Rough guide about Trang An tourism complex

Trang An panorama

Trang An is a famous eco tourism complex in Ninh Binh province, the complex is situated in the Ninh Binh town and three districts Hoa Lu, Nho Quan and Gia Vien. Trang An tourism complex has a total area 2000 hectares, the complex of Trang An is formed by ranges of limestone mountains, amazing caves and rivers, valleys coupled with many historical and religion sites including pagodas, temples all combine to make Trang An a magic place.

Best time to visit Trang An tours is from February to April, this time is spring, the weather is cool, especially visitors can combine sightseeing tours with pagoda pilgrimage, however note that this time is also high season of Ninh Binh tourism, a lot of tourists come to visit and worship so all places are always crowed and be careful with your bags as there are pick pockets around.

How to travel Trang An from Hanoi

You can take a bus from Hanoi (from the bus stations Giap Bat, My Dinh). The buses run daily at different times. You should contact the bus station for more details before the trip or you can take the open bus, spend the night in Tam Coc tour and visit Trang An the next day.

Things to visit in Trang An

A boat trip in Trang An tours is a must, each boat carries 4-5 people. Along the way, in addition to enjoying the mountain views, charming scenery, tourists should visit the scenic spots such as:

- Trinh temple: The famous temple thousands of years old, built under Dinh dynasty is the first stop.

- Tran temple is an ancient stone temple, built in 968 to worship a general from the 18th Hung king. Tran temple has beautiful patterns carved in stone, showing great skill temporary artists.

- Khong temple: the thousand-year-old tree tree in front of the temple, dedicated to Dinh Cong, a loyal official under King Dinh Tien Hoang.

If you haven't been to the water caves before, you will be filled with strange feeling when entering the gates with small boat through the seemingly endless tunnels. The cave system in Trang An, though not brilliant, magnificent stalagmites, but the caves are very diverse, each brings a different aspect. to name a few:

- Seo cave, very deep with dense trees

- Ba Giot cave with stalagmites deposited as water droplets

- Nau Ruou cave with with old jars, according to legend it is where the the wine is cooked for the mandarins

- Dia Linh cave with the low, narrow entrance

There are many other caves such as Bright cave, Dark cave, Son Duong cave...

Problems visitors usually have in Ninh Binh trip

Ninh Binh tour is one of the most attractive place in north Vietnam and is referred to as Halong bay on land. Located 120 km south of Hanoi, travelers usually visit Ninh Binh in a day trip that covers some famous area like Hoa Lu ancient citadel, Tam Coc caves, Trang An complex and Bai Dinh pagoda...In this post I would like to share some experience so that you guys can avoid possible annoyances in your trip to Ninh Binh.

- Boat trip in Tam Coc: The most common complaint we had from customers is about the boat rowers. They try to make money from tourists by pushing visitors to buy souvenirs, take photos and ask for a tip and always express disappointment if you don't have some money for them. One of my client Claudia Magdalena from Spain told us that the rower of her boat opened a box under the seat which is full of embroideries, pillow sheets, T-shirts, saying that the made by herself with a lot of hard work and wanted to sell at high price, other young ladies followed them all the way on other boats, they took photos and then tried to sell the pictures. At the end of the boat trip she was surrounded by a groups of people selling water and soft drinks, they urged her to buy drinks for the rower...What should you do in this situation? just say no firmly and politely and don't show any interest. About the tip, please have some money handy for the rowers, about 50.000 vnd (2 usd) per person is fine. 

Rescue centre in Cuc Phuong forest

- Visit Cuc Phuoc national park: The Monkey Rescue Centre is located in Cuc Phuong forest with it's aim to rescue, provide care to the precious types of monkey in Vietnam and release them back to nature, the Monkey rescue Centre has nearly 160 individuals of monkey such as white head langur...Visitors have to pay entrance to get in plus an extra guiding service. What made visitors annoyed the must is the bad environment, empty cans and plastic bottles can be found everywhere. The trek in the forest takes about 2 hours, remember to wear good shoes as it rains very often in the area, and go to toilet before the trek if you don't want to take a long way back to the centre as there is no toilet around, perhaps the visitors see the forest as a big natural toilet and there is no need to build one.

- Hoa Lu temples of Kings: The temples are dedicated to King Dinh and King Le, said to be built in 10th century however what visitors see is a small temple built in 17th century as the original temple was destroyed in the war, there is nothing special about these temples as they are almost similar to the many temples in Hanoi, unless you are escorted by an English speaking guide you cannot read any sign nor description about the place. Hoa Lu should be only a coffee stop rather than a tourist destination as described by tour companies, ah yes, like any other place in Ninh Binh, Hoa Lu is full of photographer hawkers who trouble your visit.

- Bai Dinh pagoda: One of the biggest pagodas in south east Asia, Bai Dinh was a newly built pagoda, it is like a tourist attraction rather than a Buddhism place as people feel the lack of a spirit of religion. The pagoda is free to enter however you need to pay 1 USD to park the bike plus 2.5 USD transfer by bus from the entrance to the main part of the pagoda. There are many big statues however they are not beautiful. If you want to see a big pagoda building then Bai Dinh is the place and that's it.

Trang An recognized as World Heritage

In the last week of January, in Ninh Binh city and other districts Gia Vien and Hoa Lu will host a series of activities in honour of Trang An eco tourism complex, notably the national level ceremony to recognize Trang An as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Trang An tourism complex

The ceremony will take place in the evening of 23rd January at the Bai Dinh pagoda conference centre in Gia Vien district, the focus of the ceremony is a concert entitled "Trang An, a heavenly love song of water and mountain" illustrating a vivid story about Trang An, a unique heritage not only in Vietnam but also in South East Asia.

The organization of the ceremony to receive certificate of World Natural and Cultural heritage of Trang An complex is to honour the global outstanding values of the heritage, while promoting widely the potential of Ninh Binh tourism, thus attacts more and more international and domestic visitors to Trang An area and other sites in Ninh Binh province, this is considered the first event in response to the National Tourism Year 2015 with the theme "connect the World Heritages".

Many special sports, culture and tourism activities will be held to celebrate the recognition of Trang An receiving Unesco certificate such as an exhibition introducing the world heritage sites in Vietnam, art photo exhibition with the theme "world Cultural and Natural Heritage Trang An", Fair - Exhibition of typical products and handicrafts villages in Ninh Binh, International scientific conference on the management, conservation and promotion of the values of the World Heritage, announce and display a set of stamps about Trang An heritage, display books, publications...

Previosly in Qatar, at the 38th meeting of Unesco, Trang An tourism complex as listed as a Word Heritage based on three criteria: cultural, aesthetic beauty and geology - geomorphology. This is the first mixed heritage in Vietnam and Southeast Asia recognized by UNESCO, became the pride of not only Ninh Binh people but also Vietnam.