Visit Perfume Pagoda – Hanoi

Huong Son Wards, My Duc District, Hanoi City, VietNam

2022-04-23 21:13:39

Perfume Pagoda is located about 65km from the center of Hanoi, is a complex of pagodas in Huong Son commune, My Duc district. This is a place that many tourists come to every Tet holiday to pray for peace for their families.

In early spring, going to the temple to pray for peace has become one of the typical traditional cultural features of the Vietnamese nation. Every New Year’s Eve comes spring, people across the country have the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the land of the Buddha’s door, to the Perfume Pagoda, both to worship the Buddha at the beginning of the year, to purify their souls, and to immerse themselves in the beauty of the mountains and rivers. country.

Perfume Pagoda is located in harmony with the majestic mountains (Photo collection)

1. History of Perfume Pagoda

Folks used to call it “Perfume Pagoda”, but in fact, this place has the full name of Huong Son, which is a large cultural complex with many different temples and shrines. Huong Son is exactly on the right side of the Day River, in Huong Son Commune, My Duc District, Hanoi.

Inner Pagoda, or always known as Perfume Pagoda, is located in the center of Huong Son and was built in the last years of the 17th century. However, the years of resistance war against the French (1947) made Huong Pagoda was almost completely destroyed and was rebuilt only later under the guidance of the late monk Thich Thanh Chan (1988).

Panoramic view of Perfume Pagoda from above (Photo collection)

Ben Tro seen from above (Photo collection)

2. Temple architecture

The whole architectural complex of Perfume Pagoda is scattered in the Yen stream valley, including Ngoai Pagoda, and Inner Pagoda.

From Duc wharf up to Yen stream, visitors will reach Ngoai Pagoda, or still commonly known as Tro Pagoda. The outer pagoda has three entrances located on three extremely large courtyards completely paved with bricks, along with a 3-storey bell tower built in the third courtyard. The most special highlight of this architectural block lies in the two triangular gables exposed on the top floor, typical for ancient architecture.

Perfume Pagoda with ancient architecture (Photo collection)

Unlike the architectural block of the Outer Pagoda built by human hands, the Inner Pagoda is derived from a natural ancient cave. When visiting this place, you will see right at the entrance to the cave engraved with four words “Huong Tich Dong Mon” and a paved path with a total of 120 steps leading to the cave. Traces and historical writings are still preserved here through 5 Chinese characters “Nam Thien De Nhat Dong” carved by Tinh Do Vuong Trinh Sam in 1770.

The entrance to Huong Tich cave (Photo collection)

Along with the spiritual beauty, Perfume Pagoda also attracts visitors with its surroundings. Yen stream flows on both sides of the year round with clear water, along with lush flowers and plants in 4 seasons, making this place a favorite sightseeing spot for many people every time they come to Perfume Pagoda. Boat ticket price is also extremely “chestnut”, only 50,000 VND/person for Huong Tich ferry.

Sitting on a small canoe boat drifting along the stream, each season you can see the beauty of a different flower. It is the bright and vibrant red color of rice flowers every summer, the dreamy light purple of water lilies every late autumn or the pure white color of ban flowers and plum flowers every spring. Because of that, the wharf next to the small stream is always crowded with people to visit..

Hoi Bridge on Yen stream (Photo collection)

The red color of rice flowers (Collectible photos)

Late autumn water lily (Collectible photo)

Plum blossoms bloom every spring (collected photos)

3. Perfume Pagoda Festival

Visitors from near and far come to Huong Pagoda just for the purpose of sightseeing, but after returning, there is no one who does not light a candle and pray a few words of peace for friends, relatives and family. But the most crowded must be the Huong Pagoda Festival. The stream of people pulled back from all over the world, small boats one after another moving on the Yen stream. The Perfume Pagoda Festival is considered the longest festival of the year with a duration of up to 3 months, from the 6th of each month to the end of March.

At the festival, there will be activities of offering incense, worshiping as well as cultural programs to serve tourists near and far. Every year, about 1.5 million visitors flock to Huong Pagoda to participate in the festival. The current ticket price for visiting the entire relic is 78,000 VND/person (excluding 2000 VND/person the insurance fee.The main routes that you can choose when coming here are Thien Tru – Huong Tich, Long Long). Van, Tuyet Son, Thanh Son…