We start at 6 am, with hotel pick-up and departure by minibus for Ninh Binh. Arrival at Tam Coc should be around 7:30, and we’ll start with a boat trip through the valley and caves. We have time for short walks up to various vantage points, which is where we’ll be shooting some fantastic landscapes. We’ll also be able to capture images of Tam Coc’s boat operators, who continue the age-old tradition of rowing their vessels by foot.

Next, we’ll head to Hang Mua, and it’s a steep climb up 500 steps to shoot one of Vietnam’s most iconic landscapes. It’s worth the sweat, and we’ll take our time, with plenty of breaks along the way.

After lunch and coffee, we travel north to visit two fascinating craft villages. First stop is Ninh Van stone carving village, where we’ll capture images of locals carving incredible statues and headstones by hand. The stone is sourced from Ninh Binh’s many limestone karst mountains, and the villagers have carried on this craft for nearly a century. Then, it’s time to document the action at Gia Thuy ceramic village. We’ll photograph the traditional manufacture of pots using local clay, providing us with rich, atmospheric imagery.

Finally, we drive over to Van Long nature reserve. There are many villages in the area near the reserve, offering plenty of opportunities for pictures of rural life as the sun goes down. Farmers will be bringing in their cattle, buffaloes taking a dip in the rivers and schoolchildren cycling home along the dykes. It’s a fantastic way to wrap up this adventure through classic lowland Vietnam.

At 6:30pm, we hit the road back to Hanoi, with drop-off at around 8pm.

Learn the art of great travel and documentary photography while exploring one of northern Vietnam’s most scenic and culturally-rich provinces.