Bai Dinh, the biggest pagoda in Vietnam, and what the scale is for

Bai Dinh is the largest pagoda complex in Vietnam, and it was built to be exactly that. The halls climb a hillside outside Ninh Binh, linked by corridors of stone statues and stairways that take an hour to walk. It impresses by scale, and some visitors find the scale is the point.

What is Bai Dinh Pagoda?

Bai Dinh Pagoda is a Buddhist temple complex on a hillside in Ninh Binh province, built from 2003 and opened in stages from 2010. It covers a very large area of hills and lakes. Several of its statues, bells and courtyards hold national records, and the whole site was designed to hold enormous pilgrim crowds.

The new complex stands beside a much older site. Higher on the same hill, a cave pagoda has been a place of worship for about a thousand years, reached by a flight of steps from the new halls.

What should you see at Bai Dinh?

Four things at Bai Dinh are worth seeing, and they follow the path uphill. The first is the corridor of arhats: two long covered galleries lined with five hundred carved stone statues of Buddhist saints, each with a different face.

The second is the series of main halls, each larger than the last, with bronze Buddha statues that rank among the largest in Southeast Asia. The third is the bell tower, which holds a bronze bell of many tonnes. The fourth is the view from the upper terrace across the lakes and limestone hills.

A tall stupa stands apart from the halls, with a lift to a viewing level near the top. The old cave pagoda, a short climb above, is the quiet counterpoint to everything below it.

How do the tickets and the buggy work?

Entry to the Bai Dinh complex is free, and the costs are the extras around it. An electric buggy carries visitors from the car park to the foot of the halls and back, the stupa lift has its own ticket, and parking is charged. Each is modest, and together they make a visit cheap rather than free.

The buggy is worth taking. The walk from the car park is long and exposed, and the halls themselves involve plenty of stairs. Keep the return ticket, because the queue at the end of the day is for the ride back.

Why does Bai Dinh divide opinion?

Bai Dinh divides opinion because it is new, vast and commercial. Critics point out that it was built by a private company that also runs tourism at Trang An, and that the records and the scale serve visitor numbers as much as worship. Admirers point to the craftsmanship of the statues and the size of the pilgrimage it now hosts.

The admirers and the critics are both right. The Ninh Binh things to do page says it impresses by scale and leaves some people cold, and that is a fair summary. Anyone after an old, intimate pagoda should climb to the cave pagoda above, or visit the Perfume Pagoda instead.

When should you visit Bai Dinh?

Visit Bai Dinh on a weekday morning outside the pilgrimage season. From Tet through the third lunar month, roughly February to April, very large crowds arrive from across the north, and the buggy queues and the courtyards fill completely.

Weekends and Buddhist holidays are busy all year. Seeing the site full of pilgrims is a real experience, and it is a different visit from an empty morning. Dress with shoulders and knees covered either way, as the pagodas guide explains.

How do you get to Bai Dinh?

Bai Dinh lies about 20 km north-west of Ninh Binh city, beyond Trang An, and roughly two hours by road from Hanoi. A car or motorbike is the practical way to reach it, since buses from the city are infrequent.

Most visitors combine it with a boat trip at Trang An in the morning or with Hoa Lu, the tenth-century capital, which lies on the same road. The two-day Ninh Binh route fits it into a second day, and the Hanoi to Ninh Binh guide covers getting there.