Kiep Bac Temple and Nham Duong Pagoda

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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

   Kiep Bac Temple is where the day begins. Next is Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster.

3. 3. Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster

   Yên Tử is the sacred mountain of Vietnamese Buddhism, rising to a little over a thousand metres above the coastal plain of Quảng Ninh province, and Hoa Yên Pagoda sits partway up its slopes, among old trees and stone steps, on the pilgrim route to the summit. The mountain's fame goes back to King Trần Nhân Tông, who defeated the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century and then, at the height of his power, gave up the throne, became a monk and retired to Yên Tử, where he founded the Trúc Lâm school of Zen. It became the only uniquely Vietnamese school of Buddhism, and the mountain has been a pilgrimage site ever since.

   Read the complete Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 60 km into the recorded legs you reach Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster. Next is Nham Duong Pagoda.

4. 4. Nham Duong Pagoda

   Out in the hills of Chí Linh, in Hai Duong province east of Hanoi, the land crumples into low forested ridges after the flat Red River delta, and this is where Nham Duong sits among the trees. The pagoda belongs to a cluster of temples tied to the Trần dynasty and its home-grown school of Zen, the Trúc Lâm tradition, whose three patriarchs taught in these hills during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Thanh Mai, the other pagoda on the same ride, is part of that story too.

   Read the complete Nham Duong Pagoda write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Nham Duong Pagoda, about halfway. Next is back through Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster.

5. 5. back through Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster sits at 114 km, about halfway. Next is back through Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son.

6. 6. back through Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   back through Yen Tu-Vinh Nghiem-Con Son comes up about 164 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kiep Bac Temple.

7. 7. 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

   Kiep Bac Temple closes the day.