Tam Coc
Tam Coc: Halong Bay through rice fields
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.\
The river and rice paddies of Tam Coc
The natural landscape of Tam Coc runs in a small rowing boat plying the River Ngo Dong, where in addition to the impressive landscape we can also contemplate the rice fields. This zone of Vietnam has more than 350 hectares (including Tam Coc and Bich Dong).
Undoubtedly the most impressive of Tam Coc are rice fields when at its best, with a bright green with yellow, ending in the beginning of the cliffs of the rock formations. The Vietnamese call the paddy fields of Tam Coc as the Green Sea.
Excursions and tours in Tam Coc
The price of admission to Tam Coc is approximately 2€, price to which must be added the cost of the boat. We can buy tickets at the ticket office located next to the parking space. The Tam Coc experience begins at the Pier Van Lam, where we will sail in small rowing boats, called sampan, with capacity for 4 persons, by the Ngo Dong River. By our tour through the natural park will contemplate rock formations, we go through caves, visit pagodas and remains of monuments and buildings of times of the Vietnam's legend. We will share boat with 2 Vietnamese who is in charge of rowing and steer the ship during the 2 hours that usually lasts for the visit by Tam COC. Typical tours by Tam Coc, in addition to the 3 caves, include as part of the tourist visit the area named Bich Dong, which consists of a cave and a pagoda built on a limestone hill.
The caves of Tam Coc
Tam Coc, whose literal translation is the 3 caves, named by the 3 caves that are enconden in the interior of the rock formations in the area which crosses the River Ngo Dong, about 3 kilometers from the pier Van Lam. These caves, whose names are the cave Hang Ca, Hang Giua cave and cave Hang Chateau, have been formed by erosion of the rio on the rocks, this is to say that the caves have no ground, but that the own River runs through the interior of the caves.
The caves were created by erosion and the passage of time, in his inside 2 meters of height, find estalagtitas, strange and surprising forms carved in the rocks, wild vegetation and if we're lucky, monkeys.
