Spiritual sites to visit in spring around Hanoi

Visitors to the Huong(Perfume) Pagoda are carried down the Yen stream by boats. (Photo: VNA)

​Hanoi - Travelling to the temple at the start of the year is an essential activity for the Vietnamese people that has become a cultural beauty to this day. This is the time when people from all over the country go to the sanctuaries to visit, sightsee, and pray for the best luck of the year.

Some of our recommendations might be the perfect place for you and your loved ones to spend the spring.

Perfume Pagoda

Huong (Perfume) Pagoda is located in Huong Son commune, My Duc district, about 60km southwest of Hanoi.

It is one of the largest and most unique religious sites in the capital with a complex of pagodas, shrines and communal houses scattered on Huong Son (Perfume mountain). The Huong Tich (Traces of perfume) pagoda, which can be found inside the Huong Tich grotto, is considered to be the holiest and most significant location in the entire complex.

Many people visit the pagoda every year to take part in its festival, the largest in the country, which takes place from January to the end of March of the lunar calendar.

It is believed that the Bodhisattva Kwan Yin attained enlightenment at the Huong Pagoda, hence various ceremonies and artistic events are staged there during the three-month festival.

Thousands of pilgrims and visitors, including many from abroad, make the journey up the Huong Son mountain range to experience the peace that has moved poets for decades and even one of the Trịnh warlords to pen odes to the area's heavenly beauty.

Dong Pagoda

Dong (Bronze) Pagoda can be found on top of the 1,068-meter-high Yen Tu mountain in Uong Bi district of Quang Ninh province.

The pagoda was built in the 17th century, with the initial architecture consisting of only a modest bronze cast.

Previously, the only way to get to Đồng Pagoda was to traverse thousands of stone stairs and mountain roads for nearly 6 kilometres to reach the peak of Yen Tu.

Nowadays, the cable car has been used by the Yen Tu Scenic Area Management Board to assist visitors from all over the world to arrive at Dong Pagoda without much difficulty. Guests may get a bird's eye view of Yen Tu mountain from the cable car and then set out on foot to reach the summit of the sacred peak.

The Lunar New Year is the finest time to visit this location. This is the time for highly spectacular events in Yen Tu, drawing thousands of travellers from all across the country to visit and pray.

Tam Chuc Pagoda

Tam Chuc is Vietnam’s biggest pagoda complex, located in Kim Bang district, Ha Nam province, about 60 kilometres from Hanoi.

This is one of the spiritual spring tourism spots that draw a large number of visitors who come to pray for good fortune.

With its front side facing Luc Ngan lake and its back resting against That Tinh Mountain, Tam Chuc Pagoda occupies a magnificent position. Limestone peaks rise up everywhere around the pagoda, adding to the area's already impressive beauty.

Tam Chuc Pagoda's spiritual tourism complex is split into four sections: the reception centre, the monastery proper, the experience hub, and the natural reserve.

Like many other sacred sites, the pagoda is at its most stunning in the milder months of autumn and spring.

According to the Tam Chuc Pagoda Management Board, on January 25 or the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, around 10,000 visitors and Buddhists came to visit and worship at the pagoda.

Visitors embrace spiritual delights Historical and cultural relic sites, pagodas, and temples are not only a destination for Vietnamese people. Throughout the country, these important sites also attract a great number of both international tourists and expatriates. Hoang Oanh reports.