The
Perfume Pagoda is located 60 kilometers southwest of Hanoi where the karst
limestone mountains jut out of the rice fields below. The Perfume Pagoda is a very revered and sacred
site featuring a maze of Buddhist pagodas built into the limestone cliffs of the
mountain. It is northern Vietnam’s most famous
pilgrimage site and one of Hanoi’s most visited tourist day trips.
What to See
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| Entrance way to the Thien Tru Pagoda. |
Thousands
of Vietnamese travelers make the pilgrimage to the Perfume Pagoda every
year. The festival season is mid-January
to mid-March and is a great time to go if you are hoping to witness or
participate in the pilgrimage yourself. During this time the complex is packed with
people and it may be hard to get around and see the sites. Visiting outside of festival season on the
other hand allows you to take in the sites without all of the people in the
way.
Yen River
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| Row boats docked in My Doc. |
From
My Duc you will need to take a one-hour boat ride up the river. You can get a ticket for a boat at the office
by the pier. The boats normally hold 6
people, so if you are a small group and it is the off season you will probably
be waiting for quite a while before filling your boat. On the other hand, you can rent the entire
boat yourself for a round trip for 500,000 VND/22.72 USD.
 |
| Boat trip on the Yen River. |
The boat ride in general is nice
and the scenery is good. The river
snakes through green rice fields and karst mountains that create a great
scenery. Though if this is the main
reason you are coming to this location then I suggest skipping it and doing the
boat trip in Trang An instead. The
scenery is far better, the oarswomen are nicer, and it’s just an overall better
experience.
 |
| Convience store boat on the Yen River. |
Note: The oarswomen will expect
a tip when they return you to My Duc. Although
this is normal, expect that they may not be happy with what you give and will
ask for more; an experience that many tourists have faced here. After giving a good tip to ours, she demanded
that it was not enough and wanted 250,000 VND (half of the cost of the boat itself
and over double the general daily income)!
When I told her she could give me my tip back if she didn’t want it, she
spat at my feet and walked away with the tip I had given her.
Cable Car
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| View from our cable car. |
Once
you have climbed the stairs from the river and through all of the souvenir shops
you will come to the cable car building and will have to make the decision of
taking the cable car or walking the 2 km to the top. The ticket price for the car is 100,000 VND/4.54
USD one-way or 160,000 VND/7.27 roundtrip.
We opted to take the cable car both ways, but many people will take the
car up and then walk down. Either way
you choose, I highly suggest taking the cable car at least one way. The views of the mountains from the car are
great and you will not be able to get any views from the path since it is lined
with tents.
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| The hikeable pathway to the Perfume Pagoda covered in buildings. |
Thien Tru
 |
| Thien Tru Pagoda |
Thien
Tru is the first pagoda you will see as you enter the complex. It is often referred to as the ‘Pagoda leading
to Heaven’ or the ‘outer pagoda,’ and is dedicated to Quan Am, the Goddess of Compassion. It is
worth taking the time to stroll through the pagodas compound if you have the
time if only to see the bell tower and three leveled pagoda inside.
Dong Tien Son
 |
| Shrine inside the cave at Dong Tien Son. |
Dong
Tien Son is a small pagoda located up the stairs just before you reach the
cable car building. Like the main pagoda
in Huong Tich Cave, Dong Tien Son is also located in a cave as well. Much smaller that the Perfume Pagoda, it is
worth making the hike up the stairs to see this less visited pagoda.
Huong Tich Cave (Perfume Pagoda)
 |
| View of the Perfume Pagoda from the staircase. |
Huong
Tich Cave, more well known as the Perfume Pagoda, houses Chua Trong (‘inner
temple’). At the end of the path you
will descend 120 steps into the mouth of a tall cave. Standing at the foot of the stairs outside
the cave it looks enormous and impressive, but upon entering it is not as
impressive as I thought it would be. Houng
Tich Cave is fairly small on the inside and consists of a series of
shrines. That being said, witnessing the
worship inside a cave is a unique experience.
***Note that respectful attire (pants,
skirts below the knee, and no sleeveless tops) should be worn for this trip;
nobody will most likely say anything to you for not doing so, but you might be
the subject of stares and comments.
My Overall Impression
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| A pagoda in the Thien Tru compound. |
My
overall impression of the Perfume Pagoda as a trip worth taking is not very
high. It most definitely has its pros. It’s a culture and religious highlight of
northern Vietnam, the three pagodas listed above are interesting in their own
light, and it’s an easy day trip from Hanoi.
But, in my opinion, the cons out way the pros. My main cons are that the whole area is overly
touristy and the oarswomen demanding such high tips at the end just made the
trip a bit sour. To add to this,
although the temples and views were interesting, they weren’t spectacular by
any means. Especially when you can just
as easily make a day trip to Ninh Binh and see the Bai Dinh temple compound and
take a boat trip at Trang An.
How to Get There
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| Pathway leading to Dong Tien Son, but can be used to bypass all of the vendors below. |
You
can make the trip to the Perfume Pagoda either through a tourist company or by
making your own way. Both of these
options are good and easy depending on what you are looking for. Where the tourist companies allow you to
enjoy the river and pagoda with the ease of mind of a guided tour, doing it
yourself allows you to delve deeper, learn more, and see more of the temples
and culture.
 |
| 3 story pagoda of Thien Tru. |
If you
plan to just go through a travel company then you will easily be able to find
one of the many tour companies offering this tour in the Old Quarter of
Hanoi. The Perfume Pagoda is probably
the most hawked tour in Hanoi, so you most likely will be offered the tour
before you even go looking for it. The
tour includes the roundtrip bus ride to the boat dock in My Duc, roundtrip boat
ride to the site, ticket into the site, one-way gondola ticket to the Perfume
Pagoda (then you will walk back down), and a lunch. The cost of these varies depending on the
company, if it is private/group tour, and what is included, so you will have to
shop around to find what suits you best.
 |
| One of the many ponds in the Thien Tru compund. |
If you
decide to do it yourself then catching a public bus is easy to do. If you have taken the public bus into Hanoi from
the north, then you will be at/near the My Dinh bus station (located in western
Hanoi). From here you can take Bus 103
directly to My Duc for 9,000 VND/0.40 USD and it leaves every 20 minutes. If you are in the Old Quarter you can take
either Bus 1 or Bus 2 to the Ba La bus stop in Ha Dong (about 33 minutes), then
take Bus 75 to My Duc for a total cost of 32,000 VND/1.45 USD. Once you arrive in My Duc it is just a 13-minute
walk down the road to the ticket office located across the street from the
river.
Where to Stay
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| Main walkway to the Perfume Pagoda. |
You
can easily visit the Perfume Pagoda as a day trip from Hanoi, but if you decide
to stay here like we did then you will easily be able to get a hotel in
town. Although hotels aren’t really
listed for My Duc online, they do exist and you will just need to look for the
hotel signs. If you visit during the off
season then most likely the property owners will wave you over as you walk
by.
What to Eat
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| Line of restaurants on the Yen River outside the Perfume Pagoda. |
If you
are only going to the Perfume Pagoda for the day then I suggest eating at the
boat dock at the entrance of the site itself.
There are many restaurants that line the water that have good food. As a warning for those fainter of heart, you
will see skinned cats and dogs hanging in the meat windows of many of these
places. You can, of course, order this
meat if you wish, but there is no need to worry that you may get dog or cat
meat instead of beef or pork. If you
decide to stay the night, there are a few restaurants near the hotels as
well.
What was your experience at the Perfume Pagoda?
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