From Hanoi: Private 2-day Hoa Lu - Tam Coc and Bai Dinh - Trang An tour

Itinerary

Day 1: Hanoi – Hoa Lu – Tam Coc ( L,D)

Stop At: Hoa Lu temples of the Dinh & Le Dynasties, Hoa Lu, Ninh Binh 40000 Vietnam
Hoa Lu was the capital of Vietnam in the 10th and 11th centuries in Ninh Bình Province, Vietnam. The area is one of ricefields broken by picturesque limestone mountains, and is approximately 90 km south of Hanoi. Together with Phát Diệm Cathedral, Tam Cốc-Bích Động, Bái Đính Temple, Trang An, and Cúc Phương, Hoa Lư is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ninh Bình Province.

In the late 10th century, Hoa Lư was the capital as well as the economic, political and cultural center of Đại Cồ Việt, an independent Vietnamese polity founded in 968 A.D. by the local warlord Đinh Bộ Lĩnh (posthumously known as Đinh Tiên Hoàng, or "First Dinh Emperor"), following years of civil war and a violent secessionist movement against China's Southern Han Dynasty. Hoa Lư was the native land of the first two imperial dynasties of Vietnam: the Đinh founded by Đinh Tiên Hoàng, and the Early Lê founded by Lê Đại Hành.Following the demise of the Lê Dynasty, in 1010 Lý Công Uẩn, the founder of the Lý Dynasty, transferred the capital to Thăng Long (now Hanoi), and Hoa Lư became known as the "ancient capital."

The capital at Hoa Lư covered an area of 300 ha (3.0 km2), including both the Inner and Outer Citadels. It included defensive earthen walls, palaces, temples and shrines, and was surrounded and protected by mountains of limestone. Today, the ancient citadel no longer exists, and few vestiges of the 10th century remain. Visitors can see temples built in honor of the emperors Đinh Tiên Hoàng and Lê Đại Hành, their sons, and Queen Dương Vân Nga, who was married first to Đinh Tiên Hoàng and then to Lê Đại Hành. The tomb of Đinh Tiên Hoàng is located on nearby Mã Yên mountain, while the tomb of Lê Đại Hành lies at the foot of the mountain.
Duration: 50 minutes

Stop At: Tam Coc, Ninh Binh 430000 Vietnam
Tam Coc is located about 90 kilometers south of Hanoi in Ninh Binh province (home of the Tran dynasty) and 7 kilometres to the West of the city of Ninh Binh.

Tam Coc which means 3 caves, is a zone of Vietnam that elapses between rice paddies, bathed by the Ngo Dong River punctuated by karstic rock formations and limestone caves.

The rock formations, caves, water and landscape have made Tam Coc to know popularly as La Halong Bay on land or between rice paddies Halong Bay. More accessible than her older sister, Halong Bay, Tam Coc which squanders spectacular landscapes and exoticism, do not get to seize the throne of the major tourist attraction of Vietnam for travelers.
Duration: 2 hours

Meals included:
• Lunch
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Chez Homestay or similar homestay

Day 2: Bai Dinh – Trang An – Hanoi ( B,L,D)

Stop At: Bai Dinh Pagoda, Gia Vien District, Gia Sinh Vietnam
The old Bai Dinh pagoda is located on the western slope of Dinh mountain and nestles in quiet forest . The pagoda houses an ancestor-worshipping house in the centre, Bright cave on the right hand side which worships the Buddha , the small temple worshipping Genie Cao Son. In addition, on the left hand side of the pagoda is another temple worshipping Saint Nguyen and next to it is Dark cave which worships the Fairy. With fanciful scenery and quiet atmosphere , the pagoda will make visitors feel likely to live in fairy land and they find peace in their minds.

Besides, visitors can explore many other grottoes and caves like Fairy cave with seven smaller ones or cave of Ba Chua Thuong Ngan( The goddess of forests). In these caves and grottoes, there are a large variety of magnificent stalactites and stalagmites with various strange shapes and sizes that will invoke the imagination of visitors.

On the other side of Dinh Moutain is new Bai Dinh pagoda. This pagoda has been built since 2003 and covers a 80 ha area. The Bai Dinh pagoda possesses many parts such as Tam The Temple, Phap chu Temple, Quan Am temple( Bodhisattva Temple), Bao Thap, Bell Tower and dormitory area for Buddhist monks.

All materials are collected from local area and neighbouring provinces. To build the pagoda requires about five hundred craftsmen and many groups of workers from famous traditional craft villages such as Phu Loc wood making village, Ninh Van stone carving village, Y Yen bronze casting village, Van Lam embroidery village and so on. Such people used Vietnamese materials for instance, green stone of Ninh Binh or ceramic tiles of Bat Trang to create Vietnamese features for the architecture of Bai Dinh pagoda.
Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Trang An Grottoes, H Hai Ba Trung district, Ninh Binh 100000 Vietnam
Situated near the southern margin of the Red River Delta, the Trang An Landscape Complex is a spectacular landscape of limestone karst peaks permeated with valleys, many of them partly submerged and surrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs. Exploration of caves at different altitudes has revealed archaeological traces of human activity over a continuous period of more than 30,000 years. They illustrate the occupation of these mountains by seasonal hunter-gatherers and how they adapted to major climatic and environmental changes, especially the repeated inundation of the landscape by the sea after the last ice age. The story of human occupation continues through the Neolithic and Bronze Ages to the historical era. Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Viet Nam, was strategically established here in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. The property also contains temples, pagodas, paddy-fields and small villages.
Duration: 3 hours

Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
No accommodation included on this day.