Mua cave — Attraction in Ninh Bình Province

SCAM ALERT 4 days in Vietnam and this is the second scam alert I write! 😅 If you go there by scooter/motorbike, along the last stretch of the road, DO NOT STOP when some Viet person jumps in front of you and tells you that you cannot go further and you need to leave the scooter there... This is not true, you can go till the end, BEYOND THE TICKET GATE Best if you buy ticket in advance, but if not, stop to buy your ticket and go to the gate and cross the gate, ALL on your scooter!

They charged me 24k for parking and when I pointed out other scooters went through, they said they are Vietnamese and that I should walk (quite rude too). I understood it was a scam, they legged it, I took the bike and kept going until the end, where there was plenty of space for parking. Obviously it's not for the money, entrance ticket is 100k, I'd pay 200k but leave me alone!

I was so annoyed cause I was already really late for the sunset, thanks to some other transfer that messed me about, that when I saw the huuuuuuge amounts of steps, the crowd, and in the bad mood from the sequence of incompetence and scam, that I decided not to go at all.

(Now that I write this, I noticed others were also victims, only they dared for...

If you want to see Ninh Binh from above, Mua Cave is a must-visit!

I got there by bicycle from my hotel, and luckily, Ninh Binh’s weather isn’t as hot as Ho Chi Minh’s, so cycling was quite enjoyable. The entrance ticket costs 100k VND, and the official bicycle parking inside is 10k VND—but I parked outside in the neighborhood and got charged 15k VND (so if you want to save money, park inside!).

To reach the top, you need to conquer 500 steps, and trust me, it’s worth it! Mua Cave has two main peaks:

The right peak features an iconic pagoda.

The left peak is home to a dragon statue on the rocks.

I didn’t take pictures at the dragon peak because it looked a bit risky, especially with many tourists climbing up.

The view on the way up was absolutely breathtaking—limestone mountains, and winding rivers create a picture-perfect landscape. Mua Cave is definitely a must-visit spot in Ninh Binh! Don’t forget to bring your...

First off make sure you avoid all the people who stand in the road trying to coerce you to park with them—there’s parking right at the entrance.

Secondly, the climb is not for the faint hearted. I’d consider myself fit—this climb, in the morning heat, was hell. We got there around 8am, turns out this was not early enough to avoid the heat.

Once you reach the false top, you’ll find many other humans catching their breath— but to scramble for the Lying Dragon, you’ll have to wait for the cringe humans to finish their photo shoots all the while you dodge large wasps as you precariously balance on jagged rocks and hold a rusty chain to stop you falling to your probable death.

There’s no human consideration in people getting their snap and moving on, so if that matters to you maybe get there very early to avoid the...