Hué

Time of the visit:22nd -26th,april,2025.

On the 22nd I arrived in Hue around 15.00.I just took a long walk around a large part of the inner outer areas of the citadel without entering the citadel as it was quite late.The following day I entered the huge citadel around 11.00 am and stayed there till around 17.30.It was an extremely hot day so that I needed far more time to visit all sections within the big citadel. The heat made me take far more breaks than intended.On a cooler day 3 h would have been sufficient to visit the entire citadel.

On the 24th I rented a bicycle in order to visit some of the tombs outside Hue.That day it was even hotter than the day before.My first destination was the temple of letters where I stayed less than 10 min as there wasnt much to see.I then rode to the Thien-Mu-Pagoda which was quite disappointing and underwhelming but easy to reach by bike.I then crossed the river and visited the Royal Arena and the nearby Voi Re lake.The arena was closed and not really worth a visit.I continued my trip to the tomb of the emperor Tu Duc.To my great dismay there are no combo tickets with several other tombs...only a citadel ticket with three tombs.I had to buy that ticket as a single ticket for every tomb costs 150.000 dongs.Quite pricey.The Tu Duc tomb turned out to be a very interesting one.It is also the most popular …

Most tourists use Hué as their base to visit the DMZ and other war memorials. Our hotel had a "menu" of tours provided to us at the check-in by the reception. But we skipped those and went for half-day sightseeing before taking a transfer to Hoi An.

First stop was the Imperial City, which was very impressive. Ivan noted the overall structure was similiar to the Forbidden City in Beijing he visited recently, though obviously a tad bit smaller. There's a ticket booth on the left of the main walls, after you pass the bridge through the Perfume River. I remember it was quite pricey, 200- or 300 000 dongs per person if I remember correctly. However it is worth it as the whole area is huge with many different colourful buildings: palaces, theatre, library, temples and pavilions - one even in the shape of swastika. Everything has obviously been restored: the colours are vibrant, the place is well signposted, the lawns are taken care of. As recommended by previous reviewers, it's almost completely empty after the Royal Palace itself, the more to the side or to the back you get, the less people there are. As we went the early morning, there was almost nobody in the back. Oh, and I really enjoyed the colourful exit gate.

After that we took a taxi to the Thien Mu Pagoda. That was quite crowded, despite the rain. There are some nice views over the river and the park around …

The Imperial City is the main attraction of Hue and one of the few sights that you would see when you come to the city. Luckily, it's an impressive World Heritage Site that certainly justifies a visit.

The Imperial City is a large complex that takes me more than two hours to explore, wandering through the different sections. Much of it was destroyed during the 'American War' and many of the buildings you'll see have been restored or completely rebuilt. It also means there are large empty sections where no work has been done yet.

But what is here paints a vivid picture of the last dynasty of Vietnam (the one that shaped it in the form we find today). The main entrance gate is the most striking of the buildings, but I enjoy the detail of the Thai Hoa Palace, and the elegant red and gold patterns on the wall of the Can Thanh Palace. In hindsight, I do wish I had hired a guide or brought some reading material, because the explanations of what you're seeing aren't particularly detailed unfortunately.

This part of Vietnam is quite rich with cultural World Heritage Sites. As well as visiting the Hue Imperial City, you could use the city as a base to visit the My Son Sanctuary and to see Hoi An (although it makes for a good place to stay in itself). Within Hue itself, I would also recommend seeing some of the pagodas and tombs …

On my way to Danang Airport, I looked back on the past few days I spent in the former capital of Imperial Viet Nam, Hue, which in my opinion, one of the great cultural cities that actually should be on the same league with Beijing, Seoul or Kyoto, but after many wars and conflicts, only fragment of its glories remains. When I first saw the wall of Hue Citadel, I was really impressed as the wall is really different from other city wall I saw in other parts of Asia, a combination of Asian and French Vauban fortification design, something really unique. The Flag Tower is really impeccable in design and the square and pavilions next to the river are really picturesque. When I crossed the bridge to see inside the citadel, I again impressed for the design of the Gate Tower, simple but really elegant and when I saw the square in front of the main gate to the imposing Imperial Palace behind the flag tower, I said WOW immediately, for its perfect size and overall landscape design.

The palace is a bit simple but still preserved the original idea of oriental palace perfectly with many unique designs that I could not find anywhere else. Then I proceeded to other parts of the palace, and I found many empty spaces or ruins of destroyed buildings, only few structures still remained. The best-preserved area maybe the Ancestral Shrine, simple with Confucius element, a richer decorated version …

I visited the citadel of Hue and the associated tombs in february 2012. In spite of the rain, I found the place amazing, especially the Khai Dinh tomb which offered greatly decorated rooms. The best way to go to the different tombs if you have not a lot of time, is to book a tour in the city, to visit the citadel, the pagoda and the three main tombs in one day.

As Els says, the tombs of Hue are widely scattered, some more than 10 kms from the city centre. But they are reachable by taxi, or by boat along the Perfume River. One that I visited was the colourful tomb of Ming Mang, where you pass through several gates and temples before reaching the actual tomb on a hillside at the rear of the complex. Another was the tomb of Khai Dinh, a complex of grey stone with lots of steps and elaborate stone decorations.

While touring the district I also visited the tombs of Tu Duc and Duc Duc as well as the Thien Mu Pagoda.

Inside Hue itself the huge Citadel, a complex of many differing styles filled a large area. The memorial house in Phan Dinh Phung Street and the An Dinh Palace were much smaller, but were all within walking distance of the city centre.

Glazed tiles all over the place! That was the first thing that struck me when entering the Citadel. Not only the common Chinese yellow roof tiles but also a kind of porcelain mosaics that I had never encountered before - fragments of blue & white vases that have been put together to form new designs on the outer walls of buildings and gates.

The Citadel is a pleasantly quiet place to walk around for a couple of hours. It's a very busy site near the entrance gate, but I was almost on my own at the back of the complex and at the fringes. My favourite building here was the Truong San Residence, with its great yellow entrance gate. This and most of the other objects look very recently painted and/or restored. Over-restored maybe, I wonder what our Forum would have to say about this one.

A visit to the Hué monuments is not complete without seeing some of the places outside the city. For that, I rented a bicycle and set off south. The first kilometers out of Hué are easygoing. Every 10 minutes or so there's an interesting stop - I visited Nam Giao esplanade, heard the monks chanting at the very peaceful Tu Hieu pagoda, and joined the busloads of tour groups again at the Tomb of Tu Duc. There is a "Tomb" here (though empty), but it actually was more of a country house & pleasure park for the emperor. It still is a …