Ninh Binh Goats, King Kong and Mua Caves
Ninh Bính is a hidden, less known gem of Northern Vietnam. Although a city, Ninh Binh and the surrounding area of Tam Coc are as far from city life as you can imagine. It’s surrounded by green mountains and lakes, known as the inland Halong Bay.
Its rice fields and natural wonders make it a beautiful stop when visiting the north of Vietnam. After five days of torrential rain and thunderstorms in Hanoi, we were torn between visiting Sapa or Ninh Bính. With forecasted sun and 20* degrees, Ninh Bính won, and we are so grateful we went.
How to get to Ninh Bình
Around 100KM to the south of Hanoi, it takes around 2 hours to get to Ninh Bính.
Options for travel are train or bus. We got a sleeper bus from Hanoi at 6pm and we were in Ninh Binh at around 8.30pm. We paid around 50,000 Vietnamese Dong for the bus each ($17AUD). From the centre city of Ninh Bính, we got an uber which took us to our hostel around 7KM outside of the city to Tam Coc.
The southbound trains that can take you are the: SE5, SE7 or SE19
Where to stay in Ninh Binh?
We stayed in both a hostel and moved to a hotel with a pool during our four day stay in Ninh Bính.
Tam Coc Central Bungalow
A six bed dorm for around $6 pp per night
A beautifully located, quiet family owned hostel, right on the river. Free wifi, Air con rooms, a great restaurant attached and bike hire available (both bicycles and scooters). Great location in the middle of town, but down a side road, can be walked or biked. Close to all the below locations.
Tuan Ngoc Hotel
A Small hotel with outdoor pool and restaurant at around $14 per night per person.
Within walking distance of the main town of Ninh Bình. There were bikes available to hire and free wifi. The owner is lovely and her mum makes the best Banh Mi’s.
Tam Coc Caves
Tam Coc Caves are renowned for being the inland Halong Bay. Around a twenty minute scooter ride from the centre of Tam Coc, follow google maps or the signposted directions. The route is really scenic and gives you the best view of rural Vietnam. Just beware the heard of cows that like to sit in the middle of the roads!
The caves are actually a river boat experience where locals paddle (Tours can take around 3 hours) with both their hands and amazingly – with their feet too! Feel free to grab an oar and help the boat navigator out along the way.
You get a choice of Tour A , B or C. Each tour features a different route that navigates through and under the caves with different spots along the way to stop.
Tour C Ninh Binh
We opted for Tour C: this included the King Kong movie set, a few temples and a variety of cave passage ways.
This tour took around 3 hours to complete, depending on how long you stop at stop points it could take a lot longer.
Parking: Scammers work in this area. There is a courtyard of car parking spots that want to charge around $15 for the day – right on the front there is a scooter parking area for around $2 for the day.
Entrance Fee: Around £13 per person.
Make sure to bring a large bottle of water and if you get hungry easily a snack in a bag. They have boat food vendor sellers: however, the price of the drinks and food on offer is around £6.00 which is ridiculous. Average drink costs work out at around £0.30 in Vietnam shops.
Some of the beautiful temples along the route of the Tam Coc caves.
When going through the undercave river routes, make sure you can duck low because the ceiling height can be very low at certain points – I promise the incredible views makes up for the sore backs!
King Kong Set
This stop along the Tour C route was really cool. The film set is left behind as they filmed it for King Kong. It features burnt out planes you can walk through, which then leads into the straw hut village. Here there are locals dressed up as characters from the film. You can pay for photos with the actors or take your own for free.
Make sure to watch out for Chinese tourists using many of these stops along the route for their wedding pictures (A very odd concept for anyone outside of china) – not to mention how bloody hot it was and for a woman to be kitted out in full makeup and wedding dresses to get to this point, hats of to you my love.
Hang Múa Caves
Not entirely sure why they call this place the caves as its anything but underground. This place features a beautiful lake with tourists spots like swings & bridges. The main attraction however is the view onto of this mountain/shrine. The Panoramic views at the top are well worth the murderous 500 steps to get to the top. Head up for sunset, 1. for the incredible views & 2. So you make it to the top you’re not completely drenched in sweat if you want some pictures. It does get busy – so finding a spot amongst the simple shrine at the top for sunset can lead to you standing.
Parking: Drive down the long dirt road and make sure to pass all the “parking” spots. Even as you get to the main arched entrance their is a parking lot on the right that looks like the legit spot to park. It’s not, make sure to drive through the archway and into the Mua Caves entrance for FREE parking. Otherwise you have aggressive locals demanding you pay and holding onto the handles of your scooter as you try to manoeuvre out to find free parking.
Entrance Fee: 20 Vietnamese dong £0.30.
Ninh Binh Goats
Tam Coc’s local famous dish is goat. Not exactly my cup of tea but a little heads up – whilst driving around Ninh Bình, Tam Coc caves and Mua Caves you will come across a bit of a gross sight. Impaled waxed goats sitting on carts at the side of the roads with locals selling them (think spit roast pig but instead goats). Kinda puts you off meat for the majority of you stay in Tam Coc. But, for the adventurous ones amongst you give the goat delicacy a go….
It makes it a little harder to see when the goats are quite cute and they have amazing climbing abilities which you will see all across the mountain sides when exploring the area.
Ninh Binh is a beautiful escape from the city hustle and bustle of Hanoi. For more Vietnam travel guides, explore and read the below blogs.
