Taking a Ninh Binh Day Trip from Hanoi: My Honest Review

Many people wonder whether you should take a Ninh Binh day trip from Hanoi, or if Ninh Binh itself is worth a few days of exploration and it should be used as a base on a larger trip through Vietnam.

My answer is that it’s all about timing. Yes, you absolutely can see the highlights of Ninh Binh in a day trip from Hanoi, and it’s run like a well-oiled machine. But perhaps the well-oiled machine of it all hides some of the magic of it, because you do run from site to site in a rather rushed fashion, rather than exploring it with a leisurely sense of wonder.

If I had planned for more time in Vietnam, I think I would have given Ninh Binh a night or two. However, I only had five nights in Hanoi — and I was arriving late at night on my first night — and I had to make some tough choices with my itinerary given all that I wanted to see in Hanoi, since it had been 11 years since my last visit.

That said, I am very glad I chose to visit Ninh Binh, even as a quick-paced day trip. The landscapes here are some of my favorites I’ve seen in Vietnam, and I’ve spent a cumulative ~2 months in Vietnam over the years, exploring its corners, from Sapa to Saigon.

In my mind, Ninh Binh is tied with Sapa for the best landscapes in Vietnam, but it’s a lot easier to get here than it is to get to Sapa, especially with limited time (as Sapa requires at least an overnight train or bus).

However, with the ease of access to Ninh Binh comes crowds to match; that’s certainly something to consider and weigh your options, with the exponential rise of Ninh Binh as a tourist hotspot in Vietnam.

So, yes, I really enjoyed visiting Ninh Binh as a day trip from Hanoi. However, if I could do it again with the luxury of time, I’d absolutely give a stay in Ninh Binh the night or two it deserves, so I could avoid some peak times and explore some of the sights at a more leisurely pace.

But if a day trip is all you have time for, it’s hands-down the best day trip you can do from Hanoi. To know if it’s worth it, I’ll run through my experience of the day trip I selected from Hanoi to Ninh Binh, and you can determine for yourself whether that sounds like a good option for you or if you’d rather do it another way, or skip it entirely.

Ninh Binh Day Trip: My Itinerary & Experience

This is the day trip I picked, and I would say I had a really good experience overall. Yes, the pace was a bit rushed, but that wasn’t the fault of the guide: any tour that visits these must-visit sights will have to do it in a bit of a rushed fashion.

The stops and timing were thoughtful, the size of the group was manageable, the bus was comfortable and the driver was excellent (not necessarily a given in Vietnam, where many people drive with a death wish).

It’ll take about 1.5-2 hours to get to Ninh Binh, so keep that in mind when you are planning the day. Most tours start around 7:30 AM and get you back into the city around 12 hours later, around 7 PM.

First Stop: Mua Cave & Ngoa Long (Lying Dragon) Mountain

The first stop was great, with an option to hike to get yourself awake and active after a long, drowsy bus ride. I liked that this was the first stop on our tour, so we had the most energy for it and also it was early enough in the day that it wasn’t very hot (also, I was visiting in March, which is not a particularly hot time of year in Northern Vietnam).

However, due to the day trip’s itinerary, you only get one hour at the Mua Cave area, which is not a lot of time considering that there are two caves and a beautiful mountain you can climb to two different, distinct viewpoints (and you will almost certainly have to choose only one of the two), as well as rice fields that would be worth wandering around.

Personally, I’d skip spending much time at the Mua Cave itself (I found it very underwhelming) and make my way to Tiger Cave, which is at the base of the stairs up to the two viewpoints on Ngoa Long Mountain.

If you’re going to the iconic dragon statue at the top, the climb is nearly 500 steps. It’s rather steep and uneven in parts, but if you’re reasonably fit, it’s absolutely worth it. It took me about 20 minutes to reach the top, even with crowds and a knee injury I’m mid-rehabbing.

You have two options after you’ve gone up about a third of the way. The path to the right leads up a different, lower summit of the mountain where you’ll find a five-tiered pagoda, which is a popular photo spot. However, I skipped it to focus on reaching the top where the famous stone dragon sits.

While I didn’t find the stone dragon that iconic — due to the time, I didn’t have time to wait in the line to get a picture with the dragon and all the landscape behind it.

However, I did love the view that opened up behind the stairs as I climbed up to the summit, especially of the river (which you’ll explore at length during the Trang An portion of this tour — but more on that later).

There’s typically a crowded line to pose with the dragon for photos. With only an hour total, you likely won’t have time to wait it out. After heading back down, I squeezed in a quick walk through Mua Cave itself. To be honest, it’s more of a short tunnel than an interesting cave, at least by my own standards.

I walked past the peaceful rice field boardwalks nearby on my way back to the entryway where we were all meeting up, and they looked beautiful and not very crowded.

If you have mobility or physical limitations that make the hike up to the summit more challenging, these ground-level boardwalks are absolutely worth your time.

I wish I had more time to explore this area! This was the part of the tour where I would have preferred an extra ~30 minutes or so to explore, probably in lieu of the bike ride which I didn’t feel added much to the tour.

Hoa Lu & Temple of King Dinh Tien Hoang

The next stop was the complex of Hoa Lu Ancient Capital, which was Vietnam’s former capital city more than 1,000 years ago. Even with limited time here, we got a good sense of the site’s importance and history due to our guide’s explanations.

You’ll walk through the typical three-entry gate and explore one of the main temples, which is dedicated to Đinh Tiên Hoàng, a former emperor of Vietnam. The temple is made of wood and is very interesting although you are not allowed to take photos of the interior.

We learned a bit about some of the interesting Vietnamese beliefs about temples — such as having three gates to enter through, each with a high step, the middle of which is reserved for royalty (even though there is no more royalty in Vietnam).

We also learned about the meaning of the colors of the flags you’ll see fluttering around many Vietnamese temples, a series of squares overlapping one another.

These are dedicated to the five elements in Vietnamese belief, each represented by a color: red (fire), yellow (earth), blue (water), green (wood), and white (metal).

Lunch & Bike Ride Through the Village

After the temple visit, we stopped for lunch, a buffet-style spread of mostly Vietnamese dishes at a local restaurant. The food was just fine — definitely nothing bad, but I’ve had plenty of way better meals in Vietnam. It was just about par for the course for a buffet for tourists. I will say that just about everyone should be able to find something to satisfy them.

We then took a short bike ride through the village, past rice fields, homes, and even a local graveyard which was rather interesting. I did enjoy the change of pace of cycling, but at the same time, I don’t know that we saw anything particularly spectacular, so I think this part of the tour could be substituted for more time at, say, Ngoa Long Mountain and Mua Cave.

Trang An Boat Ride

Ending the day at Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex was a good idea, but not just because it’s the most famous stop: save the best for last!

After a full day of nonstop movement, sitting on a boat and drifting through limestone karsts, ducking under caves as you pass through grottoes, gliding amongst the glassy water felt like a natural way to end the day on a more leisurely note.

Visually, Trang An is every bit as stunning as it is pictured: one of those places that looks exactly like the photos, with foliage-clinging cliffs and winding waterways in a surreal atmosphere.

That being said, for all the undeniable natural beauty of it, the human side of the experience isn’t the peaceful drift through the river it’s marketed as.

It’s busy, with lines of boats cluttering up the pristine waterways. The boarding process feels rather chaotic, and even out on the water, you’re surrounded by other boats, sometimes at a total standstill.

There are pockets of calm and awe, especially when passing through caves or quieter stretches of the river, when a bottleneck dissipates and you get to see the landscape more openly.

However, the ride itself is long, around two hours on this route, and admittedly it is not the most comfortable, especially if you’re dealing with any kind of back, knee, or neck pain (just me?).

But despite the crowds and minor discomforts, I still think it’s worth it. It’s one of the most visually striking landscapes in Vietnam, and as long as you go in with realistic expectations (aka, beautiful but busy) you’ll enjoy it a lot more.

Is It Worth It?

In my opinion, yes, a day trip is worth it if you’re staying in Hanoi and don’t have extra time to extend your stay elsewhere in Vietnam with overnight trips. I was happy I did it, but I can identify places where I wish I had more time and would have done it differently as an independent traveler.

Still, it was a great tour given the limitations of a day trip time frame, and I don’t think they could have done that much differently. This is the tour I took and recommend.

However, if you have the option to stay overnight in Ninh Binh and explore it at a more leisurely pace, I do feel like it would be slightly more rewarding. If you do this, I would book a bus ticket to Ninh Binh, stay a peaceful guesthouse, and hire taxis to bring you to the sights that interest you most in Ninh Binh.

There are other choices too like this Ninh Binh and Ha Long Bay 3-day, 2-night experience, which to me seems like the perfect balance of overnight stay and extra time in Ninh Binh, adding another gem of Northern Vietnam tourism, and yet repositioning yourself easily back in Hanoi, perfect if you are flying in and out of the same airport (Noi Ba).

If you’re going as a couple, it’s priced excellently for all that it includes. However, as a solo traveler, you’ll end up paying more per person (since you’re covering the full cost of a room on your own — essentially the same room that would normally be split between two people). That made it a bit too costly for me for this trip, but it’s something I’d definitely do in the future with a friend or partner to split it with!

Check out the Ninh Binh and Ha Long Bay multiday tour!

Allison Green

Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016, visiting 75+ countries in total. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. As a former educator, she merges her writing and educational experience to encourage ethical, sustainable travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and TBEX. Her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. When she’s not on the road, she lives in Bangkok, Thailand.