Bich Dong Pagoda, Ninh Binh

Really lovely pagoda. I didn’t pay for parking, I just parked on the road leading up to the site. You can climb up the karst mountain directly behind the temple built in to the cliff face, which was awesome. Spent a couple of hours up there taking photos from the high vantage point. I went there on the Vietnamese new year day and it was very quite.

The pagodas were nice, but the parking service was terrible. Bring some native friends because they will asked for more if you are foreigners. There is a peaceful valley behind the pagoda, take a few stairs. But, there was a guy following us and asked if we would want to see the pagoda (or something) inside the mountains. If you agreed, he will open the gate and charge $1 / person. DO NOT fall for that because I'm pretty sure he don't have the officially right to charge money.

Ancient temple that is a must see if you are searching for authentic, ancient structures. Unlike Bai Dinh Pagoda constructed within the past ten and three years, Bich Dong is a serious ancient attraction that is way worth the visit. Cannot emphasize this enough. Most highly recommend!!

DO NOT pay for parking. Such a scam. You can park down the road for free just off to the side and walk back. Currently this "attraction" is free. Not a must see destination but good to kill some time.

Pagoda itself is FREE - when I was there the woman manning the bike parking demanded $20,000 entry fee, IGNORE HER (pagoda itself has donation boxes inside). Bike/moto parking is $10,000. Pagoda itself not too interesting, the cave has bats but after climbing all the stairs no awesome view is waiting for you. Instead, go back out to the entry and get on the path through the bike parking area, past all the farm animals and around to the right of the pagoda grounds - you'll go up a bunch of stairs and at the top follow it down the other side for the worthwhile caves.