Tam Coc is a quaint village near the city of Ninh Binh, 2.5 hours by bus from Hanoi. Famous for its newly classified UNESCO landscape it is certainly growing as a destination for both domestic and international tourists in Vietnam. Like in Ha Long bay, limestone towers fly out of an otherwise flat landscape, and slow rivers flow between the tiny mountains.
We took a small boat down the river from Tam Coc, and our boat guide paddled us with his feet through caves, along the rice paddies lining the river, and between the mountains. He told us that the new King Kong movie was filmed here! It was a beautiful trip.
With little traffic on the roads, Tam Coc is very pleasant to bike around. Bike paths of varying quality take you into the mountains, and we visited a temple nestled in a cave.
We couldn’t stop looking at the epic walls, untouched by climbing. Perhaps in the future the area will open up to climbers, it would be amazing!
Our time was short but sweet, and our homestay in a bungalow at the river’s edge was a perfect place to relax and watch the boats float by. We escaped the rain by running south on a long overnight bus ride to Hoi An.
