Yen Tu festival is open on the ninth day of the first lunar month in Thuong Yen Cong, Ung Bi, Quang Ninh province, northern Vietnam. Activities are organized in Yen Tu mountain is located about 50km from Ha Long City, 150K from Hanoi. The pilgrimage route, winding from the foot of the mountain to its highest peak, is almost 30km. Dong Pagoda, which sits atop the mountain peak, is more than a kilometre above sea level.

An annual Yen Tu Spring Festival consists of a wide variety of religious activities, including a sounding drum, a striking bell and a ceremony to offer incense and pray for a peaceful country and prosperous people.

The area’s beautiful natural landscape and awe-inspiring scenery, along with surrounding ancient pagodas and hermitages, are said to have been the reason that King Tran Nhan Tong passed the throne to his son, so that he could devote his life living as a Buddhist monk at Yen Tu Mountain. Whilst there, he founded the Truc Lam Zen Buddhist sect, which has led to Yen Tu being recognized as the country’s leading centre for Buddhism.