Huong Pagoda Festival

Located in Huong Son Site, about 70km from Ha Noi, visitors are very easy to come to Huong pagoda by car. Huong  Pagoda is one of the famous pagoda of the Hanoi area and one of the most important religious sites in Buddhist Vietnam.The pagoda complex consists of Buddhist temples and shrines built into the limestone Huong Tich mountains several. Huong Pagoda is in the center of the complex with other name “Trong Pagoda”, which was built inside Huong Tich Cave - the most beautiful cave of the North.

Every year, after the Lunar New Year, in the warm atmosphere of spring, thousands of Vietnamese come here to pray for all the health and happiness for themselves and their family. This festival also attracts a lot of foreign tourists come to enjoy the atmosphere of one of the oldest festivals in Vietnam and tourists will glide along scenic waterways and walk up steep mountain paths visiting the pagodas and temples that were built in this area over the last centuries.

Huong Pagoda Festival lasts from January 6th until the end of March of Lunar calendar. The climax of the festival is from the 15^th to 20^th day of the second lunar month.

Chua Huong is the harmony architectural overall that the nature gave to man with many caves, temples, mountains, hills, streams,…  The combination of natural beauty with hand labor of human populations has created a beautiful landscape recruit.
Perfume Pagoda is famous for the caves which bold colors of folk beliefs - Buddhism with agricultural cultures ( buffalos, pigs, silkworms, ...) and  the fertility culture (Co mountain, Cau mountain ...) visitors to Perfume Pagoda to to burn incense to  wish  for every good thing in the new year

On the days of the festival, the pagoda becomes more crowded with hundreds of passenger boats on Yen stream.  The scenery on both sides of the stream is extremely poetic, and charming. One side is a magnificent lime-stone mountain and one side is a vast of green rice paddy. The unique feature of the Huong Pagoda Festival is a fun sightseeing in boats and goes into the realm of Buddha. Therefore, when talking about Huong pagoda, people think of the boat - a cultural identity of Vietnamese boat dwellers from ancient times. And so far, boating festival at Huong Pagoda always inspires intensely for participants and visitors.

Leaving the boats, visitors are immersed in majestic mountain scenery and begin a new journey - the climbing journey to temples. The atmosphere of the festival, the beauty of these amazing caves make visitors just walk away without feeling tired.

When visiting Huong Pagoda, people usually carry fruit trays to offer to Buddha and then receive a piece of their sacrifice to get luck from Buddha.

In the sacred atmosphere of the festival, visitors will also enjoy the folk songs which are showed by local people, for example, Cheo, Tuong ... This is an indispensable activities in Huong Pagoda festival

Beside enjoying the scenery, tourists also do not forget to enjoy the rustic dishes but very famous in this area, such as “ Che Cu Mai”, apricots, Rau Sang soup,…

Visiting Huong Pagoda Festival and visiting pagodas in general have become a beautiful custom of Vietnamese people in the beginning of Lunar New Year.