the time spent there, we actually stayed a little over 24 hours (around 27 hours, that makes a small difference 😉), enough time to get an overview of the essentials.
Getting to Ninh Binh from Hanoi
So we landed in Hanoi and immediately set off for Ninh Binh . To do this, we took a taxi directly to the bus station (My Dinh), then took the bus to Ninh Binh, and finally a taxi to our hotel, located in Tam Coc.
After getting a SIM card for internet access (330,000 VND for 3GB of data, more than enough, but we preferred to be on the safe side and shared the card between the two of us), we immediately took a taxi. Actually, it was a limousine service… but we didn't realize it, as the price seemed reasonable ($48 round trip). If we had taken a regular taxi, we were quoted $18 to get to the bus station, but when we were in Hanoi at the end of our trip, we saw agencies advertising fares as low as $11! Basically, a taxi from the airport should be negotiable for around $15.
Bich Dong Pagoda
We booked at the Tuan Ngoc Hotel , and our best memory of it will surely be the young woman at reception! A lovely young woman full of good advice! The hotel itself is decent considering the price, and the view of the countryside is superb.
For this day, which was already well underway, we started by visiting the Bich Dong Pagoda , less than 2 km from our hotel. We had rented a scooter from reception for our (approximately) 24-hour stay.
Like almost everywhere in Vietnam, you have to pay for parking (20 Dong) and entrance to the temple (000 Dong). It's not harassment like you can have in some places in Asia but expect what the few souvenir sellers here will approach you. Politely refuse if you're not interested.
We will come across a few tourists (both Vietnamese and Asian, as well as European). The visit consists of several stages. The entrance is via a small bridge spanning a body of water. Then we arrive at a small courtyard with a few buildings. For the interesting part, you have to take the stairs leading to the part of the temple on the hillside on the left.
The temple's origins date back to the 15th century . In addition to the pagoda nestled beneath the rock face, there is also a small cave that one passes through on the way up, to reach other staircases leading a little higher.
There's a terrace there with a view . The path doesn't really seem to continue. But seeing someone coming back down, that was all it took for me to go take a look. Luckily I had good shoes because the path isn't really a path at all; it's a bit like climbing…
I was hoping to have a view of the other side of the mountain but no, there is indeed an opening between the sharp rocks but you can't see anything... the view is blocked by vegetation...
Boat trip along the rice fields of Tam Coc
It's late afternoon and we're heading towards the lake where all the boats are moored. Visiting Tam Coc without a boat trip on the river that winds through the rice paddies seems unthinkable. The fact is, in high season, I imagine the atmosphere must be a bit hectic and possibly too geared towards mass tourism.
But luckily for us, that wasn't the case. In fact, no one left at the same time as us, and along the 2-hour journey, we only came across a few other boats, most of them Vietnamese rather than foreigners.
What is special about this trip? There are normally only female rowers, and in our case, this one (and she is not the only one) uses not her hands but her feet!
Yes, yes, we were both surprised (sorry if I spoil the "surprise"... I should probably write "Spoiler alert..." before lol). We were also surprised by the ease with which she did that.
So, just so you know, the name "Tam Coc" means "the 3 caves" ! Indeed, along this hike, we pass three times under a passage carved by water flowing beneath the karst peaks. We come across the first one after a while, while the last two follow almost immediately afterward.
The advantage of going in the late afternoon, besides the fact that it was quiet (although, again, that's more related to the season than the time of day), was that we were able to witness a superb sunset at just the right moment! (The weather was overcast at the beginning, so it wasn't a sure thing).
Just after the 3rd "cave", we stop on a small quay. There is apparently a small Chinese temple there and a group of people eating. We were offered to go down and see the area. Wary, thinking that we were going to be charged something, we preferred to stay seated in the boat. The people sitting at the table suddenly came to give us little biscuits, for free...
Well, our rower offers to take us further for an extra charge. We politely decline and she obliges by taking the oars back to our starting point.
But a little further on she will stop to sell us souvenirs... pretending that she has children etc... Honestly, the walk would have been perfect without that. She was lucky, we were in a rather good mood and so we took a few things from her, but refuse insistently if you don't want to.
Mua Cave, the cave that everyone doesn't care about but goes there for the view!
The next day, among other things, we had planned to see the Mua Cave, a place better known for the viewpoint at the top of the peak than for the cave itself, located discreetly at the foot of the stairs leading to the top of the peak in question...
The road leading there runs along a canal, crosses a village, we are surrounded by rice fields and mountains. It is beautiful. The only downside is that we saw rock extractors in the distance, just like we saw in Hpa An in Burma, they raze entire mountains to recover material… a bit of a shame.
And indeed, the little cave is not really great (I always ask myself the question: but where does this expression come from…). At least, I remember that it feels good to go there because with the heat that was there, a little break in the cool would not be too much…
The climb itself is not that difficult, but (yes, I insist), it was very hot, very humid. And the reward at the top is really worth it! A view of a stretch of river that we had just crossed the day before, surrounded by rice fields and all these karst peaks.
To recover from this climb, we will take a short break, me taking pictures and chatting with a French couple passing by, the wife drawing. The fact is that the descent is much easier.
In search of the first capital, Hoa Lu
Our last stop on our visit to Ninh Binh would have been to go to Hoa Lu, considered the first capital of the Kingdom of Vietnam…
Would? Yes, because I looked everywhere… I couldn’t find the road… I went around in circles a bit and the place wasn’t indicated by signs or on Google Maps… and the locals didn’t really know how to explain (or didn’t know at all, we don’t know…), in short, I couldn’t find it…
I was a little disappointed because I thought that a place of tourist interest should not be so difficult to find... Afterwards I saw it rather as a plus to complete the visit of the surroundings but not as an essential, because it is also necessary to know that there is not much left of this old capital.
So instead we wandered through the countryside around Tam Coc, passing through villages and rice fields. We passed what appeared to be another boarding point for a boat trip, but it was clearly designed to accommodate buses and lots and lots of people…
We returned to Tam Coc, then took this large deserted road, still under construction, a dual carriageway just for us!
Restaurants in Tam Coc
Tam Coc is quite small. All the restaurants are lined up on both sides of the street just before the body of water where the walks start. Some will make signs to invite you to stop there.
In addition to testing the restaurant at our hotel, we tested several right next to the lake. In particular, one in the evening that proudly displays being in the Routard guide since 2013. As a result, we only met French people there!
After the meal itself was ok but not amazing either.
It’s well worth a little detour from Hanoi, right? 😉
