Bai Dinh Pagoda — Vietnam’s largest pagoda complex

About

Bai Dinh is the largest pagoda complex in Vietnam and holds a string of records: the largest gilded bronze Buddha in Asia, a corridor lined with five hundred stone Arhat statues, and a thirteen-storey stupa. It is really two places under one name — the thousand-year-old Bai Dinh cave pagoda up on the hillside, and the vast new complex built below it in the last two decades.

It is at its busiest in the weeks after Tet, when Vietnamese pilgrims come in their thousands. Outside that season it is a calm, and very large, place to walk.

Where it is

Bai Dinh sits in what was Gia Sinh commune, now part of a newly merged ward of Ninh Binh province, at the western end of the Trang An – Bai Dinh road. It is the natural second stop after a morning on the Trang An boats: the two are on the same road.

What to expect

Allow a good half day, and expect to walk. The new complex is built on a scale that is hard to judge from photographs: from the car park to the main halls is a long walk uphill, which is why electric shuttles run the route. The 500 Arhat corridor — five hundred stone figures, no two alike — runs up both sides of the approach and is the part most visitors remember.

The old cave pagoda is a separate climb above the new complex, up stone steps into caves used as shrines for a thousand years. It is smaller, older, darker and much quieter than what was built below. If you have the time and the legs, it is worth the climb.

This is a working place of worship. Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off where indicated, and no photographs where a sign says so.

Photos of Bai Dinh Pagoda

Photos: Guerinf · Nguyễn Thanh Quang — licences CC BY-SA 4.0, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Tickets — Bai Dinh Pagoda

Being verified — please contact the site management: 1900966909.

Sources currently give different figures, so we do not publish a number until we can confirm it with the management board. That is the rule on this site: we only publish prices that come from an official source, with the date we checked them.

Opening hours

06:00–21:00. (compiled from secondary sources, not yet confirmed with the management board — call ahead if you plan to arrive very early or very late)

When to go

Any time of year, but avoid the first two months of the lunar year if you dislike crowds — the post-Tet pilgrimage season is genuinely packed. Early morning is the best light and the smallest crowd.

Worth knowing

A note on prices, and why this page is thinner than the others: entry to the pagoda itself is free and every source agrees on that, but published figures for the electric shuttle disagree with one another by a wide margin, and we will not print a number we cannot stand behind. Call the pagoda's hotline before you go, or simply ask at the ticket counter on the day.

Distance and getting there

From Thang Long Restaurant (Chi Phong hamlet, Tay Hoa Lu, on the Trang An – Bai Dinh road) to Bai Dinh Pagoda: 7.9 km (about 15 minutes by car) by road.

Measured with OSRM along real driving roads on 31/08/2026. The coordinates of the destination are approximate, so the figure may be slightly off; we are standardising them. Distances from the city centre are still being measured.

Map

The pin follows the place name; exact coordinates are still being standardised.

Frequently asked

Reading this in Vietnamese? Bản tiếng Việt của trang này has the same figures and a longer local section.