RTW Trip Day #22: Trang An Boat Tour and Dinner in Tam Coc

20 October 2025

Steps: 3,561 (but we rowed a lot!)

This morning we got up nice and early to go on the Trang An boat tour. This is the activity that Ninh Binh is best known for, and is one of the main reasons we decided to visit this area of Vietnam, so we were excited to finally get to experience it.

There are quite a few different tours that you can do in the Ninh Binh area. In Tam Coc, there is a more budget friendly tour, which is generally considered not as scenic as the Trang An tours.

In Trang An, there are three different routes to choose from, each offering a slightly different experience.

Trang An Boat Tour (Route 1)

After doing some research, we decided on the Route 1 tour. Although the Route 1 tour skips the longest cave, it travels in the opposite direction to the other two routes and passes through nine caves, which is the most of any of the tours. We asked the info desk which was the quietest, and she suggested the route 1 tour.

All routes cost the same, so it really depends on what interests you most.

Route 1 includes the following stops: Trinh Temple, Dark Cave, Light Cave, Nau Ruou Cave, Tran Temple, Ba Giot Cave, Seo Cave, Son Duong Cave, Khong Palace, Bao Hieu Pagoda, Tran Cave, and Quy Hau Cave.

We arrived at the boat launch around 9:30 am and were pleasantly surprised to find almost no wait. There are hundreds of boats ready to go, and while it was a bit disconcerting to set off alongside so many others, that changed quickly once our route split off.

Since Route 1 goes in a different direction, we soon found ourselves paddling alone, surrounded by calm water and the beautiful cliffs. It was very peaceful.

Each boat comes with a paddle so you can help row if you like, and umbrellas are provided to shade you from the sun. The first cave was easily our favourite - it was narrow and low, and we all had to duck our heads to get through, which made it a lot of fun.

The scenery was beautiful the whole way, with clear water, lotus flowers, and plenty of fish, ducks, and birds to spot along the way.

In addition to the caves, we stopped at three temples, where you get off the boat and can walk around. One of them involved climbing around 700 steps, but we decided to skip that one - seeing another temple wasn’t worth risking a few grumpy kids!

Even though we didn't climb the 700 steps, it was a nice place to stretch our legs

All in all, it was a fantastic experience and we’d highly recommend the Trang An boat tour if you’re visiting Ninh Binh.

Itinerary Changes!

We headed back to Trang An for lunch at the Trang An River View Restaurant. The food was good, but the real highlight for the girls was getting to pet the owners puppy!

We had planned to visit another temple in the afternoon, but ended up spending it cancelling transport and accommodation, and booking new flights to Ho Chi Minh City and to a country we hadn’t planned on visiting this trip - Malaysia.

We’d been keeping an eye on the weather in Hoi An, which was our next stop, and as Storm no. 12 developed it was looking like it could bring anything from constant rain to a potentially dangerous typhoon. We really wanted to visit Hoi An, but decided it wasn’t worth the risk since even the best-case scenario would have been pretty miserable.

After looking at our options, we decided to bring forward our stay in Ho Chi Minh City, then spend two nights in Kuala Lumpur followed by five nights in Langkawi for some beach time. It might still be a bit rainy in Malaysia, but it shouldn’t be anywhere near as bad.

Dinner in Tam Coc

For dinner we went to Chookie's Beer Garden which was a lovely way to end our time in Ninh Binh. It served familiar western food (pizza, burgers, etc), great draft beer (which is pretty uncommon here), and some really good cocktails too.

I tried a craft beer flight, Susie had a gin cocktail, and the girls ordered some amazing milkshakes - we were all pretty happy with our choices!

It was definitely more expensive than most places we’ve eaten in Vietnam, but it was nice to have a meal that felt a bit like home.

Previous Day #21 Mua Caves Viewpoint and Hao Lu Night Market

Next Day #23: Arriving in Ho Chi Minh City

Read About Our Itinerary here