Khu du lịch sinh thái Thung Nham - Ninh Bình — Attraction in Ninh Bình Province

We almost didn’t go due to some of the negative reviews. We are SO glad we went. Even if you didn’t see a bird, the landscaping, flowers, sculptures, and gardens are gorgeous. To see the birds you take a 30 min or so boat ride to the sanctuary part. We saw hundreds of birds nesting in the trees. We heard that after 4 pm is when the birds are in their nests, so we did the boat part around 4:15. Fantastic! Maybe they are also present in the morning (park opens 7:30 am), but first hand we saw many birds in late afternoon in March. Maybe the negative reviewers went in the heat of the day or a time of year when they’re not there??… I can’t say. This was the highlight of our time in this area Tam Coc. Important: separate from admission, you pay another fee to use the electric shuttles. Save that ticket! The park is many many acres and you will definitely want to use the electric shuttles. Super convenient you can even message the driver for pickup. Be sure to do the flower garden area, there are flowers all over the place, but there is a special garden area that’s off the hook and even a small windmill in a nod to the gardens near Amsterdam. This place is a beautifully manicured and well curated experience. Maybe that’s what people meant by ‘theme park’. We are two Americans and a native Vietnamese and we all absolutely loved it. The only thing I didn’t think was all that great was the mermaid cave… Not because of all the steps to get into it but because once you’re there, you have to crouch low due to the overhanging rocks. Skip that, but make this park and bird sanctuary a must-see destination unless you dislike beautiful gardens and landscaping. Oh, also, as it gets closer to dusk, the lanterns that dot the whole place get turned on, and it’s even...

This place is sadly not tourist friendly A ticket to enter Bird valley is 120,000 dong. You buy your ticket at the booth which is about 1 k from the entrance. The signage is difficult to follow and understand if you are not Vietnamese. After getting your ticket you drive to the entrance and park. We paid 10,000 dong for our scooter. The entrance is in front of you and you scan in on your ticket. The ticket gives you access to two short boat rides. One through a cave and one to Bird Island. Both are pleasant experiences. You can wander through the park then and see the flowers and gardens which are pretty well kept. The single best bit about the park is hidden behind bushes and this is the swimming pool pictured below. You have to buy a ‘combi’ ticket to get access which is 100,000 ( on top of your park ticket 120,000 dong ) each. No one tells you about it and there are no signs about it. You access through a turnstile with your combo ticket. We arrived at 10 am on a friday and by 2 pm we were the only ones there ! Amazing. So bring your swimwear for a nice swim after your tour of the gardens. We found out that you cannot buy a single ticket at 100,000 dong for the pool only which will explain why no one uses it . Bizarre. But if you want to pay the combo price you can just use the pool for the day. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can walk straight to the pool and go through the turnstile though. You will meet a man with a flag and a whistle who waves the flag in your face blows his whistle aggressively at you and stomps his feet like a child. He is security to make sure you first go through the main entrance and walk about 500 metres to get to the turnstile you could have just walked 50 metres to. Go...

Amusement park! I was expecting a tranquil, natural setting with some wetlands and birds. Instead this felt much more like Disneyland. We did go on a holiday weekend and there were throngs of Vietnamese tourists. We got there around 4:30pm on a Saturday which was just in time apparently, since after elbowing our way thru the crowds to get on a boat, there were huge lines when we got off the boat. All that said, we did see an insane amount of birds on the boat ride, which lasted maybe 25min or so. The grounds are also very lovely and we only explored about half of the area. Really beautiful bonsai trees and landscaping. We took the electric tram out to the boat launch and walked back. If you had plenty of time and it weren’t wicked hot, it would be nice to walk the entire thing. It’s not free to go here. We paid 150k/person for entry which included the boat ride. We paid an additional 40k/person for the electric tram, which maybe wasn’t necessary but was pretty affordable in any case. We also paid 20k to park our motorbike. My suggestion: check this place out in the evening, say around 5pm, on a weekday—and definitely not on a holiday! And don’t expect a natural setting—expect boardwalks, gift shops, restaurants, all the trappings of...