Long Sơn Temple, Nha Trang, Vietnam

At the end of 2021, my wife and I were back in Vietnam for an extended stay to visit family, and do some travelling. Most of our time was spent with family in Hanoi, but we did head off to a few other cities to explore the country together a bit.

The first place we went to visit this trip was Nha Trang, a coastal city in the south of Vietnam. Hanoi’s humidity, pollution, and grey skies were starting to get to us, so Nha Trang’s clear blue skies and beach were a welcome change. We booked 2 weeks there, staying in an apartment about a block from the beach.

We spent most of our time in Nha Trang relaxing and enjoying the beach, but we also took some time to explore the area. One of the 1st places we visited was Chùa Long Sơn, a Buddhist temple in the city.

Chùa Long Sơn Info

• Address: 22 Đ. 23 Tháng 10, Phương sơn, Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa
• Hours: Open daily, exact hours unknown
• Entrance fee: Free

Things to be Aware of

• There are around 194 stairs to climb to get to the top of the temple. If you have mobility issues, you might not want to climb to the peak
• There may be vendors selling souvenirs and other items around the temple. If you don’t want to buy anything, just ignore them and keep walking
• There may also be scammers around the temple, who may try to convince you to pay an entrance fee, buy incense, or purchase a tour. Do not trust these scammers, and do not pay them anything

Chùa Long Sơn

Long Sơn Temple, previously known as Đăng Long Tự, sits at the foot of Trại Thủy mountain in Nha Trang.

The temple was originally built on a different spot higher up in 1886, under direction of the Buddhist monk Thích Ngoại Tịnh, who was a participant in the anti-French colonialism movement.

The temple was destroyed in 1900 by a cyclone, and was rebuilt in its current location in 1936. In 1968, the temple was again damaged, this time due to the Vietnam War. The temple was rebuilt again, and has remained in its current state since then.

When you pass the main gate of the temple, you enter into a nice large, calm, and serene courtyard. The courtyard is surrounded by tall trees and shrubs.

As you approach the main temple, there’s a beautiful mosaic made from broken glass and porcelain tile, depicting a dragon flying through the clouds.

The temple is quite large, and apparently acts as a monastery for Buddhist monks. When we visited, it was a bit later in the day, and there weren’t many visitors. We were able to walk around the temple and take our time exploring.

While there weren’t many people there when we visited, on the 1st and 15th days of the lunar month, the temple apparently gets quite busy as many people come to pray and make offerings.

If you continue around to the left side of the temple, either from the inside of the main temple or by walking around the front, there’s another smaller courtyard, with what I believe are the monks living quarters.

If you pass on the right side of the main temple however, you can climb up around 44 stone steps to find a Reclining Buddha statue.

The Reclining Buddha statue is 17m long, and symbolizes the final moments of Buddha’s life before entering Nirvana.

The steps continue on from here, somewhere around 100 to 150 or so steps, to what I believe was the original location of the temple. At the top of the steps, there’s a large 14m-high white Buddha statue sitting atop a 7m-high lotus blossom.

From the Long Sơn Temple, there is a large road leading up to Hai Duc Temple along the crest of the hill, where there is a large white concrete statue of Gautama Buddha. The statue was built on the site of the original temple and the statue was cast in 1964 before being installed the following year, under the auspices of Thích Đức Minh, who was the Head of the Buddhist Association of Khánh Hòa Province. The sculpture of the statue was by Kim Điền. From the ground up, the statues is 24 m, and from the base of the statue, it is 21 m. The figure of the Buddha is 14 m while the lotus blossom comprises 7 m. Around the statue are statues of seven arahants.
Wikipedia

You’re actually able to enter this statue, where you’ll find beautifully decorated walls, depicting scenes from Buddha’s life.

One of the main attraction points of this temple is that from this point, the view of Nha Trang is amazing. You can see the city, the beach, and the ocean. Unfortunately, because it was dark when we visited, we couldn’t see much. 😕

By the time we made our way up to the white Buddha, it was getting pretty dark. After paying our respects, we started to head back down, but they hadn’t turned the lights on yet, so it was hard to see the steps we needed to head back down!

As we were walking back down, trying to see the steps, a monk was ringing the bell at the bell tower, and we could hear chanting coming from the main temple. It was a neat way to end our visit to the temple! The bell apparently weighs an impressive 1500 kg!

As we continued to make our way down, the lights finally came on. Is it just me or do temples look even more incredible at night when they’re lit up? The lighting also makes the big white Buddha in the background look like it’s glowing!

Conclusion

Long Sơn Temple is the largest temple in Nha Trang, and offers great views of the city from the Gautama Buddha statue at the top of the hill. Wikipedia says it’s 152 steps up, but other sites say it’s 190+ steps. Either way though, it’s really not an overly difficult climb, and doesn’t require any special level of fitness.

Note however that if you want to get the great views of the city, be sure to visit earlier in the day than we did!