Option: Private Tour: Visit Bo Da Pagoda
Begin your journey at Bo Da Pagoda, also known as Quan Am Pagoda, nestled at the foot of a pine-covered hill. Surrounded by earthen walls, the pagoda offers a serene atmosphere with mountains and rivers in the distance.
Learn about the legend of the Goddess of Mercy, who helped a poor childless couple. Discover how the pagoda was built in the 11th century under the Ly dynasty, the golden age of Buddhism in Vietnam, and was reconstructed during the Le dynasty.
Explore the unique architecture of Bo Da Pagoda, which appears as a closed complex from the outside but has hundreds of interconnected compartments inside. Admire the ancient building technique of packed earth walls and gates, which distinguishes this pagoda from many others.
See the pagoda's collection of cultural, historical, and artistic artefacts, including a bronze bell, a stone stele, a horizontal lacquered board engraved with Chinese characters, and a pair of wood panels inscribed with parallel sentences.
Marvel at the famous carved woodblocks bearing the Sutras of Zen Buddhism. Learn how the monks at the pagoda carved Buddhist Sutras on wood in the 18th century to preserve the texts for teaching. See over 2,000 Sutra woodblocks arranged on eight bookcases.
Visit the 8,000-square-meter Tower Garden outside Bo Da Pagoda, encircled by an old brick wall. Admire the stone and solid brick towers, coated with lime, molasses, and wood-pulp, arranged layer upon layer. Discover the bone-ash of more than 1,000 monks of Lam Te Buddhism inside 97 towers, inscribed with the days of birth and death of the monks.
If you visit during the Bo Da Festival, held annually on February 16-17 of the lunar calendar, you can enjoy famous folk music and songs performed by local artists.
Option HALF DAY Group Tour : Visit 2 Villages: Conical Hat and Incense Craft Village + Train Street (optional)
Duration: ~ 6 hours
Morning from 7:45~13:30
Afternoon from 11:45~17:30
Start with a pickup from Hanoi’s Old Quarter and head to Chuong, a village that has been well-known for the craft of conical hat-making for over 300 years. Get an observe how conical hats are made and decorate a hat by painting it then bring it home as a souvenir.
Depart for the Quang Phu Cau village, which has been producing incense for more than 100 years. Take a walk to the centre of the village and see how locals make incense on the artisanal, family scale. Meet a family who specialises in dyeing incense sticks and take in the colourful bundles of incense.
Back to the city centre. First place for drop off: Hanoi Train Street. If you don't want to get drop off here, please wait in the car.
