Is This Vietnam's BEST Day Trip？ 🇻🇳 Ninh Binh

Today we're escaping the hustle and bustle of Hanoi for one of Vietnam's most spectacular day trips. We'll explore the country's ancient capital, cycle through stunning countryside, drift through caves on traditional paddle boats and finish with an incredible climb to one of the best viewpoints in Vietnam. Let's get started. Right here we are at our first stop in Ninh Binh, the ancient capital. Well a thousand years ago it was the capital until the king decided that they needed to move to a more open area to help with trade and commerce. So we're visiting this ancient site which is marred with a checkered history, which we'll explore a little bit more once we're in there. The bus ride was pretty smooth, it was a couple of hours south of Hanoi, so it was a pretty smooth ride in. We had one stop along the way, no pressure to buy anything on this bus ride which was a good thing. So yeah, let's go into the capital and check out some of the history of this area. Surrounded by cast-line cliffs, it's a beautiful setting and the mountains and everything offered security and safety for the capital from invaders from the north and the south. So yeah, let's go and check it out. Before Hanoi became Vietnam's capital, the honour belonged to Hoa Lu. Over a thousand years ago these peaceful grounds were home to emperors, royal palaces and the country's first unified kingdom. Today the ancient temples are all that remain, offering a fascinating glimpse into Vietnam's early history. A good thing about being on a tour is the ticketing is already done for you, so you don't have to worry about that sort of thing. I'll let you know a bit more about booking and how I got the tours allocated to us as a group of eight later on in the video, but yeah all the ticketing and everything sorted so that makes life a little easier for us. After scanning our tickets we made our way into the ancient capital where our guide began sharing the fascinating history of Hoa Lu and the emperors who once ruled from here over a thousand years ago. Harry was completely engaged listening closely to every story while the rest of us took in our first views of the grounds. Water buffalo grazed peacefully in the surrounding wetlands adding to the timeless atmosphere. With the limestone mountains rising behind the temples and reflections shimmering across the water it quickly became clear why Hoa Lu is such a photographer's dream. Standing guard outside the temple is the mythical Nghe Believed to protect the sacred space from evil spirits. Beyond the guardian these traditional wooden gates lead into the temple itself. Notice the raised stone threshold. Visitors would step over it as a sign of respect before entering a place dedicated to Vietnam's early emperors. It's a small detail but one that reflects the deep traditions still preserved here today. All right there's two dragons outside the first gate of the temple. They're there protecting the temple from bad people. So when you come in if you're good you can enter freely and ask for what you need. Bad? Not so lucky. Walking through the temple gates we arrived at the shrine dedicated to Khang Dinh Thien Huong the emperor who unified Vietnam and made Hoa Lu the nation's first capital in 968 AD. The original palace has long since disappeared but this temple was built to honor his legacy and remains an important place of worship today. Out of respect for those paying their respects inside filming isn't permitted within the shrine but even the peaceful courtyard and beautifully preserved architecture offer a glimpse into Vietnam's rich history. Right that's the ancient capital scene and looked at with the shrine to the former king. Now we're just going to leave and we're going to head to the restaurant where actually before we eat lunch we're actually going to go for a bike ride. So let's see where that bike ride takes us. All right cycling time so we're getting our bikes and we're going to jump on and have a little look around and see where we go. All right wish me luck. Leaving the ancient capital behind we hopped on the bikes provided by the tour. Some had definitely seen better days so choosing the right one was the first challenge. Once we got going it was a relaxed 20 to 30 minute ride through peaceful villages, rice paddies and the dramatic limestone landscape that makes Ninh Binh so special. Well here we are on the bikes amongst some of the accommodations and other shops around the area. Saw a nice hotel back there with a pool so that'd be a nice jump in wouldn't it? Yeah I loved having a nice bike ride. I'd like to do more of this when I travel so hopefully there is a bit more to do. So we'll see how we go. You know sometimes you have a deja vu moment. Just having one now actually that's kind of weird. Anyway the boys are just up ahead. I don't know where Anita is. Uh maybe she decided not to. I'm not sure but anyway we'll see what else there is on this bike ride. Now this is looking a bit more like it. Far more beautiful part of the part of the countryside. Look at this. Beautiful. The further we cycled from the village the more spectacular the scenery became. The peaceful rice fields, towering karst mountains and quiet country roads created one of those landscapes where you just want to slow down and take it all in. This was easily one of the highlights of the day. Right um there's a nice little spot here to stop uh get some photos and uh just have a little rest before heading back. It's hot. Real hot but uh beautiful nonetheless. Let me show you. It's hard not to stop and simply take it all in. Travelling isn't just about ticking destinations off a list. It's about moments like this where the scenery makes you slow down, appreciate where you are and feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to explore such an amazing part of the world. Right after the bike ride was lunch. It was just a simple buffet with a mixture of traditional Vietnamese food as well as some western options. There was certainly something for everyone. The part I enjoyed the most was the fresh fruit. Right here we are in ready for our boat ride through the karst cliffs. Looking forward to this. This is the sort of highlight ticket for the day so we'll go and check it out and enjoy the scenery. We don't do the paddling. The local does the paddling so we've been instructed on a tip, procedures, you've got to wear a life jacket, four to a boat as we cruise along the river. So yeah let's go and check this out. With so many people visiting Trang An each day I expected long waits and plenty of chaos. Instead the purpose-built facilities were modern, well laid out and incredibly efficient. Even with the crowds everything ran like clockwork and before long we were stepping aboard our boats and ready to explore. All right it's hot out here but that's okay. We've got these umbrellas and they're just shading us so the boats come with umbrellas which is a handy thing. It's pretty tranquil just cruising along. There's about, in our group, how many people would you say are on the bus today? There's about 24 people on the bus. Just a little tip because we're in the low season so we're here and it's the 1st of July today so we're here in July. Just a little tip, just be aware at low season they sometimes put two tours together just to save on the bussing and we ended up having to wait about two hours at lunch while the other group were visiting the pagoda so just keep that in mind. Maybe check that before you book and make sure that your lunch time isn't extended like ours. There was a lot of sitting around waiting but it's nice now to be out here on the water and enjoy this tranquility so yeah I think there's some pretty cool things coming up so I might save my recording time for that and wait for the good stuff coming up and see what our impressions are of this place. Oh scary cave time, cave time. This is Hang Lam cave, 60 meters. Just a bit of local knowledge there's no sign or anything. As our boat quietly glided along the river we entered one cave after another, each carved naturally through the limestone mountains over millions of years. Every tunnel opened into another peaceful valley with towering cliffs rising from the water. It's easy to see why Trang An is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There's nothing quite like it. All right, got the boys working now, earning their keep, getting their paddle and garden. A little bit faster there boys, well done. Just take your time, just getting to a routine. Stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke. I'm having a stroke. All right here we are and going into Hang Van cave, 250 meters. It's a big one and it's definitely a lot more humid that's for sure and it's lit up as you can see. What a cool little touch. Wow, I don't think we did this one actually last time we're here. No, this is really cool. I won't film the whole cave but you kind of get the idea. What do you reckon boys? By this point I'd completely run out of superlatives. Every bend in the river revealed another incredible view and no matter how many photos or videos we took, they just couldn't capture how spectacular this place really is. Right, another cave, Hang Than Trout, 320 meters. This is a big boy and it's nice and low, really low. Watch your heads. This is Kong Mountain, one of the iconic filming locations from Kong, Skull Island. When the filmmakers were searching for a landscape that felt wild, ancient and almost prehistoric, they found it here in Trung An. Looking around today, it's not hard to imagine why this UNESCO World Heritage Landscape was chosen for the big screen. After an unforgettable afternoon on the water, we climbed back aboard the bus for one last stop. Our destination was Lyon Dragon Mountain, home to one of the most iconic viewpoints in all of Vietnam. After collecting our tickets and making our way through the entrance, there was only one thing left to do, tackle the hundreds of stone steps to the top. Right, here we are, pre-hike. It's about 400 steps up. The tour guide said about 15 minutes, so that's very optimistic. But we'll see how we go. We've got an hour and 10 minutes to get it done, get the view and enjoy ourselves up there. So let's see how this goes. There's different places to stay around here, homestays, different accommodations, different restaurants. It's all set up and ready to go for tourism, that's for sure. Some beautiful lily pads over there with flowers blooming, so there'll be some great spots for photography, that's for sure. Very photographic. So yeah, we'll make our way up and I'll see you at the top. Right, and we begin. We're at the base now of the stairs, ready to start the ascent up the mountain. You'll see my face get redder and redder every time I check in. Oh, first we'll go into this cave I think. Wow, what a view already. So we're just over a quarter of the way up and you can see behind me here the view already, so that's certainly given me the motivation to carry on. You can see my face is already a bit redder, a little bit of the more puffed in the breath, but I think there's probably about another hundred steps to the next stop up there, so we'll carry on up to there and they'll be over halfway then. So we'll see how many steps there are from this point. So the first rest stop, about 115 steps. Let's carry on. All right, just up there is probably one of the best viewing platforms I think. On the other side you can see out really well through a valley through Nimbin, so that's the motivation. And then you go up a little bit higher and you get to see the lying dragon. So we've only got a little bit more to go actually, we're doing all right, doing good. That is a well-positioned shop if I ever saw one. Here we are, there's the view from where we are and a shop selling ice blocks, cold drinks and refreshments, so they'll be doing good business I reckon. All right, last stretch. After the climb we were greeted by the famous lying dragon curled around the rocky summit. It has become the symbol of this viewpoint and a reminder of the legends woven throughout Vietnam's history. It's the perfect place to stop, catch your breath and soak in an incredible panorama. All right, well we made it down the bottom. We're a little bit pressed for time so we might not get to the Mua cave while we're here, but we're going to go and catch the bus now and maybe pick up a nice block along the way. Well that's the end of our Nimbin adventure. We booked this day trip through trip.com for about 1 million dong per person and would definitely recommend it if you're visiting Hanoi. Thanks for watching, don't forget to like and subscribe and we'll see you in the next adventure.