Hoa Lu – Tam Coc Private Day Tour

08:00: Sapa Trekking Guide & Driver will meet you in your hotel lobby and introduce themselves. Jump into the car waiting outside and the driver will take us just over 100km south of Hanoi. We pass scenes of the ancient Red River Delta as we drive, noting instances of farmers tilling the rice paddies in front of a backdrop of forested mountain ranges.

10:30: After arriving in Tam Coc, we go straight to the center of the village, where we find the head of the Ngo Dong River. We climb into one of the wooden rowboats here and begin our journey along the placid canal, relaxing into the seat as some of Ninh Binh’s most attractive scenery passes us by.

We skim between imposing mountain ranges flanking the river’s edge, where goats are often seen scaling the rock faces. Below this, we see Tam Coc’s famous rice paddies, growing directly beneath the mountains and flitting between green and gold hues throughout the year. Our local rowers will row with their feet as we pass underneath wet caves, which offer rippled ceilings of rock punctured with stalactites, all before the perfect cave exit, which frames the natural background in a wonderful, prehistoric scene.

Pass our third and final cave, we do a U-turn and head back to Tam Coc along the other side of the river.

13:30: Once back in the village, we head to a nearby restaurant for lunch, where you can enjoy some of the specialties of Ninh Binh and northern Vietnam as a whole.

14:00: After this, we climb onto bicycles and take a cycling tour of Tam Coc, pedaling down quaint village paths free of traffic. We cycle past small shops and restaurants before emerging in a clearing, where rice paddies stretch onward to the feet of limestone mountains and individual towers of karst rock jut out of a sea of green rice plants.

15:00: We finish your Tam Coc and Hoa Lu private day tour at our second destination; the ancient capital of Vietnam for 42 years. Hoa Lu still features a lot of the prestige of an ancient capital, with outstanding architecture on display across a moat, a bridge, and a grand gate standing in typical Vietnamese fashion.

We will take a walk around the fabulous enclave, which once belonged to two separate emperors between 968AD and 1010AD. We can see the legacies of these emperors at the two temples, dedicated to preserving the memories of King Dinh and King Le, who ruled from here before the capital was moved to Hanoi. The guide will explain the colorful history of Hoa Lu, as well as that of Dai Co Viet, the official name of the country under the rules of kings Dinh and Le.

16:00: After this, we return to the center of Tam Coc to find our bus and head back to Hanoi along the greenery-bordered highway. As we approach the capital, we may be able to enjoy a beautiful sunset before arriving at your hotel in the center.

This signals the end of your private Tam Coc and Hoa Lu day tour from Hanoi. We thank you for your time and we look forward to welcoming you back to beautiful Vietnam in the future!