Temples in Vietnam: A Pilgrim's Route, Hanoi to Tay Ninh

1. Pagodas, temples and a route through Vietnam

Most of the temples in Vietnam that pilgrims travel for are Buddhist pagodas, and it helps to know the two words you will hear. A chua is a Buddhist pagoda, with monks, a bell and a hall for the Buddha. A den is a temple to a national hero, a deity or a local spirit. The two often share a courtyard, and many Vietnamese pray at both on the same morning.

This guide follows the country from north to south. It starts with two pagodas in Hanoi and the boat pilgrimage to the Perfume Pagoda. Then it moves to the monasteries of Hue and the Hindu ruins of My Son, and ends at the Cao Dai Holy See near Ho Chi Minh City. Ten to twelve days covers it at a pace that leaves time to sit still.

Travellers from India will find a thread running through the route. A bodhi tree of Indian origin shades a Hanoi courtyard, and the oldest temple at My Son was raised to Shiva.

2. Hanoi: Tran Quoc Pagoda and the One Pillar Pagoda

Tran Quoc Pagoda is the oldest Buddhist temple in Hanoi, with a history that goes back to the 6th century. It first stood on the bank of the Red River and was moved in 1615 to Kim Ngu islet in West Lake, which you reach today by a causeway off Thanh Nien Road. The red 11-storey tower in every photograph is recent. It was completed in 1998.

Give your attention to the bodhi tree in the courtyard. Indian President Rajendra Prasad gave it to Vietnam during his visit in 1959, and it has grown into a broad tree that shades the yard.

Entry to Tran Quoc Pagoda is free. It closes at midday, with hours of about 7.30am to 11.30am and 1.30pm to 6pm. On the 1st and 15th of the lunar month, its busiest days, it opens earlier. Staff at the gate will stop you if your shoulders or knees are bare.

The One Pillar Pagoda is a small shrine on a single pillar in a square lotus pond, inside the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex at Ba Dinh. Emperor Ly Thai Tong built it in 1049 after he dreamed of the bodhisattva of compassion offering him a lotus. French troops destroyed it in 1954, and it was rebuilt in 1955 to designs by the architect Nguyen Ba Lang. You enter through a security check at 19 Ngoc Ha Street.

It is a national emblem more than a place of quiet prayer, and you will see it in ten minutes. Look for the second bodhi tree in its grounds, a sapling Prasad presented to Ho Chi Minh in 1958, then spend the hours you saved at Tran Quoc.

3. The Perfume Pagoda pilgrimage

The Perfume Pagoda, Chua Huong in Vietnamese, is a complex of about 20 temples, pagodas and caves in the limestone hills about 60 km southwest of Hanoi. Its heart is the Huong Tich cave, where the faithful honour the rock formations as forms of Quan Am, the bodhisattva of compassion.

The traditional way in is by water. From Ben Duc wharf, local women row flat boats along the Yen stream for about an hour to Thien Tru Pagoda. From there a steep path climbs to Huong Tich in an hour or more, or you can ride the cable car up.

The festival follows the lunar calendar. In 2026 the season ran from 18 February to 11 May, with the official opening on 22 February, the 6th day of the first lunar month. Tet falls on 6 February 2027, so if the opening again comes on the 6th day of the first lunar month, it will be on 11 February 2027.

In 2026 the boat ticket alone cost 110,000 VND per person, and all tickets moved to an electronic QR code system. Scenic fees and cable car fares are set each season, so check them close to your date.

Be realistic about the crowds. On peak weekends early in the season the site can take tens of thousands of people a day, and the boat queue at Ben Duc can pass an hour by mid morning. Go on a weekday, or wait until late March or April. Carry cash and a rain jacket. The boats are numbered and carry life jackets, so ask for one.

4. Hue: Thien Mu Pagoda and the city's monasteries

Hue was the capital of the Nguyen kings, and its pagodas are as much a part of the city as its tombs and citadel. Thien Mu Pagoda stands on a hill above the Perfume River and was founded in 1601 under Lord Nguyen Hoang. The octagonal Phuoc Duyen tower, seven storeys and 21 metres high, was added in 1844, and it is now the best-known landmark in Hue.

In the garden behind the main hall is the blue Austin that carried the monk Thich Quang Duc across Saigon on 11 June 1963 to the crossroads where he burned himself to death in protest at the persecution of Buddhists. It is easy to walk past on the way to the river view. Stop there for a while.

Thien Mu Pagoda is calmest early in the morning, before the tour groups arrive. Then go to Tu Hieu, the monastery where the Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh spent his years as a novice monk. For a pilgrim it is the more rewarding of the two.

Hue was the capital of the Nguyen kings, and its pagodas are as much a part of the city as its tombs and citadel.

5. My Son: Hindu temples in Vietnam

Few visitors expect to find Hindu temples in Vietnam. Yet the Cham kingdom of Champa, which ruled much of the central coast for more than a thousand years, took its religion from India. From the 4th to the 13th centuries My Son was its great religious centre. It lies about 40 km from Hoi An and 70 km southwest of Da Nang.

Building began in the 4th century under King Bhadravarman, and the first temple honoured Shiva as Bhadresvara. The brick tower temples represent Mount Meru, home of the gods. UNESCO inscribed the sanctuary as a World Heritage Site in 1999.

Much of My Son is now ruins in a green valley, and no one worships here as they do at Tran Quoc. Come for the carved brick and the setting. Arrive early, because the valley holds the heat by late morning and there is little shade.

6. The Cao Dai temple at Tay Ninh

Caodaism is a Vietnamese faith founded in 1926, and its mother temple is the Holy See at Long Hoa, outside the town of Tay Ninh. Building began in 1933, stopped when French troops occupied the site in 1941, resumed in 1946 and ended with the inauguration in 1955. Above the altar is the Divine Eye, the central symbol of the faith.

Prayers are held four times a day, at midnight, 6am, noon and 6pm, and each lasts about 45 minutes. The noon prayer is the one most visitors see, since the Holy See is about 90 to 100 km northwest of central Ho Chi Minh City. Visitors watch from the upstairs gallery that runs the length of the nave. It fills early, so be there 30 to 40 minutes before noon.

Entry is free. Take off your shoes at the temple steps, and follow the rule that men enter on the right and women on the left at every doorway. The central aisle is kept for the clergy. Photographs of the building are generally fine. Do not photograph the deities on the altar, and ask before taking close-ups of worshippers.

Many day tours pair the Cao Dai temple with the Cu Chi tunnels and arrive in a rush. If the ceremony matters to you, give Tay Ninh the whole morning and see the tunnels another day.

7. Dress, etiquette and planning the route

The basic rules hold at nearly all temples in Vietnam. Cover your shoulders and knees, take off your hat in the halls, and take off your shoes wherever you see others do so. Ask before you photograph monks or people at prayer, and keep small VND notes for incense and the donation box.

On the 1st and 15th days of each lunar month, local worshippers fill the pagodas in Vietnam. They are the best days to see temple life and the worst days for a quiet visit, so choose with that in mind.

A sensible order is two days in Hanoi, with one of them for the Perfume Pagoda, then a flight to Hue. From Hue drive south to Hoi An for My Son, then fly to Ho Chi Minh City for Tay Ninh. 31° North can build this route around the Perfume Pagoda season if you want to join the pilgrims on the Yen stream.

Frequently asked questions