Ninh Binh Full Day Small Group Bai Dinh Trang An Mua Cave Tour

The Ninh Binh Tour of 1 day was very nicely organised. The experience right from picking up from hotel to drop off was on time and systematic. The tour guide Alex was very kind and helpful. The activities were organised very well. No delay or rush anywhere.

Highly recommend this amazing day tour to Ninh Binh, including the Big Budah at Bai Dinh temple, river boat through the stunning Trang An waterways and ultimate challenge climbing Hang Mua mountain to touch the Dragon. Our friendly tour guide Lee was very entertaining and enthusiastic he made the day extremely enjoyable.

As planned visited Bai dinh, Caves and Trang An. Caves boat tour was a bit long, 1 hour on the boat would have been enough. I recall the method of transport described as “limousine auto” when i booked it but it ended up being a normal bus - A/C and seat worked ok. Some locations were too busy with tourists, perhaps a weekday would have been better … or stay over night in ninh binh and start earlier… Food at lunch as average, lack of flavour, felt like cheap tourist canteen. Tour guide was good, shared some historical facts and spoke a good english. Although we were not forced to do so, same as in most of asian countries due to poor wages for locals you feel like you have to tip the boat fella, and the bus driver etc. We had about 20 people in this tour - i personally prefer smaller groups of 10-12 max, otherwise you always have to wait mr X and mr Z gone missing. It was a mix of 2 groups in my tour, 2 different tour options mixed basically - leading to more people on the tour. It’s a long day, especially with traffic - a good 10-12 hours trip at least in total. Give this tour a 7/10.

Ninh Binh is a lovely place that is definitely worth visiting. To some this place is prettier than Ha Long Bay. We visited both and I would suggest everyone else do the same. There are some things that I did not like. First the bus was not a very comfortable bus. There is no overhead rack to put even a small thing like a backpack. And it's tight. I hate to say this but our tour guide did not speak English very well. I wasn't expecting Shakespeare but his English was terrible and at some times it was just easier to do Google translate and show him what we wanted to communicate. He was a very nice person but his English was not that great. The boat ride in Trang An is 1.45 mins. It's very beautiful but your rear and back will be hurting by the time it is over. The sequence in which you visit the three places was the Pagoda first, followed by the boat ride followed by the walk up mua caves . By the time we reached Mua caves it was close to 5 pm and by the time we started walking back down it was dark. I know that is not not the tour guide's fault but it is the tour companies fault that they do not schedule the 3 stops correctly. My advice to everyone is to find a tour that will take you to the Trang An river first followed by the walk-up to the caves and then visit the Pagoda last. This may not be possible since I got the impression that every single tour was following the same sequence of stops. And there is too much time being wasted in the mandatory stop that the bus has to take (which the tour guide will tell you is to allow the driver to take some rest, but is complete BS) and at lunch. One last criticism is about our driver. He must have been the slowest driver on the road. Doing 60 kmph on a highway where the minimum speed is 80 kmph. Every single car, bus and trick was passing us.

Great time, great guide. Highly recommend. Bring a change of clothes, water and extra cash. It gets hot in the sun. Beautiful nature.

This was an excellent and enjoyable tour of four sites in the area. Our guide Thang was very helpful and informative. He was pleasant and attentive, and made our small group tour a personalised experience. The lunch buffet was delicious, and the boat cruise was outstanding.

Our tour to Ninh Binh with Hanoi explore travel was amazing. The staff was very efficient and helpful. We were running behind due to traffic so I contacted the tour operator. They spoke to our taxi driver and rerouted us to a different pick up point. The tour was very well organized and Hoang was wonderful. He was funny & explained things at each stop. All 3 sights were spectacular! The Pagodas were stunning, the boat ride through the caves at Trang An was so unique & beautiful. The buffet lunch was very tasty too. We highly recommend this tour with Hanoi Explore Travel.

Alex did a wonderful job on this very enjoyable tour. He provided just the right amount of interesting information along the way. I especially enjoyed learning about the 2 different graves explanation. Lunch stop was nice and quaint and was far nicer than were I saw the other tour busses.

Ms Thao was extremely helpful and friendly during the entirety of the tour. We wanted to visit these three locations and only had one day in Ninh Binh, however she made it happened. If you have no time and have same preference, pick this tour. The private tour is best as we avoided 90% of tour buses and lines, so it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves at multiple occasions. Also, Thao is a local Ninh Binh guide so she might be one of your best choices for these tours!

My friend and I were short on time in Hanoi so we booked a private tour with this company to do a day trip to Ninh Binh. This tour gives you the best highlights all in a day if you're short on time trying to squeeze in a visit to Ninh Binh. Got a good mixture of Mua Caves hike up to the Dragon mountain, amazing Trang An river views, also visited some beautiful Temples! Ms. Thao was our guide and she's a local to the area doing the tour for 15 years. She was the best about capturing photos for us, it was like having a professional photographer with us on the tour, she's great with angles and best spots! She was patient with our questions and gave us lots of local history, it definitely felt so sincere since she's sharing with us about her hometown. We will definitely try to visit again another season. Also the private driver they gave us picked us up from the hotel and transferred to each location in a comfortable well conditioned car. Highly recommended to do a private tour with the car to have logistics handled for you. Thank you Ms. Thao for your time with us and giving us some of the yummy grapefruit!

We had a private tour of Mua Cave, Trang An and Bai Dinh Bagoda and it was worth every penny. Our guide, Thao was so friendly and knowledgeable. It is so worth having a local to take you around as they know the best times to visit and Thao made sure we were very well treated. The places we visited were simply amazing and scaling Mua Cave was so worth it for the stunning views. The boat trip along Trang An was so tranquil and the scenery was nothing like we’ve seen before. Thao accompanied us throughout the day and took some wonderful photos that we will treasure. We were picked up and taken to each destination in an air conditioned car and our driver was excellent. Overall the whole day was fantastic and we can recommend Thao highly enough.

We had an opportunity to visit Bai Dinh Spiritual Complex, Trang An and Hang Mua for the first time and it was an amazing experience. Our guide Viet (not his fake name 😂) was amazing, funny and knowledgeable. He made sure that we had a fantastic day trip

We had our tour with Viet, the best tour guide ever! It was a beautiful day with delicious food and the best views we have ever seen! The transport was super confortable and Viet took care of us and took great pictures at the best spots. Recommend to everyone!

Our tour guide Viet was very enthusiastic and friendly. He gave us good info about the places we visited. It's a long trip but worth it. Small group of about 12 to 15 people so it was not bad as everyone was on time. The lunch was average so don't expect much.

The tour is amazing. Viet, our guide, was very friendly and helpful. They gave us time to do everything and enjoy the whole day

Tour was great. Viet was a fantastic guide. He helped us get some great photos and was informative and fun. Would recommend.

Great experience, the visited places were fantastic, I loved the boat tour and the guide was very friendly. Thank luca.

Guide Luca was very friendly and we loved the trip to Ninh Binh, we visited some beautiful Buddhist temples and took a lovely boat tour with amazing views. Totally recommended!

Thank you Viet for the great tour and all the insights. It was really fun doing the boat tour and getting up the hill. Even in the rain it was a nice experience. Would book it any time again.

The guide is very friendly and very attentive to us, Viet, a great professional. I definitely recommend it.

A well planned and seamless day trip with fabulous experiences including a bike ride, boat trip and hike. All expertly run and facilitated by Luca, who provided a wealth of information on the local area. Would definitely recommend to other travelers!

This was a great experience even for me as a Vietnamese person. I do recommend this to everyone who loves to discover and can survive the weather there :))). It was really hot, but i think it depends on the season of your visit. Thanks to Luca/Lucas we learned a lot about the area and not only that, he also told us about the history of Vietnam and Hanoi. Thanks to the agency, the driver and Luca!!!

Boat ride through caves and the great lunch we had. Overall Leo very knowledgeable and great to talk too. Always good to do small tours if you don't like too many crowds. Well planned day. Climbing to the top was amazing, fantastic views.

Bus very was very clean. Bai Dinh was beautiful but I might have liked to spend longer there. Lunch was buffet style and not very exciting. Trang An was gorgeous, though the boats were a little uncomfortable. By the time I got to Mua Cave I was pretty tired and didn't try to go up to the lookout.

Excellent trip. Trip to Buddhist temples and Pagoda a little surprising as its not a 'ancient monument', but a 20 year old new build of a Buddhist complex. Fantastic and outstanding build quality, and the HUGE, golden buddha's were astonishing, but the whole thing is a little disneyesque, even with electric minibusses shuttling you from parking to pagoda. Not sure it was truly a 'religious' site as the normal mantra of 'shoes off' was not followed. (Everything was not an 'in/out' visit, more a 'walk through' - so how can you leave shoes behind!). Well worth a visit - but less so if your a archaeological purist. The Lunch was a little hectic as a buffet for 100's, all 'OK' but not a Vietnamese dining highlight. The boat rip around the caves and lagoons was excellent. A huge operation with perhaps 1000 small rowing boats, perhaps 300 on the circuit at a time. Its a full 1.5 hour trip, and the rower/rowing lady do a great job. (TIP THEM... as they can only do two trips a day and take a day off afterward). 80% of the public also have a paddle. Very supportive of older, larger, less mobile folk (like me). Lots care on loading and unloading from boat. The climb up the mountain to the dragon monument is daunting. Its not the 300+ steps, its the size, hardness and irregularity of the steps. A proportion of people came down on their bottoms. I didn't go, my 64 year old wife and mountain goat did (safely, no risk) , but was knackered afterwards. A good and rewarding day out.

Glad we took a day out of our stay in Hanoi to undertake this trip. Temple complex very interesting with the 500 statues of the trainee Buddhas. Loved the 2 hour boat ride albeit uncomfortable. Take something to sit on. Guide was ok nothing exceptional

We had a brilliant time at Ninh Binh thanks to Hanoi Travel Experience. Special thanks to our amazing, kind and brilliant tour guide Thao who made our trip perfect!!!! Cannot recommend her enough!

Good experience and use of time. I enjoyed Bai Dinh a lot. The Trang An part was too long for me (2 hours) even though it was beautiful and quite serene. Tuan was our guide and was very knowledgeable and considerate. We got back to Hanoi around 7 pm (skipped rest area stop on the way back).

The overall experience was ok. It is a small group and it was great that Harry, our guide, was 10 mins or so ahead of the crowds so we got first to all stops (lunch included, thankfully!) The highlight is definitely the boat ride in Trang An. It’s fine if all that you’re looking for is an escape from Hanoi and to see the beautiful “ha long bay” in land. The pagoda is amazing, however, it would have been great to know more about it - there is no information there and our guide wasn’t too knowledgeable/interested in providing rich info. Overall, Harry our guide was lovely but would have been great to hear more meaningful information from him during the day. He’s more of a coordinator than a guide.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED... One of the best tour companies.. What I Liked : Small group ( ours was just 11 ) , Limousine luxurious car, gives ample time in a place even if you want to explore on your own. What I didn't like : NONE I was initially skeptical as i had heard that many companies run group tour with a huge Group and they just rush through things. I am not a big fan of group tours? But Hanoi Exolore travel has actually imbibed the thought of going on group tours. Honestly now i won't be so skeptical. The guide explains the places really well. I would rate it 5/5

We had a super nice day with Ciara and the view is gorgeous. What is a bit surprised for us is that we went to Bai Dinh for the progoda but in the end we just saw two temples with super amazing statures but not really get close to the iconic progoda tower (like picture shows). The rest of the trip is super nice which covers the hightlight in that area and we enjoyed a lot!

The tour guide will take care of everything. Very well organised. Excellent tour. Explains everything in detail

Very nice tour with Thao a local guide in Ninh Binh , really nice! We had wonderful time together with her on the boat so excited and enjoyed. The cycling so interesting . She gave us alot of information about history. We would like to recommend to everyone visit to Ha Noi as Ninh Binh as well.

I went on the day trip to Ninh Binh and it did not disappoint. The tour was run very well and we had a great guide, Tommy, who kept us all in great spirits :) would highly recommend! I went solo and met a lot of nice people.

Great trip with a very knowledgeable and happy guide.He really made the trip fun and his short history lesson was wonderful.Can thoroughly recommend a day with him. Watch out for his infectious laugh!😂

Absolutely excellent tour guide and tour. Tommy was hilarious, happy and friendly all the way through the day, making us all feel at ease and connect. The day is packed full of amazing things to see and do. I’d recommend this to anyone and if you get Tommy as your tour guide, you’re in for an extra treat.

Tommy , He is a good,funny guide to make you happy all time between your trip. I suggest you to have a trip with him.

Our tour guide Hai was very nice and knowledgable and provided a great tour atmosphere. The bus was very comfy with AC and wifi. The smaller group of participants provided a more personalized feel. We were able to see the sights easily and ask any questions. Trang An was absolutely beautiful, we cannot wait to go back. The lunch buffet was huge and provided an assortment of food for everyone. We highly recommend this tour group.

We were really satisfied with our tourist guide Thao. I strongly recommend you to make your time in Vietnam great.😉😘

Tommy is friendly and knowledgeable. You can also ask him about food tours in Hanoi. Specific to this tour, we were in a 17 seater 3/4 size limousine bus. This is NOT a cramped mini bus. We had leather (or nice pleather) reclining seats with adjustable headrests and USB charging ports. At first I was disappointed that it started raining at Bai Ding Pagoda, but I was pleasantly surprised that both the Trang An boat ride and Mua Cave turned out to be beautiful even in the rain, as it just adds to the atmosphere of fog-covered mountains depicted in many Chinese paintings. Tommy provided us with plastic rain ponchos due to the rain. Buffet lunch was not great. I've had meals on other tours that were more simple, had less variety and tasted a lot better. At Bai Dinh Pagoda, we visited a few temples but didn't actually reach the Pagoda. Unsure if it was skipped because of rain, or that visitors may not be allowed to walk all the way to the Pagoda, but you can still get wonderful photos of the Pagoda and surrounding temples. Trang An boat ride brought us through a river valley surrounded by beautiful, small limestone mountains, including a hidden valley. There were many other tour groups there, but it still should not be missed. Mua Cave is really just a steep climb up a small mountain, but it is beautiful nonetheless. The views at almost every landing/rest stop (which you will definitely need to use) make the climb worth it.

He is the most funny guide tour that I ever had in my life, I highly recommend him to show you Vietnam

We have a tour with Thao and it was very pleasant and beautiful experience! She explained us the beauty of many sightseeings of this wonderful place. Very kind and knowledgeable guide. Would definitely recommend! Thank you so much! Michael and Inessa From Sydney.

I would rate the destination as 5* and the company as 3*. The sights and the scenery were spectacular, I think this was actually the highlight of my Vietnam trip. The only negative was the way the inclusions were described. The inclusions listed "Electric car visit Bai Dinh pagoda"; however it turned out that the trip included only the complex surrounding the pagoda - the pagoda tower itself wasn't part of the tour. I think this is very misleading, especially considering that a picture of the tower is at the top of the page advertising this tour. In all other respects, it was a great day trip, and there were plenty of other great sights to compensate for missing the pagoda.

Spent the day touring Bai Dinh, the caves and lots of interesting sites. Tommy, our guide, was great! He is always happy to share the culture and history of the place, take pictures and make the day very interesting! We rode bikes, had an amazing lunch with the locals and went on the river with canoes. The place was beautiful!

local guide Thao is very nice of our trip. cause she is very kind. thank you. we love that we owe on the boat. nice of view, and wheather.

Very good activities and guide good Price vert nice views and activities.our tourguide Thao very friendly and helful.i would like to recommandé to toursit visit to Ninh Binh as ha noi explorer Travel.

I was using this company to have a day trip in Vietnam. The tour guide Thi is so dedicated to ensure you are entertained through the journey. He spoke well English. A recommended person.

Our 3-day Hanoi trip ended with a bang with our Bai Dinh - Trang An - Mua Cave day tour with Thi our tour guide! We started right on time at 8 am, and was picked up by a big and comfortable van which was more than perfect for us 3 friends. Thi, our tour guide, was more than happy to ensure we had a great day tour experience sharing with us the history of Vietnam, showing us different landmarks and fun facts along the way. He then made sure we had the best time in the tourist areas, bringing us to the right spots - and taking lots of awesome pictures whether we are on a bike, in a boat or atop a mountain! We really had a great day tour and Thi made sure of that! If you are coming to Hanoi, look for him! You will be in great hands! :)

The private tour is great. You can enjoy each place at your own pace. Moreover, our tour guide, Thi, is the friendliest, funniest, most energetic and joyful tour guide we had in Hanoi. He is very willing to help you in anyway he can. He makes the trip more enjoyable and relaxing. Plus, he voluntarily takes photos with his phone so you have more photos at the end of the tour. Highly recommended guide!