At first our guide wanted to change the tour´s program and show us some "beautiful pagoda" instead. We defended Hoa Lu and it was beautiful. Restored but long ago enough to have the climate of being authentic. For the best experience one should read a bit to know who are the figures on the temples´s altars and what was the... More

Tam Coc is a must go place.. I would definitely rate this well above Halong bay.. its so much more quiet and remote and peaceful.. Although there are a lot of boats playing this river, these are only row boats.. The locals here are so skilled at rowing that they are extremely efficient, in ROWING WITH THEIR FEET..!! Its amazing... More

A nice visit pre-halong bay, so you have a scenery of the small version, called halong bay on land, but I see it differently, with the 3 caves; bit then visit Ba Be lake and see the thousand baths caves to see the difference. Hoa Lu is nice to know the history and definitely make the ride through the rice... More

Since Ha Long Bay in the winter is shrouded by a perpetual mist, this is a great substitute. I booked my tour through my hotel, and they organized it well. We arrived in Tam Coc just before lunch and while some went cycling, the rest of us walked through the Hoa Lu Temple for a bit over a half hour.... More

While in Hanoi we wanted to go to the Perfume Pagoda the next day even though some of the TA reviews were negative. The tour was all booked up, so our hotel receptionist suggested this tour. The minibus ride is a little long (about 3 hours each way). The stop at the old capital was not so hot. However, the... More

My sis and I booked a day tour to Tam Coc, which was labelled Halong Bay on Land, since my sis has already visited the real Halong Bay. It turned out to be a pretty interesting day excursion where we visited an ancient Vietnamese palace which looks like some Chinese temples of sorts to me. The buildings and architecture were... More

Incredible scenery!!! Cruise with a small boat to the Hoang Long river with stunning rock formations all over the way. Watch out how the boatmen are paddling with their legs. There is also a lot of older people driving the boats. 3 USDs are welcome if they always ask for more. There are also many photographers on the go trying... More

It was a bumpy 2.5 hour mini van ride from Hanoi. Such a tight squeeze and no leg room. Really uncomfortable. The toilet stop enroute was at this place selling souvenirs. The doors at the ladies toilet have no latches. We had to close the doors for each other. When we arrived at Hoa Lu, we visited the temple and... More

We debated between the Tam Coc tour or the Perfume Pagoda tour as we weren't going to do both. We booked through our hotel and they put us with Open Tours, which we had just done Ha Long Bay with. Pro - we really enjoyed our guide, Lucky, he was funny and spoke great English, eager to learn some slang... More