Ninh Binh day trip from Hanoi, Vietnam

“History, culture and nature at one go”

Most of us want to travel, see places and tick off our bucket list of wishes. In that wish list,newly added place for many Indians, including us, is Vietnam. The reason for Vietnam getting added in the Indian traveler’s bucket list may be because of its tropical weather, pocket friendly tours, E-visa and easy access from major cities like Mumbai and New Delhi.  The other most important beauty of Vietnam is that it caters to all types of traveler’s taste- History & Architecture, food, Nature & trekking/hiking and for the crazy shopping spree tourists.

Major Vietnam cities are well connected by Air internationally and domestically. Air travel between cities is a breeze with Bamboo airlines, VietJet, Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar pacific; the country as such is very friendly and accommodative for tourists. In Hanoi city, we need at least two days apart from the day trips to see the nature and witness the history & culture of the country.

We booked our tour through Viator.com and it was a good experience. There are many such operators and you can book online. The costs of the day trip, including all the entry tickets, transportation and lunch is between 40-60 USD per person.

Our tour consisted of 17 members with a guide. We got picked up by 8.05 am from the hotel, (they do hotel pick-ups if our hotels are located within the old Hanoi quarter area) with first stop over for coffee and rest room break after an hour and a half, at the entrance of Ninh Binh (Café  An Sang at Thanh Liem – A souvenir shop with restaurant and rest rooms) where most of the tour operators stop by.

The beautiful Hoa Lu ancient Capital of Vietnam was located in the midst of Lush green forests with old temples telling the story of the capital takes you back to real ancient mood. Within 10 kms from this place, you get to ride the bike along the up and down of the beautiful, mesmerizing valley surrounded by Ninh Binh mountains which will lasts in your memory for life time.

The bike rental place is the common buffet restaurant (at Hoa Lu – Truong Yen) for most of the tour operators. It’s a huge buffet hall with few private VIP dining halls for smaller groups.  Though they claim that they cater for both vegetarian and non-vegetarians, the choice of vegetarian items are very limited and often we need to compromise with the noodles and fried rice.

 Post lunch around 1.30 pm, the tour continues to a place called Tam Coc Bich Dong memorable boat ride in Ngo Dong River. This particular boat ride is memorable not just because of greenery and the mountains, but also for the enthralling boat ride (local women rowing the bamboo boats using their legs along the river), wading through a few famous lime stone arched caves. Yes, you read it correctly, the entire one and half hour return boat ride was rowed by them using their legs.  Actually, you forget to see the nature’s marvel and start admiring the fresh smiling faces your boat rider and the other women riders rowing the boat with legs so easily and comfortably without any strain or pain in the face. Be ready to pay a generous tip while getting down because they do not shy away to ask you for more.

The last leg of the tour is climbing the steep 500 steps of the beautiful “lying dragon mountain” in the MUA caves. The hiking across the mountains is really steep and tiring but worth the visit once you climb up the caves.  The views were mesmerizing even on the grey cloudy sky, so for sure it will have a picture-perfect scene on a bright sunny day.

By 4.30 pm you leave to the Hanoi city after the memorable trip and get to know some of the fellow travelers, history and culture from the tour guide.

The only concern with these guided tours is that you might lose your privacy and seeing things at your own pace. For example, we would have loved the cycle ride for some extra time with more stop overs for enjoying the nature or would have spent an hour more in the Mua caves after climbing so hard. But that can be over looked for the other major benefits you gain. A worth trip to do if you are in Hanoi.