Ninh Binh day tour: what to expect & where to book

Ninh Binh is a small town in northern Vietnam that gets a lot of visitors for a few of its sites, such as Mua Cave and Bai Dinh Pagoda. I stayed just near Ninh Binh in Tam Coc and booked a day tour to go see the major sites all in one day.

Here’s my experience on the tour, including our itinerary and what it was like going around the area as part of a group.

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Where to book a Ninh Binh day tour

I booked my tour through my hostel, but you can get the same thing online. I’ve pulled in some options from online travel agencies to show what’s out there.

Ninh Binh tour options

There’s three main ways to go see Ninh Binh:

1. Go to Ninh Binh by bus, stay overnight, and book a day tour.
2. Do a day trip down from Hanoi.
3. Do a multi-day tour from Hanoi.

Depending on how much time you have and where you’re going after, you may be tempted to do the day trip option. However, if you really want to see the MOST stuff in Ninh Binh, then going down and staying a night or two, OR doing the multi-day tour option, is really the only day.

The day trip tours from Hanoi can be nice, especially if you’re short on time. This day trip from Hanoi is exactly the one I went on, with transport to/from Hanoi. Keep in mind it takes 2.5-3 hours one way to get to Ninh Binh, so it DOES make for a long day.

The multi-day tours tend to only have 1 day in Ninh Binh itself and a few days somewhere else, like this 3 day tour that goes to Halong Bay as well. That could be a good option for combining a few destinations into one package.

Another thing to keep in mind: the SMALLER the tour group the better the tour experience overall. Mine only had about 10 people, including the tour guide, and it was a very good experience.

The small day tours starting from Ninh Binh can be booked once you’re there!

My Ninh Binh tour experience

Overall, I thought it was a good introduction to the area, but I do wish we could’ve spent more time in some places. Also that we got more info about some of the later stops, like Mua Cave. Our tour guide did great explaining the Pagoda’s history, but it kinda dropped off at the end of the day.

Unfortunately, we ran into some weather problems, which put us behind schedule– which meant that we had to move quickly through some of the stops. Ugh! That’s one of the things I dislike about group tours: you rush in some places and other times you spend ages at some boring part. Ha!

Ninh Binh day tour itinerary

Here’s where my tour group went and my experiences there:

We stopped at several places within the complex, and our tour guide did a fairly comprehensive explanation of the area and its history. It wasn’t crowded at all when we went, probably because the weather was overcast and rainy. We didn’t have time to climb the tower, unfortunately, but apparently it has great views.

Our tour ticket also included transport on the passenger shuttles; if you’re going on your own and want to cover more ground, I highly recommend getting a ticket for the shuttles because the complex is HUGE.

We had a buffet style lunch with probably every other tour group running that day. It was very busy, but our group got a separate table.

Honestly, the food wasn’t very good, and checking the reviews online it seems like that’s a consistent complaint. This was luckily covered by the tour ticket because I would not have been happy paying for it separately. Drinks cost extra, but weren’t too terrible overpriced.

This was quite fun, though the drizzly rain weather made it difficult to see the beauty of the place. Our rowboat went through a couple caves and around some interesting structures in the lake. It was a short ride, but we went around twice so I suppose it was worth it. Our entrance ticket was covered by the tour price as well.

Turns out this was an UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Trang An Landscape Complex! That explains the interesting cave featues.

Ending a full day of touring by climbing nearly 500 steps up to a crowded viewpoint is not my idea of fun, BUT it was a beautiful view and definitely worth it. Getting down was a bit harder because the steps are quite steep (and narrow), with few handrails, and it was raining/wet so slipping was a worry.

Highlight of the day was making friends with the other travelers on the tour!

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Other tour experiences in Vietnam:

• Day tour to Mekong River Delta
• Day trip to Halong Bay, Vietnam from Hanoi
• Two walking tours in Hanoi’s Old Quarter
• 4 days on the Ha Giang Loop (Easy Rider edition)