OVERVIEW
Thai Vi Temple resides in the O Lam forest, belonging to the former Vu Lam royal step-over, today in Ninh Hai commune, Hoa Lu district, Ninh Binh province. The temple is famous for a long time, a place to worship the kings of the Tran dynasty. In the past, the Tam Coc mountain area was the place where the Tran Dynasty came here to set up the Vu Lam palace in the resistance war against the Nguyen Mong.
WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT THAI VI TEMPLE
BEST THINGS TO DO IN THAI VI TEMPLE
1. Location:
Thai Vi Temple is an ancient temple in Van Lam village, one of four villages where Vu Lam Palace Complex was set, where people worship four Tran kings including King Tran Thai Tong, King Tran Thanh Tong, King Tran Nhan Tong, King Tran Anh Tong, generals Tran Hung Dao, Tran Quang Khai and Queen Thuan Thien, who founded the palace. Thai Vi Temple belongs to Trang An Complex with the typical terrain of limestone mountains and swamps alternately regarded as Ha Long Bay inland. The temple is located in a quiet space, extremely noble and elegant appearance. According to Feng Shui, Thai Vi Temple is set in a prime location where surroundings are majestic nature with high mountains standing side by side, Ngo Dong River flowing in front of.
2. Architecture building of Thai Vi temple:
Thai Vi Temple is not only a valuable historical relic of dating but also has features of architecture in Tran Dynasty. In hundreds of years, Thai Vi Temple had been suffered from the impact of time and wars; therefore, it could not retain as its original architecture. However, in recent years, the locals have been trying to restore the temple as its original image in the past. The whole architecture is arranged symmetrically on both sides along the main axis from layouts to details. In front of the gate are two stone horse statues set opposite each other. The area of the temple is quite small compared to other temples in common but extremely beautiful and gives visitors a relaxing feeling. There are two lotus ponds, bell towers, statues and steles of Tran kings set parallelly in the hallway in front of the upper court. It is easy to find patterns used popularly in the Tran Dynasty such as strong dragons, tigers, daisy, lotus, etc in each statue, bell, rafter, house column, door, etc.


3.The best thing to visit Thai Vi temple
Thai Vi temple is one of the most interested in places which you shouldn’t miss in your list. When you come to visit Thai Vi temple you will although the ground of the temple is quite small, it contains many vestiges of the Tran Dynasty in artefacts such as bells, statues, stone steles. For anyone who likes to research history or pay a visit to a sacred place with glorious historical stories, Thai Vi Temple will be the best option in route to explore Trang An Complex. Especially the temple keeper is a knowledgeable person about Tran Dynasty’s history and traditional instruments, thus tourists can come here to hear his explanation about the history related to Thai Vi Temple in particular and Vu Lam Palace in common.
- Biking through the village to visit Thai Vi temple
Biking to through the local village is one of the most exciting activities what you should do. Such a quiet peaceful place is where tourists can immerse themselves in surrounding beautiful natural sceneries. In front of the temple is Ngo Dong river flowing lead to Tam Coc Bich Dong with the clean blue water in four seasons. Enclosing the temple is a large yellow rice field in the summer and winter and green one in the rest of the year. Far from is high limestone mountains covered by green trees hugging the temple.
THE BEST ACCOMMODATION NEAR THAI VI TEMPLE
Tam Coc Catalina Hotel
Tam Coc Centre Boutique Hotel
Tam Coc Condeluz Boutique Hotel
Homestay and Bungalow
Homestay and Bungalow:
Tam Coc Tropical homestay
Tam Coc Banana bungalow
Tam Coc Family Homestay
Tam Coc Mountain View Homestay
SPECIAL FOODS
Besides the historical sites, unique landscapes in Hoa Lu Ninh Binh, this attraction is famous for some cuisines attracting tourists from other countries in the world. Here below are special cuisines:
Scorched rice rice: is a famous specialty in Ninh Binh. The rice is crispy, light yellow color, served with special sauce that makes it tasty
Goat dish (mountain goats): Not only is it delicious but the dish is extremely nutritious and good for health.
Snail dishes (snails living on the mountains): They are crispy and cooked in various ways: steamed with ginger, stir-fried snails, mixed salad
Here is the restaurant we highly recommend for you to try:
Phung Bai Long Restaurant
Tam Coc Sunflower restaurant
Truong An restaurant
Spice Garden Tam Coc
By Motorbike: If you would like to travel by motorbike, you can go on the old National Highway 1A, through Ha Nam and head towards Ninh Binh Thanh Hoa.
Ninh Binh hasn't got airport yet, so the flight is not avaiable to Ninh Binh, but there are some airport near Ninh Binh province such as Cat Bi airport in Hai Phong and Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, so you can take the flight to these airport and go from these airport to Ninh Binh.
By tourist bus: You can book the tourist bus with Asian Discovery Travel. It's start around 7h30 - 8h00 am ( pick you up at your hotel), transfer you go to Thai Vi temple. It's take more or less 2 hours from Hanoi to Thai Vi Temple. You will have a short break on the half way.
By local bus: You can take the bus go on Phap Van Cau Gie - Ninh Binh Highway. With a distance of about 90 km, it may take you around 1,5 hour to reach the center of Ninh Binh City. Then from Ninh Binh city, you will take grap or taxi to Thai Vi temple.
You can easily go by train to come to Ninh Binh urban axis is situated on the North-South Railway. In Ninh Binh Province, there are also a lot of railway stations, including Ninh Binh, Cau Yen, Ghenh and Dong Giao Train Station. But the most popular is Ninh Binh train station. Some trains departing from Hanoi are SE1, SE3, SE5, SE7, SE9, SE19. It's take more or less 2 hours go by train from Hanoi to Ninh Binh. It's cost from 10 - 15usd/1 pax.

Day Tours:
Thai Vi temple – Biking – Tam Coc Group/Private Tour
Thai Vi temple – Tam Coc – Mua Cave Group/Private Tour
Thai Vi temple – Biking – Trang An Group/Private Tour
Thai Vi temple – Trang An – Mua Cave 1 Day Private Tour
Hoa Lu – Thai Vi temple – Tam Coc 1 Day Private Tour
Thai Vi temple – Bich Dong – Thung Nham 1 Day Private Tour
Thai Vi temple – Thung Nham – Mua Cave1 Day Private Tour
Multiple Day Tours:
Hoa Lu - Trang An – Thai Vi temple – Tam Coc – Mua Cave 2 Days 1 Night Group/ Private Tour
Hoa Lu - Trang An – Thai Vi temple – Bich Dong Pagoda – Tam Coc – Mua Cave 2 Days 1 Night Group/ Private Tour
Bai Dinh - Trang An – Thai Vi temple – Hoa Lu – Tam Coc – Mua Cave 2 Days 1 Night Group/ Private Tour
Hoa Lu - Trang An – Thai Vi temple – Thung Nham – Bich Dong Pagoda – Mua Cave 2 Days 1 Night Group/ Private Tour
Hoa Lu - Trang An – Thai Vi temple – Bich Dong Pagoda – Thung Nham – Mua Cave 3 Days 2 Nights Group/ Private Tour
Bai Dinh pagoda - Trang An – Thai Vi temple – Bich Dong Pagoda – Thung Nham – Hoa Lu – Tam Coc – Mua Cave 3 Days 2 Nights Group/ Private Tour