Perfume Pagoda

Tours - Vietnam

Between 08:00 and 08:30 you will be picked up by a minibus in front of your hotel in Hanoi;
Then follows a two-hour bus trip to My Duc;
There follows a 1 hour rowing paddle trip on the Yen river to Thien Tru harbor;
Then you have to make an approximately 1.5 hour hike (3 km) to the top of the mountain "Huong Tich" cave where the temple is built;
Finally, it is an hour walk back (on the way you can order a glass of sugar cane drink);
Lunch is provided at the foot of the mountain;
In the van you will be taken to Heaven Kitchen Pagoda where is explained about Buddhist architecture at Le Dynasty;
Back in the rowing boat (1 hour);
You will be dropped off at your hotel (2 hours drive) in Hanoi.

Including:

Cost:

Standard trip 28 USD, deluxe I (cable car ticket) 32 USD or deluxe II (cable car return) 36 USD. (PRICES: 2014).

Take a good pair of shoes because it can (if it's raining) be pretty slippery and muddy;
Prepare for some butt-pain with the rowing-part of the day - perhaps handy to take a thick sweater to sit on in the boat; the boats are wood, small and the seats are hard;
It is a decent climb (3 km) so prepare yourself;
In March and April it can be very busy with local tourists due to holidays - ask for these holiday-dates and plan another day;
Some salesmans are pretty annoying and walk with you to the top to sell stuff; just ignore them and walk on.