Bai Dinh Pagoda is located in Gia Sinh commune, Gia Vien district, Ninh Binh. Not only is it a famous spiritual landscape located in Trang An eco-tourism complex, Bai Dinh Pagoda is also over 1,000 years old. This place is associated with the history of the land of Ninh Binh from the Dinh dynasty, the pre-le dynasty and the Ly dynasty. Becoming a typical landmark for Vietnamese pagoda architecture with many familiar symbols such as curved roofs shaped like knife heads, comic nose tile roofs, decorative stone steps like dragons in the Ly period...
Weather
Visitors can visit Bai Dinh Pagoda at all times of the year. However, the best time to travel to Bai Dinh is still in spring, from the 1st to 3rd month of the lunar calendar. This is a time when the weather is warm, neither too hot, nor too cold, extremely favorable for spring travel, sightseeing and good luck in the New Year.
At the same time, this is also the time of Bai Dinh Pagoda Festival and many other local festivals in Trang An - Ninh Binh land. You can combine a Bai Dinh spring travel day in your trip to Tam Coc, Trang An to explore and enjoy Ninh Binh more fully.
Visitors can visit Bai Dinh Pagoda at any time of the year. Photo: chuabaidinhninhbinh.vn
Transportation
Ninh Binh is located right on National Highway 1A, extremely convenient to move both by road or rail. From the center of Ninh Binh, you continue about 20km to Bai Dinh Pagoda. Here are 3 popular ways for you to move to Ninh Binh.
By bus: From Hanoi, you can catch a bus from Hanoi - Ninh Binh at My Dinh or Giap Bat bus station with a ticket price of only 70,000 - 80,000 VND / trip. After arriving in Ninh Binh city, you take a bus or take a taxi to Bai Dinh.
By train
In Ninh Binh, you can get off at Ninh Binh station and from the station move by bus or taxi to Bai Dinh. The train ticket price ranges from 124,000 - 219,000 VND/person/time.
The following are the schedules of some trains Hanoi - Ninh Binh:
- Train SE7(6h00) to Ninh Binh (8h14)
- Train SE5 (9h00) to Ninh Binh (11h17)
- Train SE9 (14h30) to Ninh Binh (17h30)
- Train SE3 (19h30) to Ninh Binh (21h44)
- Train SE19 (20h10) to Ninh Binh (22h22)
By Private Vehicle: This is the simplest and most effective form of transportation. In this way, you follow Highway 1A, towards Phap Van - Cau Gie to move to Ninh Binh city. Travel time is only about 1 hour. Then from the city follow the directions to Bai Dinh.
Bai Dinh Pagoda has a relatively large campus, you can choose to walk to enjoy slowly visiting the pagoda or choose to rent a tram to move more places. Tram fare is 30,000 VND/person/time, return ticket is 60,000 VND/person.
Popular tourist attractions
Bai Dinh Pagoda consists of 2 areas, the ancient Bai Dinh Pagoda (about 27ha) and the new Bai Dinh Pagoda (about 80ha) with many ancient and modern architectural works imbued with Vietnamese Buddhist imprints.
Visit the ancient Bai Dinh Pagoda
The ancient Bai Dinh Pagoda was built by Zen master Nguyen Minh no more than 1000 years ago in the Ly Dynasty. The ancient pagoda is located entirely on Mount Dinh in Gia Sinh commune, Gia Vien district. Today, the ancient pagoda area has relics such as Sang cave - Dark cave, Saint Nguyen temple, Cao Son temple, Ngoc well ...
The ancient Bai Dinh Pagoda was built more than 1000 years ago during the Ly Dynasty. Photo: disantrangan.vn
St. Nguyen Temple
This place is the temple of National Master Nguyen Minh Khong - who is revered as Saint Nguyen. He is not only a famous Zen master, a famous physician who held the position of National Master under King Ly Than Tong, but is also respected by the people as the master of bronze casting.
Visiting St. Nguyen temple, visitors not only review a historical figure but also admire the typical sculptural architecture of folk architectural art in the sixteenth - seventeenth centuries of Ninh Binh artisans.
Light cave, dark cave
During the journey past 300 steps to the Tam Quan gate of the ancient Bai Dinh Pagoda, visitors will see two forks next to the slope, which are the path to Sang cave and Dark cave.
Sang Cave is a place to worship gods and Buddhas. There is enough natural light in the cave, so it is called Sang Cave. On the other side of the Light Cave is the Dark Cave. As the name implies, there is no natural light in the cave. Today, people design lighting systems to serve visitors. From the ceiling of the cave, the stalactites dripping down along the underground water geysers create an extremely interesting scene. The entrance to the cave is decorated with beautifully winding dragon figures. In the middle of the cave there is a natural well, where statues of the Mother and the Fairies are located.
Dark Cave - where statues of the Mother and the Fairies are located. Photo: Youtube Saint Fool
Jade Well
The Jade Well, located just near the foot of Bai Dinh Mountain, is recorded as the largest well in Vietnam. Standing in the distance, the jade-like well stands out among the surrounding green trees. The water of the well has never run dry, the water is clear, often used as ritual water at the temple.
Temple of the god Cao Son
Going all the way to Sang Cave, you will see a path down the valley side, leading to Cao Son Temple, dedicated to the god who rules the Wulin mountains. According to legend, Dinh Bo Linh as a child was once brought to live in the mountains next to the temple. Later, when he ascended the throne, he built three temples to guard the gateway of Hoa Lu ancient capital, the temple of the god Cao Son; the temple of the god Tiansun and the temple of the god Guiming.
New Bai Dinh Pagoda
Bai Dinh Pagoda was newly built and expanded from 2003 with an area of more than 80ha with many works such as bell tower, La Han corridor, Maitreya Buddha statue, ...
Panoramic view of the new Bai Dinh Pagoda. Photo: chuabaidinhninhbinh.vn
Luohan Corridor
One of the discoveries not to be missed when visiting Bai Dinh Pagoda is the Luohan corridor with 234 pavilions connected to the two ends of Sanguan. The corridor is up to 1052m long with 500 Luo Han statues crafted by artisans of Ninh Van stone village from monolithic blue stone. Each Luohan statue has a different appearance and posture, signifying the ups and downs and wrath of mortal life. As of now, this is still the longest Luohan corridor in Asia on record.
Asia's longest Luohan corridor at Bai Dinh Pagoda. Photo: VnExpress
Belfry
Bell Tower is one of the famous works of Bai Dinh Pagoda. The octagonal tower is built in an architectural style that simulates ancient bell towers with imitation wood reinforcement structure. Inside the bell tower is a 36-ton bronze bell with many extremely vivid decorative motifs, which is confirmed as the record as "The largest common rose in Vietnam".
Stupa of Buddha relics
After walking through the Luohan corridor, located on the west side of the Sanshi Hall, visitors will observe the 13-storey stupa standing out in the middle of the temple grounds. This is where Buddha relics brought back from India and Myanmar are kept.
Stupa of Buddha relics. Photo: baophapluat.vn
Magic Palace
The Dharma Hall is a place to worship the Buddha ancestor, built extremely majestic. This is one of the massive works with a total area of up to 1,945m2 with 2 floors of curved roof, 8 four-sided roofs and a long ancient row to raise height and light. Only the knife bank is up to 1m3 high, the knife roof is 2m6 high, the moon at the top of the roof is up to 4m4, the pincer head is 3m3 high.
Guanyin Palace
Guanyin Hall consists of 7 halls, made entirely of tetralogy wood. In the center is placed a statue of Guanyin Chuan De with a thousand eyes and thousands of hands cast in bronze weighing up to 80 tons. The statue was confirmed by the Vietnam Book of Records Center as "The largest bronze statue of Guan The Yin Bodhisattva in Vietnam".
Statue of Guanyin Chuan De at Bai Dinh Pagoda. Photo: VnExpress
Visiting Bai Dinh Pagoda, visitors can stay at resorts and hotels such as: Bai Dinh Hotel, Ninh Binh Eco Garden, Ninh Binh Family Homestay, Ninh Binh Mountain Views Homestay, Bai Dinh Riverside Resort & Spa,... And after visiting the pagoda, stop to enjoy vegetarian rice or specialties with bold Ninh Binh characteristics such as elderberry, mountain snails, goat meat, eel vermicelli ... Here, Migo would like to suggest a few places that are places with delicious and affordable cuisine that many tourists transmit:
- Thang Long Restaurant: Trang An, Chi Phong Village, Truong Yen, Hoa Lu District, Ninh Binh
- Duc Go Restaurant: 29 Doan Doan, Ninh Phong ward or ring road, An Hoa street, Ninh Phong ward, Ninh Binh city
- Hoang Giang Restaurant: Hang Ca Mountain, Truong Yen, Hoa Lu District, Ninh Binh
- Dat Clay Restaurant: near Ninh Binh Provincial Gymnasium, Street 11, Dong Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City Ninh Binh
- Ba Chak Eel Burma: 995, 997, 999 Tran Hung Dao, Ninh Binh City.
Bai Dinh Ninh Binh Hotel. Photo: agoda
As one of the spiritual tourist destinations, when visiting Bai Dinh, you need note The following points:
- Wear discreet clothing, collared tops, trousers, no short skirts or revealing clothes when visiting the temple
- It is recommended to wear sneakers to avoid foot pain during the journey
- Do not buy souvenirs on the temple grounds
- Not eating, drinking, littering indiscriminately on the temple premises causes loss of beauty.
- You can bring change to pray for good luck for yourself, friends, family
- Bring an umbrella, hat. If going on the first day of spring may encounter drizzle, you should bring an umbrella.
- Keep donations in the right places such as donation boxes, do not put them on Buddha statues, avoid losing beauty.
Note, when visiting Bai Dinh Pagoda, admire the Buddha statue should dress politely and discreetly. Photo: laodong.vn
Above, Migo has introduced to you the experience of visiting Bai Dinh Ninh Binh Pagoda. Hope this information will help you prepare better and have a complete trip. Don't forget to follow Migo regularly to keep up to date with the latest travel information and share with us about your destination experience below in the comments.