Ninh Binh, Vietnam

My partner and I visited Vietnam for the first time in June and July 2026. Over two weeks, we travelled north through the country, spending time in Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi. From those wonderful places I carry memories of heat, brilliant cacophony, delicious food and, perhaps most importantly of all, Vietnamese coffee! With so much of our trip centred around towns and cities, I was keen to spend a couple of nights somewhere quieter and surrounded by nature.

Our options included Da Nang, Ha Long Bay and Ninh Binh. Da Nang was a little too far away to fit comfortably into our itinerary, while Ha Long Bay, although incredibly beautiful, seemed a little too tourist-heavy and formulaic for us. We’re probably land lovers first anyway, so Ninh Binh won out — with its similarly dramatic limestone karsts rising from rice fields rather than the sea.

We chose to stay in Tam Coc, a small town nestled among the karsts along the Ngo Dong River. Our accommodation, Tam Coc Bungalow, was about five minutes by bike from the centre of town. I specifically wanted to stay a little further out so I could wake up surrounded by rice fields and head straight out for some sunrise photography. The bungalow was lovely, with a pool, great service and bikes included with the room. We ended up using them to explore most of the nearby area.

We booked a tour for our first afternoon, hoping to maximise our limited time and see some of the main sights. The itinerary included Bich Dong Pagoda, Mua Cave and Hoa Lu Walking Street. It turned out to be a little disappointing, operating more like a moped taxi service: we were taken from place to place and largely left to our own devices at each stop. That said, getting around by moped was still worthwhile, as some of the locations were too far away to comfortably reach by bike.

It was supposed to be a sunset tour, but there were storms brewing. We had some amazing pre-storm light, but just as sunset approached we were at the top of Mua Cave when a thunderstorm hit. We ended up huddled in ponchos under a rock for about 40 minutes waiting for it to pass. The silver lining was that by the time the storm cleared, most of the other visitors had disappeared and we had the top almost to ourselves.

Hoa Lu Walking Street was probably the biggest disappointment of our stay. It felt very touristy and the food was fairly average compared with the amazing meals we’d found elsewhere in Vietnam. In hindsight, we should have wandered a few streets back and found somewhere more local!

The next morning brought absolutely gorgeous weather. I got up early and spent a couple of hours riding through the countryside with my camera, photographing the rice fields, karsts and small roads around Tam Coc before meeting my partner for a boat trip along the Ngo Dong River and through three of the area’s famous caves.

The caves themselves weren’t particularly spectacular — they were more like long passageways beneath the karsts — but there was something wonderful about emerging from the darkness each time and having another section of the river slowly revealed in front of us.

The boat trip took around 1.5 to 2 hours and was a lovely way to spend the morning. It was HOT, though, and we deliberately took one of the first boats of the day, before the river became too crowded and the heat got out of control. There was some half-hearted upselling from our boat rower and a photographer along the way, but we politely declined and never felt particularly pressured.

The booking system was a little strange. We were sent by a free tourist shuttle to another location to buy our tickets, then shuttled back again a few minutes later to begin the trip. We had also considered taking the boat trip at Trang An, which sounded a little less touristy and perhaps more dramatic, with a longer journey of around three hours. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make the timing work, so we stuck with Tam Coc.

Another place on our list was Thung Nham Bird Park, which is apparently spectacular around sunrise and sunset when huge numbers of birds leave or return to their roosts. Again, we simply couldn’t squeeze it into our short stay.

I really enjoyed our couple of days in Ninh Binh. After the noise, energy and density of Vietnam’s cities, cycling through rice fields beneath those extraordinary limestone karsts was a wonderful contrast — and Ninh Binh ended up being one of the highlights of our trip.