Bich Dong Pagoda

Recommend visiting. It’s a beautiful little temple area to wander around. Entry is free but parking attendants will try to charge you 30k for scooter parking. You can negotiate to 10k or better still, park at the last restaurant before the entry, the guy is lovely and offered us free parking. To show appreciation, we bought some water from him. We later ate some Banh mi here beside the lake and it was good too.

Bich Dong Pagoda is a beautiful and sacred temple complex with a long history and calm atmosphere. There are three pagodas built on different levels of the mountain, surrounded by lush greenery, lotus ponds, and cool fresh air — a perfect place to find peace and quiet. You can see a few monks and local people praying, as well as elderly ladies keeping the temple clean and selling small souvenirs nearby. The entrance is free, and parking costs only 20,000 VND. Next to the pagoda, there’s a path leading up to “Hanh Phuc Lake” (Happiness Lake) — try climbing up for a lovely view of the mountains and countryside! A truly authentic and spiritual stop in Tam Coc, perfect for those who love culture, nature, and tranquility.

Ancient beauty with a breathtaking view Bich Dong Pagoda is incredibly majestic and deeply historic. You can really feel the ancient atmosphere here. The architecture is unique, but the highlight for me was the water lily pond at the gate—it was blooming beautifully and made for a perfect photo. A very serene and spiritual place.

Beautiful scenery, the highlight of the visit. It is free to enter, a very small climb to inside the cave and then the top. There are small tourist shops surrounding it and easy to access via grab rides. A good spot to visit when staying in Tam Coc.

Went to Bich Dong Pagoda with a tour guide and was good explaining that history of this place. There are 3 temples to visit, the walk to the temple can be steep and may be slippery during raining season. You will have to walk into a bat cave to get to the second temple. The view from the top temple is awesome well worth the walk up. Not too high just a moderate climb up.

A place worth visiting, an ancient pagoda first built in the 15th century nestled in a serene tropical hill/ mountain. As part of the journey to the 3rd level you move through a cave that has amazing structures. Surrounding the ancient structure were calm waters of water lilies which unfortunately bloom mainly in the morning. We drove to Ninh Binh from Hanoi which is roughly a 1 hour 45 drive. The pagoda is then only a few mins drive from Tam Coc. On a Sunday the crowd was decent. No entry tickets required and as always, be respectfully quiet visiting a sacred place for locals. When we arrived it started drizzling - if you do hit wet weather, so be careful as the stone steps are slippery.

Very pleasant visit. Don’t be put off by the reviews about parking scams - just be assertive and cycle past the ladies trying to flag you down. At the end there is a bicycle park and the lady was giving out tickets. She didn’t charge us but others seemed to pay 5000vdn per bike - keep some perspective as that is only 15p so I can’t see how anyone can really complain!! The temple and caves were very pleasant and we visited in the afternoon which was not crowded.

Great time to travel is for Spring and winter. It is crowded abit in summer cause of local travellers. Free ticket and walking insite upto to of moutain, We chosed moving behind moutain where we found very nice valley too.