Ninh Binh Full-day Trip To Trang An Mua Cave Hoa Lu Buffet Lunch

My son and I had the pleasure of being connected to Thao for some personalized tours while we were staying in the Tam Coc area of Ninh Binh in late October 2026. Our hotel connected us with Thao and we ended up spending time with her on two different days. The first day was a visit to Cuc Phuong National Park and different wildlife sanctuaries. She partnered with a driver and she acted as our tour guide and interpreter for the day trip, which included a large lunch spread. Some admission fees were covered as part of her fee and some were extra, which was fine. The crowds were very small and the atmosphere during the day was very comfortable. This type of trip would be good for couples, friends or families. The next day, we had Thao go on the Trang An boat tour with us. She drive us there and facilitated getting tickets, a good boat driver and then interpreted for us throughout the tour. It was great and I would use her services if I were to go again.

We booked a day trip to Ninh Binh from Hanoi and contacted three highly recommended tour companies. Hanoi Explorer Travel responded almost immediately and was the only company to reply the same day. In fact, I received a response within a minute of sending my WhatsApp message. They arranged a beautiful private van for our group of four, and the driver was excellent throughout the day. When we arrived in Ninh Binh, we met our guide, Thao. She was absolutely amazing. She was a joy to spend the day with and represented her community and country with pride, warmth, and grace. Throughout the tour, Thao shared fascinating information about the region, its history, and Vietnamese culture. She also made sure we came away with plenty of wonderful photos. One of the highlights of the day was lunch. Thao welcomed us to her home, where we dined in a beautiful and impeccably clean dining area. Her husband prepared one of the best meals we enjoyed during our six-week stay in Vietnam. It is companies like Hanoi Explorer Travel and guides like Thao that make Vietnam such a special destination. If you book with them, I highly recommend asking for Thao, if she is available. She made our day truly unforgettable.available.

wonderful experience with Klook

Amazing full day in Ninh Binh with Linh as our guide! We had the best time bicycling though rice fields to Hoa Lu, riding on a boat through Trang An, & finally climbing the 500+ steps to the Mua Cave viewpoint. Best day for my husband, 10yo daughter, & me.

Tour was excellently run by Minh, a good mix of activities and sites visited throughout the day. informative and fun. Definitely a must do if visiting Hanoi!

If has been a wonderful experience. We were a group of students. Thao is the nicest guide ever met. She was really kind and was very interesting following her tour. We ate at her place, it was amazing!

The tour was organized very efficiently. The guide had great knowledge about the subject. The bus gave amzing comfort.

We booked our tour through Trang An Ecolodge, it was a full day tour of all the highlights in Trang An/Tam Coc. We were so lucky because our tour guide which we had for the day was Snow ❄️ She genuinely made our day extra special. She was kind, friendly and very accomodating to everyone's needs. If booking this tour I would request to have Snow as your guide for the day. 5 of us went on the tour, we went to a pagoda and the boat tour through Mua Caves in the morning. Snow then brought us to her family home for a beautiful vietnamese lunch which her brother in law made for us. The food was absolutely delicious and some of the best food I have eaten here to date. She even accomodated for my allergies. She showed us around her childhood home and we met her family. A real highlight for us. In the afternoon, we went to Tam Coc to 2 locations including Dragon Mountain. The views are spectacular. Throughout our trip Snow shared historical, cultutal and personal stories of Vietnam and even taught us some Vietnamese. She took photos of us throughout the day and was excellent and getting the perfect shot. This tour is an amazing day out but personally I think our guide Snow made it extra special 🧡

This was the best tour we have done in Vietnam to date. Snow was such a friendly and informative guide and made our day so special. She brought us to her family home where we enjoyed a delicious lunch prepared by her family. The food was phenomenal and there was no issue with accommodating our allergies. The climb at the Mua caves gave such a beautiful view. Snow was very knowledgeable about the history of the region. Thank you so much for such an amazing tour Snow

Excellent tour service and delicious lunch package. Highly recommended. Thank you Ms. Tống Thị Thảo for the memorable experience.

A day out to the village and scenic spots of Nimbihn was a bang for bucks. Good value we paid less 900k, limo bus, food, guide service all pleasant ưith mr Don m. ngyn story telling

Visiting Ninh Binh was definitely a highlight of my trip to Hanoi. I did enjoy this trip very much. The buffet was great and the organization of the day was great. However, if like me, you are looking for a tour where you learn about history and have an actual tour guide (not just a chaperone) then this is not the tour guide for you. Once you arrive at each spot, you are basically just told to go and meet back at a set time. There is no sense of camaraderie during this group. I saw many tour guides having a great time with their groups and I was regretting not signing up for one of those.

This was an excellent trip. The trip was well organized and the bus we travelled on was very upmarket and comfortable. The guide was very good.

Great day visiting Ninh Binh…very long but well worth it …climb to top of mountain for a spectacular view…lovely lunch followed by a leisurely bike ride around local village …highlight was definitely the boat ride around Trang An & visiting the 4 caves

We had a wonderful experience with our trip to Ninh binh with our guide Luca. He explained us throughout the trip to the Hou Lu ancient temple and the boating in Tom Coc. The bus provided to us was in excellent condition and the seating was comfortable. The lunch was the best part of our trip with the buffet system with lot of varities. But the cycle provided to us during cycling could have been better.

Don was very kind and thoughtful, and helped us a lot! I'm really glad that he was our tour guide! Don was very kind and thoughtful, and helped us a lot! I'm really glad that he was our tour guide!

Thao was the best tour guide, with her enthusiastic personality and deep knowledge of the location, she really elevated the experience for all of us. She also took amazing pictures.

It was excellent trip, good guide good food good place to visit, the public facility very good, as a moslem traveller it's not easy to find halal food & place for pray, but the rest is ok we enjoyed & maybe oneday will comeback to Vietnam again to visit the other city

It was excellent, nice guide people, nice place, nice food. Nice communication thank you for the trips we come back to viet nam agan

The Ninh binh full day trip was very good with good scenes trang mua cave hoa Lu. The guide Mr Loca gave us informatiive about things around...

Luca was a very nice guy - he explained a lot and it was nice doing the trip with him. Would definitely recommend this trip, the views are amazing :)

The trip was good and the places were amazing and mind-blowing. The tour guide was very good and friendly. They covered cycling, boating and hiking in 1 day which was very good experience.

The tour with Luca was great. He is very informative. Well organize. With free water on the bus. The sceneries in Ninh Binh are really amazing. The boat trip was my highlight. I would love to go back again. Thanks for Luca and the team for giving us an extraordinary tour. I would definitely recommend this tour.

Luca is super nice and friendly, the day trip was amazing! Would definitely recommend! You see all the places you're supposed to, the bicycle ride was great and the tips were spot on!

Had a nice day trip to Nimh Bing area. The Host cared for the whole group. The area needs of course much more time to explore. We hope to come back here.

Long and intense journey but awesome landscapes and greats experiences !! Explanation were good in a very good atmosphere 100% recommended

We had a very good experience for a day tour to Ninh Binh We enjoyed our trip with Luca He explained us everything about the trip and about the history behind the places we went to Very good day spent in Ninh Binh

The day trip in general was a good experience. The bus was comfy and clean, but if only the bus included an over head bag storage so that we don’t have to have our backpack or bag on our laps for the 2.5hrs bus ride to and fro. Tu our tour guide was friendly and informative.

It was a great trip. Our tour guide, Tu, was very informative and helpful. You get to see many beautiful temples amidst a backdrop of beautiful mountains. Definitely try and go up to the top of the lying dragon mountain if you can, the views are incredible.

Our guide was the best of the tour!! Was an incredible experience and with my couple lived a very nice day!! Totally recommended!!

It was an amazing experience and the guide Mr Tu was really great and helpful. Pick and drop from the hotel and the service was good.

Spent an amazing day in Ninh Binh with Tu. He is a very good guide with a deep understanding of Vietnamese history and culture.

Enjoyed the trip to Ninh Binh to visit the pagoda and boat rides to the caves plus a hike to sum it all up. Overall very nice scenery Our guide Tu was informative and entertaining throughout the trip and kept us on schedule for this activity packed day.

Took us to all the required places. All places were good and very beautiful. Mr Thu was our guide and was with us all the time and gave us insights about the place.

Took us to all the required places and gave enough time for photos. It was a fun experience and explanation was fairly given.

This is the best tour I have so far. Been to Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang - my fave beach. But the tour to Ninh Binh and Mau Cave is one of the best experience though too much tourist on top. Our tour guide is very knowledgeable of the places, cool and accommodate us very well. Kudos!

The day tour from Hanoi to Ninh Binh was very well curated. The guide, Tu made us feel comfortable and helped us explore the locations very well.

Thao was very very friendly and helpful. She was always cheerful and enthusiastic. Our whole group really enjoyed our day tour with Thai and very thankful that she was our guide. We would highly recommend to have Thao as your guide .

In two days we discovered the area of Ninh Binh. The first day Thao picked us up at the hotel and took us for a boat trip in Tam Coc. People row with their feet??? Nature was beautiful. After that we climbed the 500 steps of the dragon mountain. Thao invited us for lunch at her place, which was delicious. After lunch she took us to Hoa Lu, the capital of Vietnam between 968 and 1010 and taught us about the royal dynasties in that period. The second day Thaos sister took us to the Bai Dinh pagoda, the largest pagoda in SE Asia. She took us to a restaurant for lunch where we ate local food like goat. After lunch we had a boat trip in Tang An, UNESCO world inheritance. Thao and het sister are very friendly and and took care of everything. Also things that were not part of the trip. They made us feel very welcome in Vietnam.

She is an amazing woman—well-mannered, very welcoming, and an excellent guide. She’s also a great photographer and took many photos of us that we absolutely loved. She knows all the best spots, making her truly outstanding. A perfect 100 stars for her!

We arranged a private tour and Thao, our tour guide was fantastic. Very knowledgeable and kind and accommodating. Trang An, and Mua caves were beautiful. And the lunch at Thao’s home had such beautiful food and was such a great experience for my family. Highly recommend this tour!

From start to finish, our tour with Hanoi Explore Travel was exemplary. Our driver, Tuân, was prompt, friendly, and informative; the car was comfortable and immaculate. Our tour guide, Thao, was so warm and welcoming. Not only did she tell us details about the extraordinarily beautiful places we visited, but we shared lovely conversations about our families and interests. She took pictures of us throughout the day and then sent them to us at the end of our tour. She even put together a photo montage to music and sent it later that evening. This experience was definitely one of the highlights of our time in Vietnam.

The guide was very informative and spoke good English. The limousine was modern and clean. The driver was courteous and the driving was very safe and comfortable. Highly recommend the tour to anyone who is looking for a beautiful countryside of Vietnam.

Lovely day, the best part was the cycling and the climbing to the highest point. It's 600 steps (1200 up and down) but it's so worth it! We had a lovely and big lunch with a lot of vietnamese cuisine. The boat ride in Trang An was lovely but the place felt very turistic, I would recommend to do the boat on another place (Tam Coc instead of Trang An).

The size of the group was perfect - not too big (~20) which was great to adjust the activity times/order quickly. Our Tour guide, Ming was great as well.

The places the tour takes you are absolutely gorgeous, but unfortunately the tour company itself has some issues: Pros: 1. The boat ride and hike are absolutely gorgeous with amazing views. 2. The transportation is very comfortable and the WiFi works great. Cons: 1. The lunch is absolutely disgusting and borderline unsanitary. Much of the hot food was room temperature, so who knows how long it was just sitting there. The entire group found the meal terrible. 2. The tour guides English was very poor. She was absolutely lovely and tried to be helpful but unfortunately it was very hard to communicate with her. For example, she couldn’t understand my question to answer them and it was very hard to understand her. I have never complained about a language barrier in the past but the gap made it impossible to communicate. We like to hire tour guides to learn from them and we unfortunately weren’t able to from her due to language issues. 3. The bikes for the bike ride are in terrible condition. My bike had only one break working, a rusty gear, and a broken kickstand. Nearly half of the bikes were totally unusable. I highly recommend going to the places on the tour, but I would use a different company until they get they actually deliver the luxury experience they market.

往復のバスは快適で清潔です。 たまたまかもしれませんが、日本人は私一人でした。周囲は多国籍、言語は英語のみなので、海外感をより満喫できました。 私は得意ではないのですが、やはり英語ができる方がガイドさんの説明を理解できるのでより楽しめると思います。 チャンアンのボートツアーは約2時間！鍾乳洞の中を頭すれすれで進んで行ったり、ボートから水面も近くて大迫力です。少し曇っていたので幻想的な景色を楽しめました。 ホアルー遺跡までののどかな田舎道を走るサイクリングもとても楽しいです。 ムア洞窟の500段の階段上りは、ものすごくハード。上の方は階段というより岩を登るのに近いです。スニーカーがおススメです。この階段上りが今回のベトナム旅行で一番汗をかきました。しかし、頂上からの景色は絶景です。 自転車と階段上りで脚がガクガクになりますが、自然を満喫できるツアーです。 The round trip buses are comfortable and clean. The boat tour takes about 2 hours! It's very impressive to be able to walk through the limestone cave just by passing your head along, and to be so close to the water surface from the boat. Cycling along the peaceful country roads to the Hoa Lu ruins is also very fun. Climbing up the 500 steps at Mua Cave is extremely tiring. The upper part is more like climbing rocks than climbing stairs. I sweated the most on this trip to Vietnam. However, the view from the top is spectacular. This is a tour where you can enjoy nature to the fullest. It is better to wear sneakers.

My partner and I wanted to do some exploring with a variety of activities! This was a perfect tour, sight seeing, walking, hike, bike rides, boat ride, and much more! Highly recommend this tour company and the tour activities! The boat ride was an 1.5 hour ride, which was amazing! All ticket prices were included, lunch was a beautiful buffet with loads of variety! We had a few tour guides and met some lovely people on the tour! 10/10 value for money!

Sophia was a fantastic tour guide with the best energy and humor. We had a fantastic tour. It was long and informative. Ninh Bình is one of the most beautiful places in Vietnam!