To serve the huge demand of both local and overseas Vietnamese who often make pilgrimage trips during the Lunar New Year holidays, or Tet, Ben Thanh Tourist has launched two special tours that offer all needed services for such visitors and take them to tourist sites of the South and North regions.
The tour operator has a four-day and three-night tour of Hanoi, Quang Ninh and Ninh Binh for people in the North region or North region-born people interested in pilgrimage trips on Tet which will fall in the middle of February.
Of the tour, the beautiful landscapes and center of Yen Tu Buddhism are always listed among priority attractions visitors should not miss. Located in Thuong Yen Cong Commune, about 40km from Quang Ninh Province’s Halong City, the historical relics are hundreds of ancient pagodas and towers, especially Dong (bronze) Pagoda, with its peak 1,068m above sea level. Tourists will explore the beautiful landscape by cable cars.
Along with interesting activities, the tour operator will take travelers to other pagodas such as Hoa Hien, Mot Mai and Bao Sai during the first day of the tour before a one-day visit to the World Heritage Site of Halong Bay and to Ninh Binh Province to visit the ancient Bai Dinh Pagoda of the Ly Dynasty.
In Ninh Binh Province, more than 90km south of the capital city of Hanoi, tourists can see the biggest bronze statue of Buddha in Vietnam, weighing 100 tons, as well as three other bronze statues featuring three tenses of past, present and future and weighing 50 tons each, and 500 of the largest stone Arhat statues in Vietnam.
The journey to Tam Coc – Bich Dong attraction and other tourist sites in Hanoi will add more fun for visitors of the tour.
The tour starts every Thursday. Tickets are approximately VND6.6 million per person. Foreigners need pay an additional VND250,000 per person.
Southern people, especially small traders in the South, have their own pilgrimage tour to pagodas in the Mekong Delta’s Tien Giang and An Giang provinces.
The two-day tour will start on February 27 and March 6. Like previous pilgrimage tours, Ben Thanh Tourist will bring tourists to Vinh Trang Pagoda, which was built in the early 19th century and houses a collection of bronze statues carved in the Mekong Delta. Other attractions include Long Xuyen in An Giang Province for the pilgrimage to Cam Mountain.
An Giang Province, famous for its pilgrimage destination of Chau Doc, attracts millions of pilgrims each year to pray for good health and luck for their personal life and business. To serve the demand of visitors, the journey to Mieu Ba Chua Xu (the Temple of the Goddess), which is located at the foot of Sam Mountain in Vinh Te Commune, Chau Doc Town, is always in the program of pilgrimage tours of Ben Thanh Tourist.
Along with this attraction, tourists will have a chance to shop at Tinh Bien duty free supermarket near the border gate of Vietnam and Cambodia and at Chau Doc Market before heading back to HCMC.
The tour is between VND719, 000 and VND930,000 per Vietnamese traveler, depending on the quality of the services.
Ben Thanh Tourist Travel Services Center Add: 86 Ly Tu Trong Street, District 1, HCMC
Tel: (84-8) 3520 2020 / 3822 2506