So far we have visited so many places and Hoa lu was pending from my bucket list. We booked this tour a day before, and we were lucky to get the tickets, as most of the tours were fully booked.

Travel time from the city is around 3.5 hours to & fro. The best part of traveling with these tour companies was, they combined 2-3 places together which are near to each other. If you plan on your own then it is time consuming and you will not be able to cover all places. However, planning on your own is more adventurous.

The tour driver will pick you up at your hotel in Hanoi, just sit relaxed and enjoy the en-route view.

ANCIENT TEMPLES OF LE AND THE DINH DYNASTIES

Your first stop will be historical capital of Vietnam, where you will see the famous Ancient temples of Le. Travel guide will explain the history behind every temple. To cover all temples one needs around 45 minutes to 1 hour. They have different chambers as per the work category and different temples of kingdoms.

TAM COC

Tam Coc was the next stop after historical temples of Vietnam. The lunch was ready and served hot. Being a vegetarian is always a challenge. Here, we found rice, some stir fried vegetables, fruits and fried potato wedges. In Vietnam, I always plan to carry a small umbrella or raincoat. We didn’t plan about the rain and when it was time for the pedal boat , it started raining. We brought rain coats and rented a big umbrella for our smooth boat ride.

It was a beautiful one hour ride on river Ngo Dong, along with the Karst Formation, caves with bats and rice fields. There are very few places on earth that  can parallel this boat ride. The hills on both the sides and caves make it a beautiful ride. They grow rice in the months of April to June and during our boat ride it the fields were covered with water. Overall it was a great adventure.

After the river ride, one last activity was a cycle ride. The tour guide cycled with us for an hour on quiet roads, Village, Rice fields, river and rocky outcrops in Tam Coc. We also visited Bich Dong. 

It was indeed a tiring day for all the tour group with so many activities. The bus driver picked us from Tam Con and drove back to our hotels in Hanoi city. This is a must-see place to visit if travelling to Hanaoi.