Why this ride
A 177 km round trip from Thành Phố Uông Bí - roughly 3 h 45 in the saddle. The stops in between: Thai Mieu, Kiep Bac Temple, Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son and back through Kiep Bac Temple.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Chua Lan Pagoda and Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 177 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 45
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Chua Lan Pagoda
The lowlands where the Bach Dang river meets the sea in northern Vietnam are a place of legends and battles, and the pagodas scattered across this landscape carry centuries of history. Chua Lan Pagoda stands in Quang Ninh province on the low ground south of Uong Bi, between the Yen Tu hills and the port of Haiphong, surrounded by rice fields, fishponds and villages. Like many rural pagodas in northern Vietnam, it is a place of worship, community and memory, with incense-filled halls, statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, and old trees in the courtyard. The region is associated with the Truc Lam school of Zen Buddhism, founded by the Tran dynasty king Tran Nhan Tong in the thirteenth century at nearby Yen Tu mountain.
Read the complete Chua Lan Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chua Lan Pagoda is where the day begins. Next is Thai Mieu.
2. Thái Miếu
This is Trần dynasty country. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Trần kings ruled Đại Việt from here and from the delta, and they are best remembered for turning back the Mongol armies three times, in 1258, 1285 and 1288, under the general Trần Hưng Đạo. The Thái Miếu, an ancestral temple associated with the dynasty, belongs to this landscape of royal tombs and shrines in the hills near Đông Triều, in Quảng Ninh province, at the northern edge of the Red River delta.
Read the complete Thai Mieu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Thái Miếu comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kiep Bac Temple.
3. Kiep Bac Temple
Kiếp Bạc is the place where Vietnam remembers Trần Hưng Đạo, the thirteenth-century general who defeated the Mongols three times. In the 1280s, the armies of Kublai Khan's empire invaded Vietnam, and Trần Hưng Đạo, commanding the forces of the Trần dynasty, used guerrilla tactics, retreat and ambush to wear them down. The most famous victory came in 1288 on the Bạch Đằng river, when he planted iron-tipped stakes in the riverbed and lured the Mongol fleet onto them at low tide. He died in 1300, and the temple at Kiếp Bạc was built where he is said to have had his base.
Read the complete Kiep Bac Temple write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 58 km into the recorded legs you reach Kiep Bac Temple. Next is Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son.
4. Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son
In the late thirteenth century, a Vietnamese king who had twice helped drive back the Mongol armies gave up his throne, climbed the mountain of Yen Tu and became a monk. Tran Nhan Tong founded the Truc Lam school of Zen Buddhism there, a uniquely Vietnamese form that combined meditation with engagement in the world, and Yen Tu became the holiest mountain in northern Vietnam. Together with the pagoda of Vinh Nghiem, which preserves thousands of woodblocks used for printing Buddhist texts, and the Con Son and Kiep Bac relics, associated with the scholar Nguyen Trai and the general Tran Hung Dao, the complex was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2025.
Read the complete Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son, about halfway. Next is back through Kiep Bac Temple.
5. back through Kiep Bac Temple
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kiep Bac Temple write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kiep Bac Temple sits at 115 km, about halfway. Next is back through Thai Mieu.
6. back through Thai Mieu
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Thai Mieu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Thai Mieu comes up about 152 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chua Lan Pagoda.
7. Chua Lan Pagoda
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chua Lan Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chua Lan Pagoda closes the day.
Leg by leg
Chua Lan Pagoda to Thai Mieu
Chua Lan Pagoda → Thai Mieu is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Thái Miếu to Kiep Bac Temple
Thái Miếu → Kiep Bac Temple is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kiep Bac Temple to Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son
Kiep Bac Temple → Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son to back through Kiep Bac Temple
Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son → back through Kiep Bac Temple is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kiep Bac Temple to back through Thai Mieu
back through Kiep Bac Temple → back through Thai Mieu is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Thai Mieu to Chua Lan Pagoda
back through Thai Mieu → Chua Lan Pagoda is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.