If you’re exploring northern Vietnam, doing a Hanoi to Ninh Binh day trip is the perfect way to explore more of the country and spend a few hours outside of the hustle and bustle of the city.
Traveling from Hanoi to Halong Bay is a great way to relax in beautiful Vietnamese nature, and you can check out my post about that if you’re still building your Vietnam trip itinerary. Ninh Binh is sometimes considered “Halong Bay on Land” due to the similarly shaped towering limestone karsts, so it’s worth comparing the two if you’re short on time.
Ninh Binh is relatively easy to reach which makes it a popular line item on most people’s Northern Vietnam itinerary.
To the west of Ninh Binh is parts of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Trang An, including caves that you can only access by boat as well as Vietnam’s first capital, Hoa Lu. I’m not what you’d consider a cave girlie, so that wasn’t necessarily a selling point for me, but the stunning scenery and history had me convinced to do a Ninh Binh day trip from Hanoi.
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How to Get to Ninh Binh from Hanoi: Organize Tour or DIY (Do it Yourself)
Organized Tour
You have two options when it comes to exploring Ninh Binh as a day trip from Hanoi: traveling there via organized tour or on your own using other transit options. The area is accessible via public transit, and many of the activities that tours do can also be done without being part of an organized group. If you’re used to exploring at your own pace and trying to save $10-$20, this is very doable.
We did this tour through Asian Discovery Travel via Get Your Guide. The tour involved stops at Tam Coc, Hoa Lu, and Mua Caves. The tour picked us up from our hotel in Old Quarter Hanoi around 8am and dropped us off back there at the end of the day around 6:30pm, making it a really convenient option.
DIY – Hanoi to Ninh Binh Bus
Buses leave about every 15 minutes from Hanoi’s southern Giap Bat bus terminal. The ride takes 1.5 – 2.5 hours depending on the traffic. The fare is about $6 USD each way. You can explore other bus options here.
DIY – Hanoi to Ninh Binh Train
Ninh Binh is a regular station on the north-south train route. The trip takes about 2.5 hours and costs about $7, and you can buy tickets at the train station. The first train leaves at 6:10am and another one doesn’t leave until after 1pm, so if you’re going this route, plan for an early morning. The last train to Hanoi from Ninh Binh leaves at 4:10pm, so you do have some restrictions on timing. Check out times here.
Getting Around in Ninh Binh
Before your day trip from Hanoi to Ninh Binh, download the Grab app if you haven’t already. Grab is basically just Uber or Lyft and is very easy to use. There is an abundance of cars for hire in the area, and you should be able to find rides to get you to the different things to do in Ninh with relative ease. In general, rides from the train or bus station to the different places in Ninh Binh will likely be $10-$20.
Hanoi to Ninh Binh Day Trip Things to Do
Hoa Lu
Hoa Lu is an ancient town and Vietnam’s first capital city, established in AD 938 (though it was only the capital for a pretty brief period of time, all things considered, and they moved to Hanoi in AD 1009). The Temple of the King Dinh Tien Hoang is itself a well preserved history of Vietnam’s early dynasties. The architecture is a blend of Vietnamese design and Chinese imperial style and has pagodas, carvings, and statues throughout.
The atmosphere at Hoa Lu is definitely reverent; women must have their knees covered to enter (they have tie-on skirts if you show up without). You can smell the incense as you walk through the peaceful courtyards surrounded by ponds and lush greenery.
This was a stop that we were particularly glad to have a guide, as there are not a lot of signs in English that can adequately describe the historical significance of the area. If you’re visiting on your own, admission is a very affordable 20,000 VDN (less than $1 USD).
Tam Coc
Tam Coc is just a short bus or taxi ride away from Hoa Lu. Tam Coc is known for the three caves that are accessible by a traditional boat ride down the Hoang Long River. It is a super peaceful ride as a local driver rows you through the rice paddies and along the steep limestone cliffs around Hoa Lu. The ride was about 1.5 hours, which is less than the 2-2.5 hours at Trang An where there are 9 caves to see.
Again, not a cave girlie, and also not a girlie with the longest attention span, so I purposely selected a tour that would have ridden through Tam Coc. Trang An, however, is widely considered less touristy, so you may have a more peaceful experience on a tour that includes a ride there. If you love a good cave, you can enjoy all 9 of them.
Tam Coc has become a bit of a hotspot in recent years, and we saw construction of multiple new hotels and restaurants along the river. There’s also a larger number of locals looking to cash in on tourist dollars.
Our guide recommended saying no early and firmly when our boat rower offered to sell us some art. There is also a line of locals in their own boats ready to take your photo and sell it to you if you look remotely interested. If you’re not remotely interested, it’s OK to blatantly ignore them.
Entrance fee: 120,000 VND (around $5 USD) National Park fee per person and 150,000 VND ($6 USD) per boat – up to 2 people per boat.
Mua Cave / Hang Mua
If you’re like me and thinking “omg this is a very cave heavy day” rest assured, Mua Cave is really just visited to give you the opportunity to climb 486 stairs to see views of the Tam Coc River, rice paddies, and towering limestones. At the summit, a dragon statue overlooks the landscape, adding a nice touch of the mystical ambiance of the place.
So Mua Cave is good news if you’re kind of claustrophobic and bad news if you’re averse to cardio on your vacation. I was sweating by stair 50, and I did not stop sweating until I was all the way and drinking a freshly opened coconut. I needed every last electrolyte that fruit could provide after that hike.
The views were out of this world stunning though. The prettiest landscapes we saw in all of Vietnam.
Entrance fee: 100,000 VND per person ($4 USD).
Rent a Bike in the Tam Coc Valley
One of the best things to do in Ninh Binh is rent a bike and pedal through the stunning rice paddies and limestone karsts. Compared to Hanoi, where you’re within an inch of death from oncoming traffic everytime you cross the street, you will encounter very few cars and have the dirt road to yourself.
Our tour allotted for 30 minutes of biking, and given how much I was already sweating that day, that was more than enough.
If you’re doing your own Ninh Binh from Hanoi day trip, you can rent a bike from Tam Coc Boat tours at the Tam Coc harbor and pedal through the winding roads from there. A bike rental should be about $3 USD.
Eating in Ninh Binh
If you’re on a tour, this is honestly where you take a little bit of an L compared to those seeing Ninh Binh on their own. I have yet to read a review of a tour where the food was widely considered exceptional. Instead, it’ll be relatively bland and not a particularly exciting buffet in the middle of your tour. But it did have cold beer so it was not a total L on a hot day.
If you’re exploring Ninh Binh on your own, some of the most highly recommended restaurants in Ninh Binh are the Banana Tree Hostel-Kitchen Bar and Minh Toan Restaurant – Father Cooking (located very close to the Tam Coc boat harbor).
Best Time to Visit Ninh Binh Vietnam
Spring (March to May) or Fall (September to November): these months are going to have the most pleasant weather and have generally milder temperatures that will be nice for the outdoor activities in Ninh Binh. I say generally because when we visited in April, it was 95 degrees with humidity that felt like it could melt a person. No rain though, I suppose.
Avoid the rainy season (June to August), as any type of bicycling will be very difficult on the muddy roads even if it’s not raining, and a boat tour will be pretty unpleasant in a downpour.
Embarking on a Hanoi to Ninh Binh day trip is one of the best things we did while in Vietnam. It was like a whole other world located just a couple hours outside of Hanoi, and it was really cool to be able to experience not only the natural wonders of Vietnam, but also get to walk the footsteps of ancient Vietnamese emperors.
If you’re a cave enthusiast (have I mentioned they’re not for me?), definitely don’t skip Ninh Binh, but even if you’re just a general travel enthusiast, you should consider adding a Ninh Binh day trip from Hanoi to your Vietnam travel itinerary. You might regret it in the middle of the 486 steps at Mua Cave, but you won’t regret it at the top of the mountain with a view unlike any other.
How to book this tour?
You can book the Ninh Binh from Hanoi day trip tour right here!
Other Ninh Binh day trips from Hanoi tour Options
- This tour features rivers of Trang An which will let you see more caves and enjoy a longer boat ride.
- This Hanoi to Ninh Binh day trip tour guarantees you time in the day trip to see Vietnam’s largest temple, the Bai Dinh Pagoda.
- This Ninh Binh from Hanoi day trip includes time in Ninh Binh and the highly Instagrammable colorful Incense Village – named Quang Phu Cau.
Still planning your Vietnam travel itinerary? Check out my post on why a Hanoi street food tour is the ultimate thing to do in Hanoi. Spoiler alert: after our Ninh Binh tour dropped us off back in Hanoi, we went straight to find some Banh Mi from a place recommended on the tour.
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