Climb 265 steps for the view that explains why a valley became a capital
265 steps, and the whole capital below
A stepped climb to the summit of Ma Yen, the saddle-shaped hill at the centre of the Hoa Lu enclosure, where a small stone tomb commemorates Dinh Tien Hoang. The Le Dai Hanh tomb sits at the foot of the same hill.
Why it's unique
This is the single best thing you can do at Hoa Lu, and it is not the tomb. From the top the entire enclosure resolves: the ring of limestone towers that served as the curtain wall, the earthen ramparts closing the gaps between them, and the Hoang Giang river winding outside. Nothing at ground level makes that shape legible.
The tomb itself is worth knowing about for what it is not. Its own stele dates it to 1840, by imperial order, with a restoration recorded in 1885 and another in 2020. Dinh Tien Hoang died in 979, so the monument postdates him by 861 years, and where he is actually buried is unknown. The placement is deliberate rhetoric: Dinh Bo Linh took Ma Yen as the screen mountain of his capital in 968, and putting his tomb on the saddle asserts he is still mounted.
Before you go
265 stone steps, steep and fully exposed. There is no shade on the ascent, so do it early or late and not at midday, and it is not suitable for anyone unsteady on their feet.
The official account repeats the tradition that a hundred bronze coffins were carried out through the palace gate in four directions, and that seven loyal mandarins drank poison together afterwards so the secret died with them. Take the Le Dai Hanh tomb at the foot of the hill on the same walk; locals call it Ma Quan, the mandarin's grave, a folk memory of Le Hoan having been a subject of the Dinh before he took the throne.