From the north-south Highway 1, visitors turn right into a road leading to the complex. From the Van Lam ferry, where hundreds of boats are waiting to take tourists to Tam Coc, tourists will go on a boat on the Ngo Dong river.

The boat is small, made of bamboo which is daily used by villagers as a means of catching fish and transporting rice. Locals there row their boats with their feet.

During the harvest season, the Ngo Dong is as thin as a silk strip running in the middle of the rice field. In flood season, the river is vast. Literature, Martial Arts and Eagle Beak Mountains go up and down on the two sides of the river. They look like islands on the Ha Long Bay.

The Ngo Dong River passing through the limestone mountain ranges form three water caves, therefore it is called Tam Coc, including Ca (Biggest) Cave, Hai (Second Biggest) Cave and Ba (Third Biggest) Cave.

Inside the caves, stalactities and stalagmites are glistening and they look like a Buddhist statue, a fisherman catching fish or women’s breasts.

Many tourists said their unforgettable impression of Tam Coc is tranquility they feel when they are on a boat on the Ngo Dong River.

Bich Dong, considered the second most beautiful cave in Vietnam behind Huong Tich cave, is about two kilometres from Tam Coc. The Bich Dong Pagoda was built near the cave in the Le dynasty.

Bich Dong Pagoda, built on Ngu Nhac Mountain, is divided into three levels: Ha Pagoda (lower pagoda), Trung Pagoda (middle pagoda), and Thuong Pagoda (upper pagoda). On the mountain peak stands the statue of a Mandarin scholar looking at the horizon in the hope of viewing the spectacular landscapes of Hoa Lu.

From the upper pagoda, one has the most magnificent view of Bich Dong, which is romantically charming in terms of architecture and history. The location for this pagoda was chosen in 1428 after two monks were charmed by the view of the river and the mountains.

Later, King Le Canh Hung  wrote a poem in honour of the beautiful pagoda and landscape. He said that Bich Dong Pagoda was the second nicest pagoda in Vietnam, after the Huong Pagoda, also called Perfume Pagoda, in Ha Tay Province.