Travel during pilgrimage and festival season

Although it accounts for only about 10% of the total number of Tet tours of travel companies, pilgrimage tours are an indispensable part of post-Tet tours, often organized until the end of the third lunar month.

People have to move step by step to get to Huong Tich cave during Huong Pagoda festival 2014 Photo: Tien Thanh

Pilgrimage tours are often organized to combine sightseeing in many localities, scenic spots, and visiting temples, participating in cultural and religious festival events...

Little but indispensable

Pilgrimage tours start before Tet but are usually more exciting after Tet. Most of the customers who buy tours during this time are overseas Vietnamese, those who have not arranged tours during Tet and want to combine going to pagodas and traveling. Customers who buy tours are usually 40 years old and above, Buddhists, small traders after a busy year of business and want to combine time for sightseeing, sightseeing and visiting Buddhist sites to pray for a year of favorable business and prosperity...

The director of a travel company said that these days the number of overseas Vietnamese registering to buy tours with their families has increased by more than double digits compared to the same time last year. Most of the pilgrimage tours from the South mainly go to the Northern provinces with festivals at Huong Pagoda, Bai Dinh Pagoda, Yen Tu Pagoda..., markets typical of the rural areas of the Northern region and the highlands. Tours from the Central region visit famous pagodas in Da Nang, enjoy and participate in the Lantern Festival in Hoi An. Tours to visit the cross (ten pagodas) in the Mekong Delta are always combined with a visit to Ba Chua Xu Pagoda in Chau Doc...

Pilgrimage tours are quite diverse with duration of 1-5 days, mostly famous landscapes and pagodas. Many travel companies also launch discount programs for tourists who book tours in advance, saving on air travel with prices reduced by about 40% compared to normal tour prices... According to a survey at travel companies, the price of pilgrimage tours this year has not increased compared to last year.

Where does the pilgrimage tour go?

Among the pilgrimage tours to the North, Ninh Binh is the most chosen by many travel companies and pilgrims at the beginning of the year because it has many suitable destinations such as Trang An ecological cave complex (including Trang An, Tam Coc, Hoa Lu ancient capital), Cuc Phuong national park, Bai Dinh pagoda, Tam Coc - Bich Dong.

The Perfume Pagoda Festival is one of the biggest festivals of the year, always crowded with Buddhists from all over the country. The Yen Tu Festival - one of the major Buddhist centers in Vietnam's history, the birthplace of the Vietnamese Truc Lam Zen sect - also attracts many tourists.

The Central region is also chosen by many tourists because in addition to visiting temples in Da Nang and Hue, there are also opportunities to relax, swim and visit many diverse places such as Ba Na, Hoi An... According to travel companies, if you do not book a hotel room in advance (about 2-star standard) in the area near Ba Chua Xu Pagoda, tourists have to accept a room rate of 800,000 - 900,000 VND/night, much higher than the price of 400,000 - 450,000 VND if booked before Tet.

For Catholics, Phat Diem stone church, La Vang holy land, Nha Trang stone church... are famous places and attract many Catholic tourists to make pilgrimages in the spring. Pilgrims choosing La Vang holy land also have the opportunity to visit other famous tourist destinations in Thua Thien - Hue and Quang Binh provinces, especially Phong Nha - Ke Bang national park.

Meanwhile, foreign pilgrimage tours nearby go to Thailand with the Emerald Buddha Temple (Wat Phra Kaew) in the capital Bangkok, or visit one of the three great national treasures of Thailand located in the northeast corner of the Bangkok Grand Palace. In addition, they choose to go to Myanmar to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda, the famous Golden Pagoda considered the center of Myanmar Buddhism, located in Yangon. A little further away, they go to Japan, where people also have the custom of going to the temple at the beginning of the year at Jinza temples, often holding a big ceremony to pray and dispel bad luck. There are also many people who participate in long journeys to India, or from India to Nepal, which is commonly known in the industry as a pilgrimage tour - a spiritual journey.

According to General Director of the General Department of Tourism Nguyen Van Tuan, the tourism industry plans to develop three spiritual tourism routes in the North, namely: Hanoi - Con Son, Kiep Bac (Hai Duong) - Dong Trieu, Yen Tu (Quang Ninh) - Trang An, Bai Dinh (Ninh Binh); Hanoi - Huong Pagoda - Tam Truc, Ba Sao (Ha Nam) - Trang An, Bai Dinh (Ninh Binh) - Tran Temple (Nam Dinh); the ancient Vietnamese capital route: Hung Temple (Phu Tho) - Hanoi - Hoa Lu (Ninh Binh) - Ho Dynasty Citadel (Thanh Hoa) - Hue Ancient Capital.

According to TT