4 Best Sights in West Lake, Hanoi

A large black bronze statue of the Taoist god Tran Vu is housed here, protected on either side by wooden statues of civil and military mandarins. Built by King Ly Thai To in the 11th century, this much-made-over temple was once known as the Temple of the Grand Buddha; its present name translates into "Holy Mandarin Temple." An important collection of 17th-century poems can be seen in the shrine room. On the right side of this room is an altar dedicated to Trum Trong, the master bronze caster who oversaw the construction of Tran Vu's statue. Note the red, gold-stitched boots in the center of the shrine room; although such boots customarily appear in temples with figures of civil and military mandarins, Emperor Thanh Thai presented them in a vein of humor to Tran Vu's shoeless statue. Above the ornamented main gate is a 1677 replica of the bronze bell that supposedly lured the West Lake's legendary golden calf from China. Huge mango and longan trees drape over the courtyard, keeping the temple and its environs cool and somewhat dark, even at midday. Two mounted stone elephants, symbols of loyalty, flank the entrance here. Go in the morning to avoid the afternoon crowds.

Hanoi's oldest pagoda dates from the 6th century, when King Ly Nam De had a pagoda, named Khai Quoc, built on the bank of the Red River. More than a thousand years later excessive erosion of the riverbank caused King Le Kinh Tong to move the pagoda to Goldfish Islet (Dao Ca Vang) on West Lake and rename it Tran Quoc. This modest pagoda is noted for its stelae dating from 1639, which recount the history of the building and its move from the Red River. There are also lovely brick stupas adjacent to the main temple. Tran Quoc is an active place of worship where resident monks in brown robes hold daily services. Architecturally distinct from other Hanoi pagodas, Tran Quoc maintains a visitor's hall in front and various statues, including a gilded wooden depiction of Shakyamuni Buddha. In the main courtyard is a giant pink-and-green planter holding a bodhi tree, purportedly a cutting from the original bodhi tree beneath which the Buddha reached his enlightenment. The bodhi was a gift from former Indian president Razendia Prasat, who visited the pagoda in 1959.

This small memorial between West Lake and Truc Bach Lake marks the capture of one of the Vietnam War's most famous American POWs. On October 26, 1967, Navy lieutenant commander John McCain's jet fighter was shot down, sending him parachuting into Truc Bach Lake. Suffering from badly broken bones and severe beatings, he was imprisoned in the "Hanoi Hilton" and other North Vietnamese prisons for more than five years. He went on to become an Arizona senator and a vocal advocate of reconciliation between the United States and his former captors, and was a presidential candidate in 2008. The underwhelming red-sandstone memorial features a bound and suspended prisoner with his head hanging low and the letters U.S.A.F. (the memorial is incorrectly labeled, as McCain belonged to the navy and not the air force).

Phu Tay Ho, a temple dedicated to a 17th-century princess named Lieu Hanh, more popularly known here as Thanh Mau (Mother of the Nation), is attractive for its gigantic banyan trees and the view from West Lake's eastern shore. In the middle chamber of the main prayer hall is a sub-altar containing the statue of a holy tiger that protects Lieu Hanh, who is visible through the wooden slats of a locked separating wall inside the back chamber. In a second worship hall, women come to pray to another national mother figure, Nhi Thuong Ngan, for happiness and luck in motherhood and marriage. Two prayer stupas in the shady courtyard are dedicated to the guardian spirits of young boys and girls, Lau Cau and Lau Co, respectively. Outside of the temple is a cluster of simple restaurants serving banh tom (shrimp cakes), a specialty of the area. A taxi is the easiest way to get here.