Fragrant Pagoda Hanoi

Description and is it worth a visit

Perfume Pagoda

60 kilometers southwest ofHanoi among the mountains on the banks of the fragrant River is a complex of Buddhist temples, which was named"fragrant Pagoda" (Perfume Pagoda). It is one of the most sacred places for Buddhists in Vietnam, and during the first to third lunar months (usually march to April), the so-called "Perfume Pagoda Festival" takes place here. At this time, thousands of Buddhist pilgrims rush to the temple, and if you find yourself in Hanoi at this time, you should definitely take a tour here. Legend has it that when God Bodhisattva went on a journey to the south, he stopped at this place and engaged in the salvation of human souls here.

The first pagoda was built in the 15th century, and now there is a whole complex of temples. The most important Pagoda, called Perfume Temple or Chua Trong, is located in a mountain cave, and it is not so easy to get to it. First, it can not be reached directly by Land Transport. First you need to get to the pier, from where you can swim a few kilometers by boat, and then go a little on foot. At the last stage of the route to the pagoda, you can climb the steps to it on foot (we do not recommend this method), and you can climb the cable car.

This place is quite interesting and is one of the most famous and popular religious attractions in Vietnam. The only bad thing is that to visit the pagoda will have to spend a whole day, and to see the entire complex of pagodas, it takes almost a week.

From Hanoi to the pagoda there are daily excursions for the whole day, the cost of which starts from $ 20 per person. You can buy a tour of travel agencies on the street, in the hotel, via the Internet. Russian travel agencies resell these excursions from $ 60.

According to the excursion program, you leave the hotel at 8-9 hours, take a bus to the pier in the city of My Duc about 3-4 hours. At the pier, you will transfer to a rowing boat and sail for another 40 minutes to the entrance to the complex. There you will walk through the market, walk through the temples at the foot of the mountain, have lunch (lunch is included), and then walk or take the cable car up to the main temple in the cave. You will return to Hanoi at about 19 hours.

Although the tour may seem interesting, unfortunately, most of the time will be spent on the road. At the same time, you will only briefly see only the most popular temples of the complex. Therefore, if you are not a true connoisseur or researcher of the cult buildings of Vietnam and your time is limited, you can refuse this excursion. And in general, it is worth saying objectively that this tour may seem to most tourists to be one of the most boring, primarily because almost all the time is spent on the road and sailing on a boat with a view of rather monotonous landscapes. The exception is the fragrant Pagoda Festival in March-April, when thousands of pilgrims go to the pagoda. At this time, the whole river is filled with boats with pilgrims, and the air around the pagoda is saturated with the smell of incense, justifying the name of the pagoda. Well, for the sake of justice it is worth mentioning that from the cable car the views are very decent, but it lasts only a few minutes.

When buying an excursion, try to check with the seller whether the price of the tour includes a funicular ride (we strongly recommend not walking to the main temple), lunch, boat trip, entrance tickets. The fact is that some agencies and guides during the tour begin to collect money from tourists for the above "additional services" or tips, while you can not refuse them, because otherwise your tour simply will not take place. ie, it turns out that 20-25 dollars for the tour you will pay only for bus travel to the pier, and all the rest or part will have to pay extra. You do not have to pay any tips for the boat either, everything should be included in the price. Cable car fare: 120,000 VND (currency of Vietnam, exchange rate) round trip, 80,000 one way; children's-80,000 VND round trip, 50,000 one way.

Separately, it should be said about the ascent on foot to the cave Pagoda: this ascent is nothing interesting. You won't see any scenery along the way. The entire road is a market, and all views are covered with stalls and toilets. It is better to use the cable car and save time and effort (although you will have to spend money). If you really want to walk, you can go up by cable car, and go down on foot. The ascent on foot will take at least an hour with good physical fitness, you can go down in 20 minutes.

Photo Of Fragrant Pagoda (Hanoi)

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