11 Best Sights in Hanoi, Vietnam

The Temple of Literature, or Van Mieu, is a treasure trove of Vietnamese architecture and a monument to the importance of education and Confucianism to Vietnam's national identity. Loosely modeled on the temple at Confucius's hometown in China, the nearly 1,000-year-old compound features five manicured courtyards surrounded by the Lake of Literature. Highlights of the Temple of Literature include giant stone turtles, the Constellation of Literature pavilion (a symbol of modern Hanoi), and the Imperial Academy—Vietnam's first university—which was founded in 1076. It is tradition for students to touch the stone turtles for luck, so don't be surprised to find this place packed with graduates in traditional dress. Go with a tour guide since few signs are in English.

Hanoi's oldest pagoda dates from the 6th century, when King Ly Nam De had a pagoda, named Khai Quoc, built on the bank of the Red River. More than a thousand years later excessive erosion of the riverbank caused King Le Kinh Tong to move the pagoda to Goldfish Islet (Ca Vang) on West Lake and rename it Tran Quoc. This modest pagoda is noted for its stelae dating from 1639, which recount the history of the building and its move from the Red River. There are also lovely brick stupas adjacent to the main temple. Tran Quoc is an active monastery where resident monks in brown robes hold daily services. Architecturally distinct from other Hanoi pagodas, Tran Quoc maintains a visitor's hall in front and various statues, including a gilded wooden depiction of Shakyamuni Buddha. In the main courtyard is a giant pink-and-green planter holding a bodhi tree, purportedly a cutting from the original bodhi tree beneath which the Buddha reached his enlightenment. The bodhi was a gift from former Indian president Razendia Prasat, who visited the pagoda in 1959.

This stately prayer house once served the many ambassadors who called on the Le kings. A hall named Quan Su was built in the 15th century to receive these guests, mostly Buddhists, and a pagoda was built for them in which they could comfortably worship. The hall burned to the ground, but the pagoda was saved. The Ambassador's Pagoda escaped destruction a second time, as it was the only pagoda not burned or ransacked in the final chaotic days of the Le dynasty. This pagoda sees more action than most in town, as it serves as headquarters for the Vietnam Buddhist Association. Government elites often make official visits to the pagoda, and people commonly hold "send-off" ceremonies here for the souls of family members who have recently died. The pagoda is also in part dedicated to a monk who is said to have saved King Ly Than Tong from his deathbed, so many older women come here to pray for good health. Dozens of young monks reside on the south side of the complex and study in the classrooms directly behind the pagoda.

This 11th-century pagoda from the Ly dynasty houses Vietnam's two most famous mummies. In 1639 the Buddhist monks Vu Khac Minh and Vu Khac Truong locked themselves in a private room to meditate, instructing their disciples not to disturb them for 100 days. On the 100th day, their disciples entered the room to find both monks seated in a lotus position, perfectly preserved in death. The monks' bodies were covered in a thin but durable red lacquer. What makes these mummies unique is that they still have all their bones and organs.

Dau Pagoda contains several other noteworthy artifacts, including a giant bronze bell built in 1801, a bronze book detailing the pagoda's construction, several stone stelae dating to the 17th century, and six altars for the worship of 18 arhats (enlightened monks). The pagoda, which was partially destroyed by French forces in 1947, consists of five halls, an accessible (just barely) bell tower, and a small walking garden full of jackfruit and longan trees, birds of paradise, and a temple dedicated to local deities. Rice fields and ponds surround the pagoda, and you'll pass duck farmers and lotus vendors near the grove-shaded road that leads to the entrance.

The pagoda is less than an hour's ride south of Hanoi. Take a taxi or hire a private car to get here, and keep an eye peeled for a sign directing you to turn right off Highway 1 toward the pagoda.

On Jade Island in Hoan Kiem Lake, this quiet 18th-century shrine, whose name means "jade mountain," is one of Hanoi's most picturesque temples. This shrine is dedicated to 13th-century military hero Tran Hung Dao, the scholar Van Xuong, and to Nguyen Van Sieu, a Confucian master who assumed responsibility for repairs made to the temple and the surrounding areas in 1864. He helped build both Pen Tower (Thap But), a 30-foot stone structure whose tip resembles a brush, and the nearby rock hollowed in the shape of a peach, known as the Writing Pad (Dai Nghien). To get to the temple, walk through Three-Passage Gate (Tam Quan) and across the Flood of Morning Sunlight Bridge (Can The Huc). The island temple opens onto a small courtyard and in the pagoda's anteroom is a 6-foot-long stuffed tortoise that locals pulled from Hoan Kiem Lake in 1968.

The French destroyed this temple on their way out in 1954. It was reconstructed by the incoming government and still commemorates the legend of Emperor Ly Thai Tong. It is said that the childless emperor dreamed that Quan Am, the Buddhist goddess of mercy and compassion, seated on a lotus flower, handed him a baby boy. Sure enough, he soon met and married a peasant woman who bore him a male heir, and in 1049 he constructed this monument in appreciation. The distinctive single pillar is meant to represent the stalk of the lotus flower, a sacred Vietnamese symbol of purity. The pillar was originally a single large tree trunk; today it's made of more durable cement. An ornate curved roof covers the tiny 10-square-foot pagoda, which rises out of a square pond. Steps leading to the pagoda from the south side of the pond are usually blocked off, but if there aren't too many people around, a monk may invite you into this miniature prayer room.

Just a few yards from the One-Pillar Pagoda is Dien Huu Pagoda, a delightful but often-overlooked temple enclosing a bonsai-filled courtyard. A tall and colorful gate opens out onto the path leading to the Ho Chi Minh Museum, but the entrance is opposite the steps to the One-Pillar Pagoda.

Considered one of Vietnam's most important Buddhist sites, the Perfume Pagoda (Chua Huong) is the largest of a cluster of shrines carved into the limestone of the Huong Tich Mountains. In late spring the trails leading up to the shrines are clogged with thousands making their pilgrimage to pray to Quan Am, the goddess of mercy and compassion.

According to a Vietnamese version of the Chinese legend, Quan Am was a young wife falsely accused of trying to kill her newlywed husband. Thrown out of her mother-in-law's house, she took refuge in a monastery, posing as a monk. A reckless girl one day blamed her pregnancy on the monk, not knowing he was a she. Without a word of self-defense, the vilified monk took the child in and raised him. Only after Quan Am died did villagers discover her silent sacrifice. In the past, pilgrims came to the grottoes to pray for Quan Am's help in bearing sons and in fighting unjust accusations.

From the shores of the Yen River, you are ferried to the site, 4 km (2½ miles) away, on sampans that seem to be made of flimsy aluminum. It's a spectacular ride through the flooded valley, past boats laden with fruit and farmers at work in their fields. You'll be let off at Chua Tien Chu. From there, follow a stone path uphill to the various pagodas and shrines. Three kilometers (2 miles) later you'll reach the Perfume Pagoda. A steep set of stairs takes you inside the impressive cavern, where gilded Buddhas and bodhisattvas sit nestled in rocky recesses. The air is misty from incense and the cooking fires of the Buddhist monks who tend the shrines.

In early spring, from just after Tet to the middle of the second lunar month, thousands of Buddhists make their pilgrimage to the Perfume Pagoda. This is an intense—and sometimes stressful—time to visit as the crowds of Vietnamese faithful clog the Yen River with extra boats and make navigating the slippery stairs more of an exercise in caution than a journey of discovery. The atmosphere at this time of year is positively electric with thousands of Buddhists crowding into the cavern to leave offerings, catch a droplet of water from a holy stalactite, or buy Buddhist trinkets and mementos from the dozens of stall owners. Note that the climb up to the pagoda can be rough going, especially when it's muddy, and that local operators sometimes lead the climb at a very fast pace. Be careful of independent tourist agents—many have been known to take unsuspecting travelers to a smaller pagoda closer to Hanoi and tell them it's the Perfume Pagoda. Also, it's unwise to attempt this trip on your own as you will most likely be overcharged.

A large black bronze statue of the Taoist god Tran Vu is housed here, protected on either side by wooden statues of civil and military mandarins. Built by King Ly Thai To in the 11th century, this much-made-over temple was once known as the Temple of the Grand Buddha; its present name translates into "Holy Mandarin Temple." An important collection of 17th-century poems can be seen in the shrine room. On the right side of this room is an altar dedicated to Trum Trong, the master bronze caster who oversaw the construction of Tran Vu's statue. Note the red, gold-stitched boots in the center of the shrine room; although such boots customarily appear in temples with figures of civil and military mandarins, Emperor Thanh Thai presented them in a vein of humor to Tran Vu's shoeless statue. Above the ornamented main gate is a 1677 replica of the bronze bell that supposedly lured the West Lake's legendary golden calf from China. Huge mango and longan trees drape over the courtyard, keeping the temple and its environs cool and somewhat dark, even at midday. Two mounted stone elephants, symbols of loyalty, flank the entrance here. Go in the morning to avoid the afternoon crowds.

Phu Tay Ho, a temple dedicated to a 17th-century princess named Lieu Hanh, more popularly known here as Thanh Mau (Mother of the Nation), is attractive for its gigantic banyan trees and the view from  West Lake's eastern shore. In the middle chamber of the main prayer hall is a sub-altar containing the statue of a holy tiger that protects Lieu Hanh, who is visible through the wooden slats of a locked separating wall inside the back chamber. In a second worship hall, women come to pray to another national mother figure, Nhi Thuong Ngan, for happiness and luck in motherhood and marriage. Two prayer stupas in the shady courtyard are dedicated to the guardian spirits of young boys and girls, Lau Cau and Lau Co, respectively. In spring and summer, you can sometimes catch locals treading water as far as 200 yards from the lakeside wall of the temple, fully clothed and with their conical hats glinting in the sun as they manipulate long pole-nets to collect snails from the bottom of the lake. A taxi is the easiest way to get here.

The Tay Phuong Pagoda, or Western Pagoda, comprises three sanctuaries built into Cau Lau Mountain and surrounded by a square enclosure. Each ancient wooden structure is separated by a small pool of water that reflects an eerie soothing light into the temples. Begun in the 3rd century, the pagoda was rebuilt in the 9th century and expanded to its present size under the Tay Son dynasty in 1794. The centuries-old curved rooftops are particularly noteworthy, as are the masterpieces of wood sculpture: more than six dozen figures carved from jackfruit wood. The pagoda's rafters are elaborately carved with bas-reliefs of dragons and lotuses, and ceramic animal statues grace the rooftops.

The Thay Pagoda, or Master's Pagoda, is named in honor of Tu Dao Hanh, a 12th-century monk. The grounds of the four main sanctuaries here ring shrill with the chirping of cicadas and are lush with fruit trees and a giant frangipani said to be 700 years old. In the upper pagoda (Chua Thuong) a statue of Master Hanh sits in the foreground of a large central altar that supports the statues of 18 arhats, monks who have reached enlightenment. The altar to the left of this holds Ly Nhan Tong, a king who was the supposed reincarnation of Tu Dao Hanh. Stone steps adjacent to the pagoda lead farther up the mountain to various shrines and temples and lovely vista points. The Thay Pagoda is the site of one of two ancient water-puppetry stages remaining in Vietnam. Constructed during the 15th century, this small stage sits on stilts in the middle of a pond and was used during elaborate pagoda ceremonies and royal visits. Water-puppetry shows still take place here, particularly on the annual festival of the pagoda, which is from the 5th through the 7th days of the third lunar month.