Phú Thọ: Hùng Culture, Nature and Hot Springs

Phú Thọ offers a variety of travel experiences: the veneration of the Hùng Kings and Hát Xoan, forest and tea landscapes, waterfalls and thermal mineral water. When planning your trip, you can consider whether to focus on culture, nature or bathing in hot springs.

Culture surrounding the Hùng Kings

Đền Hùng is located in Hy Cương Commune. This particularly significant national historical site is a pilgrimage destination associated with the veneration of the Hùng Kings. Every year, from the eighth to the eleventh day of the third lunar month, the Hùng Kings Festival takes place there. The traditional program includes a large procession: accompanied by palanquins and drums, it climbs Nghĩa Lĩnh Mountain to the Upper Temple, where incense is offered.

Visitors to the complex can follow an incense ritual route. It passes the Temple of Lạc Long Quân, the Temple of Âu Cơ, Đền Hạ, Đền Trung, and Đền Thượng Temples, Đền Giếng Temple, Thiên Quang Pagoda and the Hùng Vương Mausoleum. At the Hùng Vương Museum, artifacts, documents and cultural explanations offer insights into the era of the Hùng Kings and Vietnam’s early founding legends. Historical accounts, religious sites and the traditional procession thus represent different aspects of the same cultural focus.

Hát Xoan and regional traditions

Hát Xoan is a folk performance from Phú Thọ associated with accounts from the era of the Hùng Kings, village rituals and the veneration of the kings in early spring. On November 24, 2011, UNESCO designated Hát Xoan as intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. The performance season of the four Xoan guilds runs from the fifth day of the first lunar month to the tenth day of the third lunar month; their performances take place at the respective festival and village temples. This gives the tradition its own seasonal rhythm, distinct from the Hùng Kings Festival period.

The province’s major cultural and tourism events include the annual Hùng Kings Commemoration and the Đất Tổ Culture and Tourism Week; both attract numerous local residents and visitors. Crafts and food are also part of regional culture: the making of bánh chưng and bánh giầy in Việt Trì, Cẩm Khê and Tam Nông was added to Vietnam’s national intangible cultural heritage register in 2023. At Đền Hùng, you can try Bánh Giầy Lang Liêu, made by residents of the Đất Tổ region.

Forest, waterfall and tea

Xuân Sơn National Park is located in Tân Sơn District and covers 15,048 hectares, including 11,069 hectares of natural forest. The figures for 2013 record 1,269 plant species and 370 animal species, including species that require conservation measures. The park offers a nature-focused experience that is clearly distinct from the cultural sites and thermal baths.

Ngọc Waterfall is more than 20 meters high. At its foot is a pool covering over 200 square meters that serves as a bathing area. Long Cốc is characterized by a different landscape: its tea hills stretch across more than 600 hectares. Visitors can sample tea and experience the local cultural character of Thanh Sơn. Within Xuân Sơn, Bản Dù is a community tourism site recognized at the provincial level. It includes the Xuân Sơn tourist flower road, where striking red poinsettias bloom seasonally.

Thermal water and travel planning

In the Thanh Thủy thermal mineral water area, hot mineral water emerges underground in La Phù Commune, with an average temperature of 45 to 60 °C. In Thanh Thủy, visitors can bathe in hot springs year-round and combine bathing with hydrotherapy, thermotherapy and mineral therapy. Those planning a thermal bathing experience will find a different focus here than on a trip centered mainly on Hát Xoan or the landscape of the national park.

A tourist route described in 2023 connects Việt Trì, Đền Hùng, the ancient village of Hùng Lô and the Thanh Thủy thermal mineral water area. A river tour described in 2017 follows the Red River and stops at Tam Giang, at the Bạch Hạc confluence in Việt Trì. Check current availability before planning either route as a fixed itinerary. The connecting roads to the Hùng Lô community tourism site have been upgraded; you should still check current road conditions before setting out.

Discover more destinations: Tx. Phú Thọ, Ðố Sơn, Yen Bai, Vinh Long, Hải Dương, Hà Nam, Quảng Ninh, Gia Lai

For the main travel overview: Vietnam.