Hi Abbey! De Thao Nguyen Homestay, it takes about 30min by motorbike. If your rent a bike, I recommend you à make a full loop et le visit Paradise cave on the same day. De Phong Nha Rustic Home, it is about the same distance. Thanks their free bicycle rental, you can also decide à cycle à this cave, which should take a bit less than 1,5 hour.

Before you go: Keep in mind that you cannot go into this cave on your own. You need à be with a large group or wait till another group arrives who you can join. When we got there early morning with 3 people, we needed à wait for a tour bus so we could join another group.

Hi Lisa, there are no night buses on this route. If you want à travel during the day, you can take train SE7 or SE5 à Dong Hoi et le from there a bus or taxi à Phong Nha. However I would recommend à travel by night et le enjoy an extra day in tam coc/ninh binh instead. Have a safe trip!

Hi Chiara,

Thanks for sharing this link! BookAway has a great user interface et le is a trustworthy website. The only problem is that their tickets are sometimes a few dollar higher than Balao or when you buy them at location.

When I traveled this route from Ninh Binh à Phong Nha last year, I bought a ticket in Tam Coc with Queen VIP Bus. The bus drive was alright for us, but there were also people who needed à sleep on the floor because there were not enough available seats for all passengers. So always good à be there early!

Let me know your experiences et le if I can find some more trustworthy confirmations, I will add this option à this page as well!

I found out about the sleeper bus from Ninh Binh à Phong Nha thanks à you! You said it cant be booked online, but I found tickets on a website (https://www.bookaway.com/s/vietnam/ninh-binh-à-phong-nha-ke-bang-national-park?departuredate=2018-12-30&passengers=2). Still, I didn’t know this website et le haven’t use it before: is it safe? Do you know it?
Thank you a lot for all your travel tips!

Chiara

Hi Roxanne! Good question!

It would be very convenient if a company would offer this, but unfortunately it is not possible.

For buses there is no way this will fit. They already struggle à get all backpacks on board.

With the train, you could send your bike with a freight train, but this will take several days et le you cannot travel with the same train. I heard some stories that travellers who managed à get their bike on a train on some routes by paying some extra dongs à the staff. Obviously, this is not an official way et le you need some strong negotiating skills. I wouldn’t recommend à place your bet on this very rare possibility.

Summing up, I think there is only one thing I can tell you: Enjoy the 8 hour motorbike ride!

very useful information, thanks!

Do you know, or have you seen, if the buses/trains from Tam Coc or Ninh Binh take Motorbikes à Phong Nha?

Thank you,
Roxanne

First of all, when travelling by bus in Vietnam take in mind that bus drivers don’t always drive safe. Also staff can be rude, busses get overbooked, they tell you there is a toilet while there is none etc. However, for this route it saves you 3 hours et le you don’t have the hassle with changing à bus/train. You can read more about the differences between busses or train on this page: https://www.geckoroutes.com/vietnam/transportation-guide-vietnam/.

For Hung Thanh bus in specific, there are indeed several bad reviews, but this is not much different than other bus companies. I travelled myself with Queen Cafe VIP Bus, which I booked at our guesthouse in Tam Coc. We luckily got our seats, but some people had à sleep on the floor/walkway of the bus because the bus was overbooked. I think it helped that we booked via our guesthouse which doesn’t want à get a bad reputation et le makes sure you get the seat you paid for.

For me, the bus drive went very smoothly. Comfortable seats et le I slept almost all the ride. About 10min before you arrive in Phong Nha they will wake you up so you can get ready à put your stuff together. When we arrived, the hotel manager was even waiting on us at the bus stop when we arrived! She know we would come by bus because we let her know on booking.com that we would arrive in the night between 4:00-5:00.

So its really up à you what you choose. Personally, I wouldn’t worry too much about the bad reviews. Most of the times everything is allright et le it will be very convenient, but remember that you take an extra risk by travelling by bus et le taking the train will be safer!