Bai Dinh Pagoda

Bai Dinh Pagoda tickets and tours: which one to book

Bai Dinh is a huge pilgrimage complex rather than a single building, and entry to the temple grounds is free. What costs money is moving around it: the car park lies some distance from the main gate, and most visitors ride the electric carts that shuttle up to the entrance and back, paid as a return ticket. The great stupa at the top of the site charges a separate fee for its lift and viewing floors. None of this needs booking in advance. Bai Dinh lies about 95 km south of Hanoi, so most international visitors see it on a day trip.

The commonest format leaves Hanoi early by minibus and pairs the pagoda with a rowing-boat trip through the limestone karsts and caves of Trang An and the climb to the viewpoint at Mua Cave, with lunch, a guide and the main entry fees usually included. Travellers staying in Ninh Binh or Tam Coc can join shorter half-day tours that combine Bai Dinh with the temples of the ancient capital at Hoa Lu, and there is also an evening outing that mixes a stroll around Hoa Lu with local food. Check whether the electric carts are covered, and how long the tour actually spends at the pagoda, because some allow only an hour. Independent travellers can hire a motorbike, taxi or Grab car from Ninh Binh, a drive of about 20 minutes.

Visiting Bai Dinh Pagoda: what to see and how to behave

The complex spreads across a hillside in Gia Vien district of Ninh Binh province and is really two places. The old Bai Dinh pagoda is a small, atmospheric shrine set in caves on the mountainside, reached by several hundred stone steps, where Buddhist figures are worshipped alongside the spirits of the mountain. The new pagoda, built in phases from 2003 to 2010, is the vast monument most visitors come to see. The new complex climbs the slope in a straight line. From the triple gate a long covered corridor lined with 500 stone arhat statues, each with a different face, runs uphill beside the main courtyards. Halfway up stands the bell tower with one of the largest bronze bells in Vietnam.

Above it come a series of great wooden halls in traditional Vietnamese style, with curved roofs of Bat Trang tiles: the hall of Guanyin, the hall housing a colossal bronze Shakyamuni, and at the top the Tam The hall, about 34 m high, which holds three huge bronze Buddhas of the past, present and future. The thirteen-storey stupa, a short walk away, offers wide views over the karst hills and the Hoang Long river valley. The scale, the newness and the commercial edge surprise some visitors, but for Vietnamese pilgrims this is one of the country's most important sites. Dress modestly, remove shoes and hats where signs ask, speak quietly in the halls and do not climb on statues. Rubbing the knees of the arhats for luck is a local habit you will see.

Bai Dinh Pagoda: opening hours, ceremonies and the best time to go

The complex is open daily from early morning until the early evening. Arrive soon after opening to walk the corridor of arhats in cooler air and to beat the tour buses from Hanoi, which tend to arrive late in the morning. The best seasons in Ninh Binh are spring, from February to April, and autumn, from September to November; summers are hot, humid and rainy, and winters can be grey and chilly.

The pagoda festival opens on the sixth day of the first lunar month, usually in late January or February, and the weeks that follow bring enormous crowds of pilgrims, especially at weekends; this is fascinating to witness but slow to move through. Vesak in May also draws worshippers. Allow at least two to three hours for the new complex, and another hour if you climb to the old cave pagoda. Bai Dinh fits easily with the boat trip at Trang An, the temples of Hoa Lu or the river scenery at Tam Coc, all within half an hour's drive.