From Hanoi, we took a train about 2 hours and 15 minutes south to Ninh Binh. The train station was about a 30-minute walk from our hotel in Hanoi and it was easy to purchase tickets for the next available train (the SE9 about 2 hours later). The ride was on time, but very rocky – I was glad I took a motion sickness pill! Once in Ninh Binh, we ordered a Grab to our hotel in Tam Coc, which is about a 15-minute drive from Ninh Binh (only 75k VND or $3 USD, so very affordable).
We were staying at the Tam Coc Luxury Homestay, which is located about a 20-minute walk from the center of town. It is a cute, seven bungalow homestay located right at the base of the amazing limestone rock formations. The property also has beautiful, well-kept gardens. A perfect getaway! Breakfast is included in the price of the room ($13 USD/night!), and they also offer dinner upon order/request, which we took advantage of multiple nights.
Here in Tam Coc, we had another great opportunity to motorbike in a low trafficked area and rented two motorbikes to explore (see this blog for recommendations)! After our tomato/mushroom omelettes with baguettes breakfast, we headed out to our first adventure stop – Hang Mua. One dirt road leads to the entrance, with several motorbike parking areas along the entire road. We were bullied into parking about halfway down – two women stood in the middle of the road and whistled, waving us into their lot. Not knowing any better, we pulled in (though we did negotiate the price down to 10k VND total). There were many lots further down, closer to the entrance. Hang Mua is a nice landscaped complex with a few places to eat, cave, and a 500-step climb to the top of a hill with a small pagoda and awesome view. There is an entrance fee of 100k VND per person. The cave was skippable, especially after seeing Paradise Cave in Phong Nha, but the climb was very worthwhile, especially since we had great weather for great views.
Dragon at top of Hang Mua climb 
After Hung Mua, we headed back to town for lunch at Tuan Tu Rouchard. The food was fine, nothing special, but reasonably priced. Then we headed to Bich Dong Pagoda. We almost got ripped off here – we were waved into a motorbike parking area by a guy wearing a reflective vest who looked legit. When we pulled up to park the motorbikes, the attendant told us it would be 50k VND each, including entrance fee and parking. Note that entrance to the pagoda is FREE, so we left that parking area. We saw a couple other places to park for 10k VND each (more reasonable), but we decided to just park a little ways down the street for free and walk back to the entrance. The pagoda is a short hike up as it is built into the limestone cliff. We didn’t go any higher than the path allowed, but you could climb up higher on rocks/dirt if you were feeling adventurous. We already had our climb for today, and the view at the top of the pagoda was nice enough for us! On our drive back to the hotel, we took a small dirt (and very bumpy at times) road through the Tam Coc rice fields. We were the only ones on it and were riding as the sun was setting on the limestone outcrops all around us – beautiful! We ate dinner at our homestay and socialized with some of the other guests – a family from Lithuania and a couple from Germany.
Our next day was a rainy, cold day and we decided to just enjoy our time at the homestay reading and relaxing. We did go into town for dinner at Hoa Luan Restaurant, which again was nothing special. It was a cold night, and with no heat in our bungalow, I wore many layers to bed.
Since we lost a day of exploration to the rain, we extended our stay in Tam Coc by one night. So, the next morning, we headed to the Trang An boat tours. It took about 30 minutes to get there by motorbike. We were both bundled up in all of our layers because it was still pretty chilly out, but thankfully dry. There are also boat tours in Tam Coc, but we had read that those were much more touristy and filled with hawkers (sometimes forcing you to buy things). So, Trang An it is! And it was a great experience! Each boat (and there are hundreds, maybe even thousands) fits four guests. A woman paddles you through the beautiful limestone scenery and caves for about a 2-hour ride. We helped paddle at some parts, and even for those short sections, I was tired! There are 3 boat routes to choose from which you select when you purchase your tickets (200k VND each, plus 15k each for motorbike parking and boat driver tip). Route 1 has more caves and Routes 2 & 3 overlap a bit. We selected Route 2, which had four caves and four temples. I’m sure all routes are good! The scenery was amazing! It lived up to its reputation as “Halong Bay on land”. We were allowed to get off and walk around at the last temple – the architecture was more Chinese influenced with natural wood, gold, and red coloring. Route 2 is also known for the King Kong movie (parts were filmed here). Overall, it was a great trip. The dreary weather even made it seem more magical/mysterious.
On our drive back to the hotel, we stopped for lunch at Trang An Lotus Lake Restaurant. I got pho and Patrick got catfish – both were very tasty! While we were enjoying our lunch, a flatbed truck carrying a backhoe passed by and snagged a low hanging overhead electric line, causing a cascade of sparks. The driver realized it and stopped shortly thereafter. We watched them untangle the lines (I’m sure that was safe…). The restaurant lost power, but that didn’t affect us since we were eating outside anyways. When we left, everyone was just waiting for the electric company to arrive. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon at our homestay and enjoyed dinner there as well.
We were headed back to Hanoi on that fourth morning with plans to catch a 9:09 am train in Ninh Binh. One thing I should note is that money withdrawals in the Tam Coc ATM are very limited. Since we had to pay for all of our meals and hotel nights, our bill was higher than the withdrawal limit. I had confirmed the previous night that we could pay with credit card. However, that morning, the power went out right before I went to pay the bill. So, we were going to miss the train. Oh well! The power came back on about an hour later, but the credit card machine still wasn’t working. We didn’t want to miss the next train, so we ended up paying part of the bill in US cash (only about $40) and headed to the train station. Unfortunately, the 1:30 pm train was sold out! So the lady at the train station called her friend who schedules buses to book us a bus. The bus was surprisingly nice, more like a limo bus, and there were only three others on it. A very comfortable 2-hour ride to Hanoi, more so than the train and about the same price! Tam Coc was a great stop – we may have even preferred this over Halong Bay!
Bich Dong Pagoda 
Tam Coc Luxury Homestay family dog