Van Tieu pagoda in white clouds

Located in the Yen Tu mountain range, Van Tieu Pagoda is a familiar destination for travelers.

Originally just a small hermitage called Tu Tieu Hermitage. After Emperor Tran Nhan Tong manifested as a Buddha, the second disciple, Phap Loa, built this place into a large pagoda.

In 2001, the UNESCO Center for Vietnamese Buddhist Studies and Applications mobilized Buddhist devotees to build the pagoda. The name Van Tieu here means clouds, the Pagoda's significance is Pagoda in the clouds.

The Pagoda sits to the west of the Yen Tu mountain range. The mountain range acts like a barrier blocking the sea breeze, causing the water vapor to condense into layers of clouds, gently drifting. The Pagoda appears and disappears in those layers of clouds.

In front of Van Tieu Pagoda, there is a Garden of Aspiring Fairy Towers (meaning seeing through to the fairy palace). The tower cluster consists of 06 stone and brick towers. The central tower is 09 floors high called the Nine-story Tower, built during the Nguyen dynasty, made of mountain stone, octagonal prism shape, eight tower faces symbolizing the eightfold path.

The 'Aspiring Fairy Palace' tower garden is like a precious gem with two lush pine trees standing out on the green background of Yen Tu mountain forest. This is not a tomb tower of the monks' family, but just a common worship tower for all venerable monks and ancestors. The remaining 05 towers are all small, humble, they are 5 tomb towers of highly virtuous monks, venerable elders, who practiced at Van Tieu and passed away here.