Perfume Pagoda in Hanoi

The Perfume Pagoda (Chua Huong) is about 60km south-west of Hanoi by road. The pagoda is a highlight of the Hanoi area and should not be missed. The fun boat trip along the scenic waterways takes about three hours. A word of warning: bring good walking shoes! The path to the top is steep in places and if it's ruining the ground can get very slippery.  

The Perfume Pagoda itself is a complex of pagodas and Buddhist shrines built into the limestone cliffs of Huong Tich Mountain (Mountain of the Fragrant Traces). Among the better known sites here are Thien Chu (Pagoda Leading to Heaven); Giai Oan Chu (Purgatorial Pagoda), where the faithful believe deities purify souls, cure sufferings and grant offspring to childless families; and Huong Tich Chu (Pagoda of the Perfumed Vestige).

Great numbers of Buddhist pilgrims come here during a festival that begins in the middle of the second lunar month and lasts until the last week of the third lunar month (usually corresponding to March and April). Pilgrims and other visitors spend their time here boating, hiking and exploring the caves'. Weekends also tend to draw crowds, as one pair of travellers reported: 

Avoid Sundays! This is the busiest day for locals we had (he misfortune of travelling there on a Sunday and elided lip in a mob of thousands of locals pushing and shoving on the stairs leading to the temple. We were very disappointed alter haying spent all the time in transit.

Hanoi Attractions

Hanoi City is a sacred land of Vietnam. The year 1010 then became an historical date for Hanoi and for the whole country in general.For about a thousand years, the capital was called Thang Long (Soaring Dragon), then changing to Dong Do, Dong Kinh, and finally to Hanoi, in 1831. This sacred piece of land thereafter continued to be the theatre of many fateful events. Throughout the thousand years of its eventful history, marked by destruction, wars and natural calamities, Hanoi still preserves many ancient architectural works including the Old Quarter and over 600 pagodas and temples. Famous sites include the One Pillar Pagoda (built in 1049), the Temple of Literature (built in 1070), Hanoi Citadel, Hanoi Opera House, President Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum... Hanoi also characteristically contains 18 beautiful lakes

More Hanoi Attractions

• History of Military Museum
• Hoan Kiem Lake
• Co Loa Historical Site
• Hanoi Flag Tower
• Ho Chi Minh Museum
• Tay Phuong Pagoda
• Hanoi Zoological Garden

• Ngoc Son Temple
• Ho Tay Water Park
• Ly Quoc Su Pagoda
• President Ho Chi Minh's Residence
• Ancient houses in Hanoi
• One Pillar Pagoda
• Pavilion's constellation of Literature

• Hanoi Opera House
• Hanoi Cathedral
• Vietnam History Museum
• West Lake
• Temple of Literature (Van Mieu)
• Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
• Thay Pagoda - Ha Noi