If you are in Hanoi, you must visit Ninh Bình especially the boat ride on the Tràng An river. Booked through Klooks, you will get the best bargain in town. The boat ride will take about 2+ hours, you will enjoy the magnificent scenes of nature. Please prepare to wear something very comfortable (need to sit on the wooden plank for 2+ hours) & raincoat is a must. Don't drink too much water and remember to pee before you go on the boat. Load your camera or phone with full charge and taking video especially going through caves. Remember to protect your phone/camera with waterproof casing etc. The water is calm so even it is heavy rain, it won't affect our joy.

250k Per person (boat is for 4 persons, so someone else will join). We took route 3 (included the longest cave -1km, 2 other caves , temples and 1 village. Very beautiful scenery (all routes I think are beautiful). We left a tip for the lady because she was nice, didn’t spit and didn’t ask for a tip ☺️

Beautiful scenery. I took route 3 and it was great for us, you go through a 1km cave and then another one slightly shorter. I'd say the temples were the least interesting thing but still nice to visit. You will pay 250k which may seem a steep price for Vietnam but this place is very touristy so to make the most of it I'd highly suggest to do it either as early as you can or in the late afternoon like us, we had no one in front of us, we had the whole scenery for us.

Must visit boat ride through the limestone mountains with lotus flowers across the lake. It takes minimum 3 hours to complete the ride. There are 3 different routes ( photo attached) all at same price with different in the number of caves and spiritual places your can view. We did route 2 ( 4 caves and 3 spiritual places). The natural beauty throughout the route would surprise you with different colours of water, with how the structures have been built, with the maintenance of the spots specially cleanliness, with washroom at each spot, with small ducks greeting you and diving in the water to catch fish, with the hardwork of the all the women riding the boat for hours. Worth the 250,000 dong per person spent.

This was one of the highlights of our 2 weeks in Vietnam, a must do if you’re in the area!! We ended up going just after lunch and yes it was quite hot but they give you umbrellas and as you’re going through mountains there’s quite a few shaded areas so it wasn’t that bad at all. Felt extremely bad for the rower working hard for 3 hours so was quite generous with a tip, but it’s not a must. Ticket prices are super cheap anyway considering the amazing experience this is. Absolutely amazing scenery!! No wait either, took off straight away.

Had a great time in a beautiful area. No wait times for tickets or the boat at all. Boat tour lasts around 3 hours. Bear in mind that there are a LOT of steps when visiting the temples! The lady rowing our boat was very friendly and a good laugh despite the language barrier. It started to rain a bit whilst we were visiting one of the temples and she had covered our seats with umbrellas to keep them dry. You have the option to help them row and I would definitely help them out!

We took this trip before Tet. It was a bit chilly and not crowded at all, which is my favorite way to travel. The views are amazing! The trip lasts three hours, and there are three different routes you can take that bring you to spots to get off and explore. There is an ancient village to see, I certainly recommend it. Also, this is a pretty well organized, well managed tourist site. Well done Trang An!

There’s three different tours one can do, we went with route 3, but to be honest I’d assume they are all quite similar. Each takes you through caves and some temples etc, so you’ll get a bit of each. One needs to be 4 people per boat, so if you’re not already 4 when you arrive it might be good to find some other travelers! We just paired up with the couple behind us at the ticket counter!

We absolutely loved this tour - you have the option of 3 different routes (all the same price). It’s so beautiful even in the winter. The kids (4&8) loved the fact you could contribute to the paddling of the boat. We did route 1 which had 9 caves. It was really easy to get a ticket and there were 100s of boats so no wait. You could buy snacks as you went round from little stalls but there was no aggressive selling which was nice. In terms of accessibility you could get to the waterside step free but to get on the boat there were some large stone steps (pictured below). The seat in the boat had no support & trip is 3hrs long.

Ninh Binh is so beautiful and this boat ride was definitely a must to visit. Tam Coc is another area to also see (boat tour as well) but we were advised it is good to visit at a specific time of the year. So we visit Trang An and were completely blown away. There are 3 different boat routes you can take depending how much caves, mountains, pagodas you want to see. We took route 1 and it took about 3 hours. The other routes are shorter (as per what the boat guide shared with us). Even though they say don’t tip the boat guide, we still tipped them since it was a lot of rowing.

Even though I came alone, I shared with a couple for option 3( 3caves & 3 temples). But you can pay for 1 boat for yourself if you want. For nature lovers, you must come here. This place is very calm and the view is very beautiful.

Very peaceful place less tourists when I visited in the morning. Selected route 3 which took us through 3 caves and several pagodas. It was cold during our visit dress accordingly. Costed us around 250k per person for 3 hour boat ride.

Great experience! Beautiful scenery! Two hours feel like nothing, because you would be so mesmerized with the view. I took route 3, went to narrow caves which is so exciting!

This is a must obviously when visiting the region, more so than Tam Cot. We took #3 and were not disappointed. Great views and tour well organized. We stopped 3 times to visit temples and had a chance to stretch our legs because the tour is over 2.5 hours. Food stands and washroomscas you go along. No stories like the ones you read on Google Reviews when people come and try to sell you goodies to you and the boat rower. Also, no issues with tips, another theme you hear a lot about. Overall a very lovely afternoon.

What a special and mysterious gem. We chose the combo 5 (so many combos!) And the route 1 as recommended by a guide. We crossed so many caves and arrived in sacred places almost alone. Get there early in the morning, it's the best!

This was by far the best thing we did in Ninh Binh, my partner and I were just amazed at how good this river boat ride was, I have been a lot less generous describing Bird Valley and Mua Caves. The scenery on this boat ride was just absolutely beautiful, and that is saying something as we visited Ha long Bay. We took the longer route 1, which weaves through 9 caves and visits about 3 temples. We got caught in light rain, but this was just fine, we were given umbrellas and kept warm huddled up (December). Each cave brings you into a new valley surrounded by soaring cast peaks covered with tropical vegetation. Each valley is different and jaw droppingly beautiful. We didn't see a single piece of rubbish on the entire tour. A far cry from Ha long and the Mekong. The facilities were also really well done, world standard quality, which is unusual for Vietnam. I can't recommend this place highly enough, I don't give high praise easily. This place deserves it.