Day trips from Hanoi: Ninh Binh, the Perfume Pagoda, Ha Long

Which trips fit a day, and where in Hanoi to start

Rank them like this on a first trip. Ninh Binh is the best full day: a morning train, a boat through the caves of Trang An and the temples of the old capital at Hoa Lu, and the train back in the evening. The Perfume Pagoda is a full day of a different kind, a pilgrimage by rowing boat and on foot that most visitors make by car or with a tour. Duong Lam, a village of laterite lanes and old houses, is a quiet day out west of the city, and Bat Trang, the pottery village on the Red River, fits into half a day. Ha Long Bay is the exception: it can be done in a day, but the road takes so much of it that a night on board is the better plan.

Here is how the five compare:

Keep one Hanoi hotel for all of them and choose its street by your first early start. The Old Quarter is where the Ha Long day cruises collect their guests: day-cruise shuttles collect from meeting points around the Old Quarter, from 07:10 to 07:45 for Cozy Bay. Trang An Limousine adds VND 40,000 per person to pick up two or more passengers in the Old Quarter. For the 06:00 train to Ninh Binh, a room within a short taxi ride of Hanoi Railway Station saves the earliest part of the morning. Our Hanoi guide compares the Old Quarter, the French Quarter and Tay Ho as places to sleep.

Ninh Binh: the best full day, by train or van

Two hours south of Hanoi, the Red River plain breaks into steep limestone hills with rivers and flooded valleys between them. At Trang An, boat people row you through caves and past temples, and around Tam Coc the Ngo Dong river winds through rice fields that turn golden in late May. Hoa Lu, the capital of the 10th and 11th centuries, keeps two buildings from its old citadel among banyan trees and brick courtyards. A day holds one boat ride and one more stop; the Ninh Binh guide covers the rest and the nights.

The train is the simplest way. Ninh Binh station is on the North-South line, 2 h 16 min to 2 h 22 min from Hanoi on the timetable for departures from 17 August to 30 December 2026; SE10 does not stop there. For a day trip, SE7 leaves Hanoi at 06:00 and reaches Ninh Binh at 08:16, and SE6 calls at Ninh Binh at 16:55 and reaches Hanoi at 19:14. For a departure on 18 November 2026, looked up on 18 October 2026, the railway's fare tool priced a soft seat at VND 120,000 on SE7 and on SE6. Book on dsvn.vn or at a station ticket office, with your passport details.

The limousine van is the other main way. When we checked on 26 October 2026, Trang An Limousine's price page listed VND 155,000 a seat from Hanoi to Ninh Binh city and VND 170,000 to Hang Mua, Tam Coc and Trang An, in 11-seat vans that leave Hanoi every hour from 06:00 to 20:00 and take about 1 h 30 min for about 100 km. The last van back leaves Ninh Binh at 20:00, which leaves time for a late climb that the 16:55 train does not.

A day that works: from the station, take a taxi to the Trang An boat centre, 7 km west of the city, and ride route 2, which the management board puts at about 2 to 2.5 hours. After lunch, Hoa Lu is about 20 minutes by car from the Trang An area, and the taxi back to the station meets the 16:55 train. When we checked on 17 October 2026, the management board listed Trang An at VND 300,000 for adults, Tam Coc and Bich Dong at VND 250,000 without the electric shuttle, Hang Mua at VND 150,000 and Hoa Lu at VND 20,000; tickets are bought on the spot. If you would rather see Tam Coc from the boat and Hang Mua's 500 steps at sunset, swap Trang An for them and take the van home.

A Ninh Binh day costs about VND 900,000 each, about VND 1,800,000 for two, with the train both ways, the Trang An and Hoa Lu tickets, three taxi rides, lunch, coffee and a 10% buffer. The estimate uses the sample soft-seat fares above, the board's tickets, about VND 100,000 a taxi ride (the top of the VND 35,000 to 100,000 that Vietnam's national tourism authority gives for an inner-city taxi, since the boat centre is 7 km out of town), and about VND 75,000 for a sit-down lunch and VND 50,000 for coffee and water per person, based on its street-food and coffee prices. For two: train VND 480,000; tickets 640,000; taxis 300,000; food and drinks 250,000; buffer 170,000.

Ha Long Bay: possible in a day, better with a night

Ha Long Bay is the trip most visitors want from Hanoi: limestone towers rising straight out of the sea, caves such as Sung Sot on the Bo Hon islands, and the climb on Ti Top island to a view across the bay. It is also the furthest of these five, and the bay is seen from a boat, so the day depends on the road.

By expressway the drive takes about 1 h 30 min to 2 h 30 min: the bay's management board gives the shorter time, Vietnam's national tourism authority the longer. With pick-ups and a rest stop, a cruise shuttle takes three to four hours each way. Cozy Bay's Premium day cruise, for example, collects guests from 07:10 to 07:45, sails from 11:30 to 17:00, visiting Sung Sot Cave, Luon Cave and Ti Top Island, and is back in Hanoi at about 20:30, so a day-tripper spends more hours on the road than on the water.

When we checked on 26 October 2026, Cozy Bay listed that day at USD 49 per person, with the round-trip limousine from Hanoi, a seafood buffet lunch, the Sung Sot Cave entrance fee and kayaking at Luon Cave included. For a private day, Asian Way Travel, a Hanoi tour operator, lists 6 hours of cruising, lunch, a kayak or sampan boat, the entrance fees and a car from Hanoi at VND 4,800,000 (USD 193) per adult for two or VND 2,825,000 (USD 114) per adult for four, with the expressway toll extra. If a cruise leaves the fees out, the board charges VND 250,000 a person for route VHL2, the route of Sung Sot and Ti Top, and the same for VHL1, the route of Thien Cung and Dau Go.

One night on board changes the trip: the boat sails in the afternoon, anchors among the islands for the evening and returns the next morning, and the road no longer eats the day. The Ha Long Bay guide compares the routes, the operators and the board's overnight tickets. Book with the weather in mind: Vietnam's national tourism authority advises April to June or September to November for the bay and says tropical storms can cancel cruises, and the UK Foreign Office dates the tropical storm season from May to November, so leave a spare day before a flight home.

The Perfume Pagoda: a rowing boat and a pilgrim's climb

About 70 km from Hanoi, the Perfume Pagoda, Chua Huong in Vietnamese, is Vietnam's most revered Buddhist pilgrimage site. It is a complex of temples and caves in the limestone hills of Huong Son, reached by rowing boat along the Yen stream between karsts and rice fields. Trinh Temple, at the foot of Ngu Nhac mountain, comes more than 10 minutes into the boat ride, and the boats land at Thien Tru Pagoda, built in 1686, up a walk of 120 stone steps. Above it, Huong Tich Cave is the heart of the pilgrimage, where devotees pray and make a wish for the year ahead. You can climb the stone path to the cave or take the cable car.

There is no train, so go by car or with a tour, and plan on the whole day: the road is about 70 km each way before the boat, the climb and the boat back. Xanh SM (Green SM on its own site) publishes a Hanoi tariff for its standard car of VND 30,500 for the first 2 km, then VND 14,700 a km to km 12, VND 13,800 to km 25 and VND 11,900 beyond, which comes to about VND 890,000 for the 70 km, before tolls. For the way back from Huong Son or Duong Lam, agree the return with your driver before you set off, or book a tour that includes it. The boats leave from Yen wharf, where the festival organisers installed 10 automated ticket gates in 2026. Tickets are QR codes, sold at the car parks, at the Sao Sa and Yen wharf offices, from a machine at Thien Tru wharf and on the festival website.

For the 2026 festival season, the organising committee set these prices, as reported by Bao Van Hoa, the culture ministry's newspaper: the Huong Tich route costs VND 230,000 for an adult, made up of VND 120,000 for the scenic area and VND 110,000 for the boat, or VND 170,000 at the concession rate; children pay no scenic fee and VND 65,000 for the boat. The cable car costs VND 260,000 return and VND 180,000 one way for adults, and VND 180,000 and VND 120,000 for children. Electric cars on the shuttle routes to the wharves cost VND 20,000 a ride. Outside the festival season, prices can differ. The cable car gives priority to older people, children, pregnant women and people with disabilities, and stops when the cave is overcrowded. A Perfume Pagoda day costs about VND 1,700,000 each for two people sharing a car: about VND 890,000 a person for the car both ways (twice the one-way fare, split between two), the Huong Tich route and the cable car return (VND 490,000), about VND 125,000 for lunch and drinks, based on the tourism authority's street-food prices, and a 10% buffer.

The festival traditionally runs from the sixth day of the first lunar month through the third lunar month, so its solar dates change each year. The 2027 dates are not yet announced; in 2026 it ran from 18 February to 11 May, opening on 22 February. It is a spectacle, and a crush: in the first five days of the 2026 lunar new year the site counted 135,895 visitors, 51,190 of them on the fifth day alone. You can visit at any time of year, and outside the festival the stream is quieter. It is a place of worship, so dress as you would for any temple.

Bat Trang and Duong Lam: two villages close to the city

Bat Trang has made pottery for more than 700 years, on the bank of the Red River about 14 km from the city centre. Walk its old lanes, look into the Van Van ancient house, a 200-year-old wooden house decorated with ceramics, and sit at a potter's wheel in one of the workshops: the piece you make is dried for you to take home. The pottery market sells ready-made cups, dishes, ornaments and ceramic pictures. The Bat Trang Pottery Museum, in the Vietnam Craft Village Quintessence Centre at 28, hamlet 5, fills a building inspired by the potter's wheel with six floors of collections. A taxi or ride-hailing car makes it an easy half day: on Xanh SM's tariff, 14 km comes to about VND 205,000 each way. Before you go back, try banh te and canh mang muc, a soup made only in Bat Trang.

Duong Lam, 44 km from the centre of Hanoi in Son Tay, was the first village in Vietnam recognised as a national historical and cultural relic, in 2006. Its houses, walls, gates and wells are built of laterite, a dark honey-brown stone dug from the fields, and 956 of its houses are between 100 and 400 years old. Mong Phu, the largest of its six villages, keeps its old gate on four ironwood pillars and a communal house with shiny black wooden pillars at its centre. Duong Lam was the home of two kings, Phung Hung and Ngo Quyen, and has a temple to the first and the tomb of the second, as well as Mia Pagoda. Go by taxi, ride-hailing car or tour: on Xanh SM's tariff, the 44 km come to about VND 580,000 each way, before tolls. A Duong Lam day costs about VND 800,000 each for two sharing a car: about VND 580,000 a person for the car both ways, about VND 125,000 for lunch and drinks and a 10% buffer, plus the village entrance, which publishes no price, so carry small notes.

Guided tour or on your own

Ninh Binh is the easiest to do alone: one train or van each way, a taxi between the sights, and tickets on the spot. Bat Trang and Duong Lam are short car rides that a ride-hailing app prices before you set off, and you set the pace in the lanes. A tour earns its price at the Perfume Pagoda, where it takes care of the car, the wharf and the boat on a crowded day, and at Ha Long Bay, where a day cruise with a Hanoi transfer is the simplest way to fit the bay into one day. Before you book any tour, check the pick-up area, which fares and tickets are included and when you will be back in Hanoi.

Choosing by season

Hanoi is at its best from April to June and from September to December. Then let the month decide between the trips.

• September to November: cool, clear and sunny around Hanoi, and one of the two seasons the tourism authority advises for Ha Long Bay.
• December to March: chilly and misty, with lows of 10 degrees from late December. The Ministry of Home Affairs has set the public-sector Tet holiday from 4 to 10 February 2027, so book trains and vans early for those dates; the Perfume Pagoda festival begins in the first days of the lunar new year.
• April to June: warm and mostly clear, the other season advised for Ha Long Bay and good in Hanoi, with Tam Coc's rice turning golden in late May. The Perfume Pagoda festival ends in the third lunar month.
• June to August: hot, humid and rainy in Hanoi, and hot, humid and stormy on Ha Long Bay. Start early, rest through the hottest hours and keep a cruise date flexible.