A royal court music performance in the new boat tour in Trang An Complex. (Source: VNA)

Ninh Binh (VNS/VNA) - The new boattour at the tourism hub of Trang An complex in the northern province of NinhBinh is adding more prestige to the UNESCO-recognised World Heritage Site whileat the same time strengthening the province’s tourism brand.

The new waterway tour, the third of its kind, offers tourists a scenic boattrip of three hours through the Trinh and Quy Minh temples and caves of May, Dia Linh, Van and Dai. During the tour, visitors also have chance to stop at the Vu Lam Palace and Kong film shooting site then return to the departurepoint.

With the new waterway route tour, which opened in February with a ticket priceof 200,000 VND (9 USD) per person, Trang An now has three waterway tours and oneroad route to serve visitors.

The tours offer the chance to visit up to 11 caves, temples and pagodasincluding the Trinh Temple and picturesque mountainscapes. The river water isclear enough to view aquatic plants living on the river bed. The nature ispristine with forested mountains and green valleys of reeds and bushes.

The new route is not a difficult trek but includes walks to the Tran Temple,the Vu Lam worshipping palace of the Tran dynasty and to Kong Village, arecently built model aboriginal community with many simple bamboo huts andfriendly local villagers – just like the village you see in the latest Kongfilm: Kong: Skull Island.

Nguyen Van Duong, a freelance tour guide specialising in Ninh Binh boat tours,told Vietnam News that like many other tours in the province,including those through Tam Coc and Bich Dong Complex, the new boat tour inTrang An was obviously attracting visitors to the area.

Duong said along with stops at spiritual and historical vestiges such as theTrinh and Quy Minh temples, the new stop at the Kong film studio on the tourwas attracting foreign and international visitors seeking to satisfy theircuriosity and admire the natural beauty of the complex.

The Trinh temple has a history of more than 1,000 years while the Quy Minh temple has been recently restored.

Those interested in history will be attracted to the Vu Lam military base,built by the first emperors of the Tran dynasty (1225-1400) after they defeatedMongol invaders.

Caves, especially May Cave with its different stalactites, and Dia Linh Cave,the longest in Trang An at 2km and featuring a pristine beauty, provideadventure trips for those interested in exploration.

Director of the provincial Tourism Department Bui Thanh Dong told Dan Tri online newspaper that this year the province expected towelcome 7.2 million tourists and gross a turnover of 2,700 billion VND (117million USD).

The new waterway tour is the first step in the province’s plan to increase thenumber of tourists, particularly those who wanted to follow adventurous tours, Dong said.

Nguyen Thanh Trang, a business representative from the agency C-Vietnam Travel,said positive signs had been recorded in tourism development since Ninh Bìnhhas attracted more interest thanks to local historical and cultural vestiges aswell as well preserved natural beauty and eco-systems.

Located about 90km south of Hanoi, Ninh Binh is known as “Ha Long Bay onLand”, given its limestone mountains rising out of paddy fields.

The most famous local attraction is the Tràng An Landscape Complex, which hasbeen expanded over recent years and gained popularity for its green fields,mountains, caves and forests.

The province has been listed as one of the 50 best spots to visit in 2018 by UStravel site Insider.

Together with other famous sites in the province such as Tam Coc Grottos andVan Long Lagoon, the Trang An Landscape Complex was also used as a location forthe movie Kong: Skull Island, one of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of2017.

The locations opened to tourists last April.

Ninh Binh welcomed over 7 million visitors last year, up nearly 10 percentagainst 2016, of which international visitors were nearly 860,000.

The Trang An tourism complex has a total of 40 tourism spots of historical,cultural, art and natural vestiges including 20 recognised as nationalheritages.

In 2014, it was officially recognised as a mixed cultural and natural heritageby UNESCO thanks to its outstandingly natural & cultural values.

In UNESCO’s words, "Trang An is a resplendent complex of limestone karstpeaks which are permeated with valleys, including submerged ones, andsurrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs", nestling on the southernshore of the Red River Delta.

Archaeological traces of human activity dating back thousands of years havebeen found within the complex.

The Trang An Complex boasts several nationally recognised sites like the TrangAn ecotourism site and Hoa Lu, Vietnam's capital in the 10th and 11thcenturies.

The area also has many temples, pagodas, paddy fields, villages and othersacred sites.

It is home to about🍎 500 flora species, 73 species of birds and 41 species ofother animals and has a diverse ecosystem.-VNS/VNA