Exactly Where to Stay in Ninh Binh for First-Timers

If you’re planning to visit Ninh Binh, I hope you like the outdoors because it’s a real nature overload here. Before my first visit, I thought I’d have to hike to the top of Mua Cave to see the famous limestone karsts. But after renting a scooter and heading outside the Tam Coc area, I quickly noticed these mountainous things are all over Ninh Binh.

I personally visited dozens of hotels and homestays in the Ninh Binh area. The biggest piece of advice I can offer about choosing where to stay in Ninh Binh is that nature and beautiful views are everywhere. The Tam Coc area is the most convenient, mixed with nature, and the Trang An area has many great homestays that are surrounded entirely by nature.

No matter where you choose to stay, you’ll see tons of nature on a trip to Ninh Binh. You’ll find beautiful, far-reaching views simply by traveling between attractions. It’s pretty crazy, actually — a real scenic overdose. Most of the hotels and homestays I recommend below can help you arrange tours, taxis, and scooter, bike, or e-bike rentals.

I’ve also written Where to Stay guides on Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hoi An, and Hue.

Where to Stay in Ninh Binh Map: Hotels, Homestays, and Attractions

Here’s a map I put together showing some of Ninh Binh’s attractions and the hotels and homestays I personally visited. I’m hoping it’ll help you choose a place to stay on your first visit to Ninh Binh in relation to whatever activities you plan on doing. You can view the full map here.

How to use this map: Ahoy! Click the arrow in the top left-hand corner to view the layers. I color-coded the map with Ninh Binh’s best areas to stay. Tam Coc (purple and dark purple), Trang An (blue), and Ninh Binh’s Old Town (red). Some good hotel choices are pink bed icons, and some of Ninh Binh’s sights are yellow stars. The Ninh Binh Train Station is black.

Tam Coc

Tam Coc is a great area to use as a base to explore Ninh Binh. This is where I stayed on my recent trip to Ninh Binh. If you follow my travel guides, you know I explore the heck out of places on foot and by scooter. The immediate area around the lake is the most convenient. Then there’s nature, rice fields, rivers, and limestone karsts just outside this area.

I stayed at the Tam Coc Center Luxury (see on Agoda / Booking), which I thought was in a great location.

The Tam Coc boat tour area at the lake is right across the street. There are mini-marts next door, places to eat all around, coffee shops on the lake, and scooter rentals minutes away. Right next to this hotel is Lys Homestay (Agoda / Booking) and the hostel, The Banana Tree (see on Booking), which is lakeside. This is a great area to stay in Ninh Binh.

You can walk a full loop around the lake, where there are coffee shops, places to eat, and other places to stay. The Tam Coc River View Homestay (Agoda / Booking) is right along the lake on the northwest side. I filmed this video at the homestay.

There are tons of places to eat on roads along and around the lake, both Vietnamese and Western options. I always seek out some bun cha (one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes) when I travel within Vietnam, and I had some at Hai Linh Restaurant.

There are several places to rent scooters, bikes, and e-bikes. Several of the hotels and homestays I visited have bikes for guests or can help you arrange rentals if needed. There are plenty of convenience stores to get extra bottles of water, soap, toothpaste/brushes, snacks, and basic toiletries. There are laundry places scattered around, too.

If you’re planning to ride a scooter, bike, or e-bike, you’ll be able to access nature within minutes from anywhere around the lake area. Within 5 minutes of walking from my hotel, I was in nature, with rivers and limestone karst views. This photo was taken here, 5 minutes away from my hotel.

There are hotels in this area that are on the edge of nature with beautiful views and surroundings. You just won’t be able to step outside and have a plethora of food options steps away, like if you stayed closer to the lake.

For example, just east of the lake area, I’ve highlighted three good choices on my map above. The Tam Coc Golden Fields (Agoda / Booking), the Tam Coc Peaceful Nature (Agoda / Booking), and the Liberty Hall Tam Coc (Agoda / Booking) are all on the same small, dead-end road, a few minutes away from this convenient area.

I filmed this video at the Tam Coc Golden Fields homestay.

These hotels are somewhat on their own, surrounded by great views, so don’t expect to step outside and have tons of convenience right at your fingertips. These are quiet places to stay, with the benefit of being near the convenient area of Tam Coc.

Trang An

Trang An is north of the Tam Coc area and is a lot more spread out. It doesn’t have one “central area” like Tam Coc, with the same local convenience and abundance of food options. But it does have some awesome homestays in nature. I visited several of them. The biggest highlight for me was the Green Mountain Homestay (see on Agoda / Booking). This is tucked away from busy areas, in a very peaceful spot.

I filmed this video at the Green Mountain Homestay.

Many of the homestays I visited are down dirt roads in what feels like the middle of nowhere. You won’t go hungry by staying in these places, as they have in-house food options. But it’ll take a bit more effort to find additional restaurants and other things you might want off the hotel’s property.

But this is the tradeoff if you want to stay somewhere peaceful, surrounded by beauty. A lot of people like these kinds of places: quiet and in nature. There were plenty of travelers at every homestay in Trang An that I visited. In addition to the Green Mountain above, I visited the Trang An Ecolodge (Agoda / Booking) and the Trang An Retreat (Agoda / Booking). These are also great places to stay if you want a quiet and peaceful area in nature.

If you choose to stay in these, you’d mostly be relying on a scooter, bike, or e-bike to get around Ninh Binh, unless you plan on taking taxis to the attractions (the Grab app is still the best choice here). This is all a very popular area overall, so hiring private cars to get around is no problem at all.

Many hotels and homestays in Ninh Binh offer free bikes (of varying quality), and can help arrange scooters and e-bike rentals.

Whether the homestay is locally convenient or not will be on a case-by-case basis. Some of them are in small town-like areas, with a handful of places to eat or coffee shops nearby. Two of these choices I visited are the Ninh Binh Greenland Homestay (Agoda / Booking) and the Ninh Binh Mountain Side Homestay (Agoda / Booking).

I went on a tour with the owners of the Ninh Binh Royal Homestay (Agoda / Booking) and really liked this one, too. This is run by a very nice family, and it’s in a quiet area along a small river, with individual bungalows. This homestay is close to the famous hiking steps at Mua Cave. You could walk here in about 15 minutes.

I filmed this video at the Ninh Binh Royal Homestay.

Like most places to stay in Trang An, the immediate area isn’t very convenient, but it’s somewhat in the middle of the entire Ninh Binh area, making it a good spot to use as a base to visit different attractions around Ninh Binh.

Ninh Binh (In The City)

Staying in Ninh Binh’s city area would be my third option. This is purely an alternative to staying in either Tam Coc or Trang An. The area around Tam Coc’s lake is as convenient as it gets while being near nature, and Trang An is great for pure nature. But if you’re someone who prefers cities, this is the only choice. But let me say that it’s not nearly as impressive a city as Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.

If you want to stay here, I recommend staying around the Hoa Lu Old Town area on Unicorn Lake (Hồ Kỳ Lân). Look at the C’Lau Hotel (Agoda / Booking) and the Green Bay Hotel (Agoda / Booking). This is a convenient area, with tons of restaurants on Ninh Binh Walking Street and nearby streets. The Old Town area is lit up nicely at night, and the two pagodas are really something else when viewed around sunset.

From here, it’s about a 15-minute taxi ride to Mua Cave (with the famous hikes to the mountain peak with the Lying Dragon). It’s also about 15 minutes to the UNESCO Trang An Landscape Complex (the Trang An boat tour) departure point here. Take a peek at my map above so you can visualize the city area, other areas (Tam Coc and Trang An), and Ninh Binh’s attractions.

On my recent visit to Ninh Binh, I traveled a couple of hundred kilometers around the area and visited multiple attractions, hotels, and homestays. I learned that no matter where you choose to stay in Ninh Binh, it’s only about a 10-20 minute ride tops to the different sights and areas. The only exceptions are the Bai Dinh Pagoda (located here) and the Van Long Nature Preserve boat tour area (located here). These are both further north.

How Many Days in Ninh Binh

I’d recommend two full days in Ninh Binh. You could do three or four full days if you’re someone who likes downtime between visiting attractions. But if you like to keep it moving, two full days will allow you to see the best things in and around Ninh Binh.

For example, with two full days, you’d be able to do a Tam Coc or Trang An boat tour (your choice), climb the 500 steps at Mua Cave, visit the Bai Dinh Pagoda, see the Hoa Lu Old Town at night, and still have time for other things in between. These were some of the highlights of my recent visit.

There are restaurants and cafes down random roads surrounded by nature. Some of them have ducks you can feed, or the owners have multiple friendly dogs and cats. I would 100% visit one of these during your trip to Ninh Binh. I stopped at Minh Quan Restaurant here for egg coffee and a chicken bowl.

I also stopped at Tam Coc Pet Coffee (on the same road before Minh Quan).

The boat tours are between 2-3 hours each. I spent about 3 hours at the Mua Cave area (I really took my time). I also spent about 3 hours at Bai Dinh Pagoda. And I spent maybe an hour or two at Hoa Lua Old Town at night. With two full days, you’d be able to sprinkle in other things, like a visit to Bich Dong Pagoda here (I spent about 30 minutes here), AND some trips into the rice fields.

Getting From Hanoi to Ninh Binh

There are a few ways to get to Ninh Binh from Hanoi. You can take the train from Hanoi Railway Station directly to Ninh Binh. You can use the Grab app (download it here) to book a private car from anywhere in Hanoi or from Hanoi’s airport (Noi Bai) directly to your hotel in Ninh Binh. You could also pre-book a private car or a shared limousine van on one of a few sites.

The train from Hanoi to Ninh Binh takes around 2 hours. Tickets for normal seats are usually between 125.000 VND and 250.000 VND. Some of the daily trains have sleeper-bed cars only, and others have sleeper cars and normal seats. The sleeper cars have 4 or 6 beds per room, so you may be stuck with other people. You can view the schedule and book tickets on Baolau. You can also use 12Go. I’ve used both services, and they both accept international credit cards. Here is Hanoi’s Railway Station, and here is Ninh Binh’s Station.

On my recent trip to Ninh Binh, I took the train from Hanoi. They serve food and drinks on the train, but I ended up eating directly across the street from Ninh Binh’s Station at a nice restaurant/cafe called An Restaurant here.

A private car or Grab taxi will be the most expensive, costing at least 1.000.000 VND. You can also book a shared limousine van, which is cost-effective (like taking the train). A shared limousine to Ninh Binh from Hanoi usually costs less than 250.000 VND. You can use 12Go above to book private cars and shared limousine vans. You can also use sites like GetYourGuide and Klook.

A quick note: a car ride from Hanoi or the airport to Ninh Binh can take 2.5 to 3 hours. This is a long time to be stuck in a car or van if you end up with a terrible driver. Many taxi drivers in Vietnam honk endlessly and have conversations on their cell phones during the trip. I once sat in the front seat of a multi-hour shared van ride, and the driver was video calling with an old man sitting on a wooden chair in his underwear.

This comes with the stop-and-go traffic, scooter-dodging, and bumpiness of every Vietnam car ride. For a smoother experience overall, I’d recommend making your way to Hanoi Train Station and taking the train to Ninh Binh. If you have any questions, ask me in my free Hanoi travel planning FB group.