Vietnam - Ninh Binh & Phong Nha
Beginning our journey South, we head to Ninh Binh and Phong Nha for bicycle rides, scootering, jungle trekking and a lot of sweat!
Ninh Binh (Tam Coc)
Andrew: 3.5/5 Beth: 3/5
We did it! We stayed in our first dorm room at a hostel… and as we feared, we were unsure whether we would rush to do it again. Based on a friend’s recommendation, we stayed at Banana Tree Hostel, known for being the ‘social 'hub’ of Tam Coc (Ninh Binh). The hostel itself is located right on the beautiful Tam Coc River and has fantastic Western Food to enjoy around its lively pool and bar area. We can totally see why this is a hot spot for solo travellers or those wanting to get a drink with a group of friends and meet new people, and honestly, we would recommend it to anybody wanting this.
The beds in the luxury dorm room were comfortable, private and air-conditioned (although Beth’s bed did become the Arctic). Our ‘dorm friends’ were very respectful and friendly, and the shared bathrooms stayed clean throughout, which, to be honest, was a huge win. We easily rented bikes during our stay and had some laundry done; the staff were very friendly and helpful, plus they spoke great English, which made organising the days easier. However, for the same price, we would have preferred to stay a little out of the bustling town in a homestay. There was just something about being at Banana Tree that really knocked you out of the Vietnamese culture and vibe; after all, you are surrounded by a horde of Western folk the entire time. Also, we just wanted the luxury of a private bathroom; it’s the small things. This is down to personal preference. We do enjoy meeting new people, but we feel that we can get that through our experiences outside of the accommodation, so we enjoy being able to have our privacy in the evenings. So yeah, the TLDR, we might not be blogging about dorm rooms soon.
The weather was extremely hot in Ninh Binh, so we spent quite a lot of time reading around the pool and tactically jumping in and out to reset the sweat and body temperature every half hour or so. On our first day, we rented bikes and journeyed out to the Bich Dong Pagoda, which was free, although remember to bring clothes to cover up if you want to enter the temples. On our way back, we visited Buffalo Cave, where we met Mia, the friendly neighbourhood water buffalo, fed some ducklings, and tried our hand at fishing before being scared off by a massive hornet. All of this cost 75,000 VND, which included a nice cold drink, which was needed!
On our second day, we visited Trang An Tours, which costs 250,000 VND per person for a 3-hour boat tour. We chose to go around 3 pm when it was a bit cooler, and the weather was much more bearable. Each boat holds four people, and you will be rowed around (although they are grateful for the help, too) on one of 3 routes. We chose the third route and paired with another young British couple before setting sail, exploring a large cave and weaving through the landscape, including the iconic area from the film Kong: Skull Island. Altogether, you go to Trinh Temple, Dot Cave, May (Cloud) Cave, Suoi Tien Temple, Dia Linh Mountain, Dai Cave and Hanh Cung Vu Lam (Vu Lam Royal Step-over Place). We had a great time here, and the other people we shared the boat with were a great chat (you have 3 hours together, so you are way beyond small talk), so we highly recommend making the time to do this trip and many people we spoke to preferred this tour to the Tam Coc tours, which may be suitable if you have less time.
Overall, Tam Coc (Ninh Binh) disappointed us a little. We heard great things about the countryside and enjoyed cycling around, but we just felt the town seemed very touristy; maybe its glory days were gone, or maybe we got unlucky or didn’t hit the right spots. The hot weather meant we spent more time around the pool than we wanted, and we may have had a better experience if we had stayed in a homestay outside the main lake area. We did eat some great food, but this was from lots of research and trying to find something that wasn’t aimed at tourists or making the food more Western (we did have fantastic Indian food). I would still recommend visiting here if you have the time, as it is close to Hanoi, and getting a cheap Grab to Ninh Binh train station was very easy on our route to Phong Nha.
Points of Interest
Accommodation
Banana Tree Hostel - Map (£8 per person, per night)
Food & Drink
An Tam Coc Restaurant & Coffee - Map
Tam Coc Noodle Soup Restaurant - Map
Aroma Indian Restaurant - Map
Brick Coffee Shop - Map
Lang’s Salad Tam Coc - Map
Phong Nha
Andrew: 4/5 Beth: 4/5
Our journey began with an 8-hour train journey from Ninh Binh train station to Dong Hoi. We opted to get a 1st class sleeper train during the day as we wanted to try out the trains and also felt this was more comfortable than an 8-hour bus. Honestly, we quite enjoyed it. The bunks were comfy enough, and we enjoyed being able to walk around and stretch our legs throughout. Our two bunk buddies kept to themselves, and it all felt safe and easy to do. The only downside is that our poor research meant that we did have to pay for a 45-minute taxi ride on the other end, which we organised through our homestay. However, we would still recommend this route if your budget isn’t too tight. As we presumed but still did not prepare for, food was very limited on board, and we ended up eating our pre-bought Banh Mi’s within the first 10 minutes and only enjoying boiled corn on the cob for lunch. Andy did eat a LOT of Oreos.
We decided to stay at Lucky Homes Homestay for four nights in Phong Nha. Our accommodation was clean and air-conditioned, with large rooms and a swimming pool. We loved our stay here. It was simple but perfect for what we needed, and at a great price, including breakfast and coffee every morning overlooking the Con River. Our air conditioning broke on night one, which caused Andy to go into complete disarray, but credit to them, they quickly moved us to a new room and miraculously fixed the problem overnight.
We rented a scooter from our homestay during our stay and drove around the idyllic countryside. It was Andy’s first time learning to ride a scooter, and Phong Nha is the perfect place to learn because it has rural, quiet streets, which allow you to take it slow and steady. We visited Duck Stop, which is an absolute MUST when visiting Phong Nha, where you get the chance to become a Duck King/Queen for the price of 100,000 VND. This also included a drink and some Vietnamese pancakes. We drove past the popular spots ‘Pub with a cold beer’ and ‘Monkey Bridge’, but these were both a little quiet when we passed around midday. In the afternoon, we drove to the Botanical Gardens, which really is them just sending you into the jungle and calling it a garden. It was extremely hot and humid, so bring an ample amount of water and try to do this in the early morning as it shuts at 5 pm, which cuts our time short.
The highlight of our trip to Phong Nha was our jungle trek booked through Jungle Boss Tours. There are many different treks to choose from, all with glowing reviews that take you through different routes, different caves, activities, and even camping for up to 4 nights. Considering we are truthfully more on the glamping side of the spectrum, and it was 35 degrees with high humidity, we kept it simple with the one-day Elephant Cave & Ma Da Valley Jungle Trek, and what a day it was!
We were picked up around 8 am, and other travellers from other homestays in the area joined us for the day. The group size wasn’t too big, maybe in total ten people, so the experience definitely felt like an expedition as opposed to just being ferried around as a pack of tourists. After a safety briefing from the team, ice-breakers to get to know each other and an overview of the day to come, we were given all the equipment we would need for the day, including helmets, head torches, towels, water bottles, and even provided trekking shoes so you didn’t have to get your own completely wrecked, 10/10 pre-prep.
After the brief, we took a bus into the National Park and began our adventure. I was expecting to ease into the day, but yeah, that was not the case, as we started with a huge incline heading up to the impressive Elephant Cave (zero elephants present), which has a 60-metre-tall entrance and is 300 metres long, walking through it with our head torches on made us feel very small but the experience was quite epic as from the inside you see the beautiful jungle canopy and rocks look almost superimposed over the giant entrances.
After the cave, we then began trekking through the jungle towards the Ma Da Crystal Lake, where the team had set up a makeshift base where they would prepare traditional-style Vietnamese barbeque food for us whilst we got to swim in the refreshing clear waters of the lake, not a bad deal if you ask me! We jumped in from the cliff-sides of the water, and despite being a massive pansy when it comes to freezing waters to swim in, words cannot express how magical it was after the intense sweat of the day. After cooling down, we sat down together and ate; we were lucky to have a great group, sharing our time with a couple from Barcelona & two friends from Ireland who were great company throughout.
Next on the agenda was to trek to the Tra Ang Cave, about an hour away from the lunch spot. We trawled through the jungles further before reaching the cave entrance. What I loved about this particular trek we did was that you have a little of everything, from the obvious hiking to exploring caves on foot, swimming in a beautiful little lake and for the final act of the day, we were to swim 300m into a cave that goes into total darkness and back for a new experience. Of course, you are given a life jacket so you don’t need to worry about your ability to swim so much, but I will say that it is something a little out of the ordinary and if you’re afraid of the dark or not particularly fond of swimming you might be a little uncomfortable, even I (Andrew) found it a little eerie when we switched all the head torches off and just floating 300m deep in complete darkness… But it’s worth it!
Finally, with the main itinerary complete, we trekked back to Ho Chi Minh Road, arriving around 5 p.m. There, we were greeted by the air-conditioned bus that would take us back to the homestay, but not before they whacked out a cooler of beers that they handed out so we could all toast to the successful adventure and drink; that first sip after the long day was the best beer I’ve had in Vietnam. Jungle Boss Tours was a recommendation given to us, and for those wanting to visit Phong Nha, I would say to do it in a heartbeat as you experience the very best of what the area has to offer in a much less touristy way.
In total, we had four nights in Phong Nha, which was more than enough time as it allowed us to spend our final day relaxing, drinking coffee and writing this blog as the weather was rainy too. Finally, succumbing to slightly poorly bellies, we spent our last evening at Drifter’s Paradise Pizza, which was authentic, delicious pizza and, personally, guilt-free. We missed out on visiting the Dark Cave and Paradise Cave as the bad weather and feeling poorly meant we didn’t have the energy to venture out, which is around 45 minutes via scooter. Everyone recommended that we do this, so I would add this to your itinerary during your stay in Phong Nha.
We caught the sleeper bus to Hoi An on our final morning, which took just over 8 hours. We were ready to start our week of relaxation and shopping!
Points of Interest
Jungle Boss Tours (£52 per person)
The Duck Stop - Map
Elephant Cave - Map
Ma Da Crystal Lake
Tra Ang Cave - Map
Botanical Gardens - Map
Dark Cave - Map
Paradise Cave - Map
Phong Nha Cave - Map
Accommodation
Lucky Home Homestay - Map (£18 per room, per night)
Fab reading this . Makes us want return and heed your many tips