Backpacking Hue
For a hundred and forty-three years this was the capital of Vietnam, and the emperors built accordingly: a walled city ten kilometres square with a forbidden purple palace inside it, seven royal tombs spread through the hills, and a court kitchen that turned into the best regional cuisine in the country.
Then the twentieth century happened to it. The Citadel was shelled flat in 1968 and what stands now is part original, part painstaking rebuild, with the gaps left visible. It is a stranger and better place for that. An hour and a half north is the old DMZ, where you can climb down into a village that spent six years living underground.
Hue is calmer than Hanoi and less polished than Hoi An, and people tend to arrive expecting a two-day history stop and leave talking about the food.
Why Hue is popular with backpackers
- A UNESCO walled city you can spend half a day inside
- Seven imperial tombs, and a scooter day to link three of them
- The food, which Vietnamese people will tell you is the country’s best
- The DMZ and the Vinh Moc tunnels, an hour and a half north
- €18 a day, and beds from €5
- The Hai Van Pass starts here, on a bike or on the train
Best time to visit Hue
Hue sits exactly on the line between the northern and the southern climate, up against the Hai Van Pass. That makes it the wettest city in Vietnam: more rain falls here than anywhere else in the country.
In October and November the Perfume River can come over its banks and put streets in the centre under water. If those are your months, treat Hue as a short stop rather than the hinge of your route.
Backpacker budget: around €18 a day
- €5hostel bed
- €1.50local meal
- €0.50beer
- €4scooter per day
Guide prices from our own days in Hue. Add a tour or a night out and it climbs fast.
Best hostels in Hue
Everything backpacker-shaped is on the south bank, between the river and the walking street. All three of these are within ten minutes of each other.
New World Hotel
More hotel than hostel, at hostel money: a private room here costs what a dorm bed costs in a lot of Europe. Central, modern, and the right call if you have just come off a four-hour bus from Phong Nha.
Hue Happy Homestay
Nearly three thousand reviews and still a 9.5, which happens when the family running it treats every guest like the first. They will plan your tomb route for you and lend you the scooter to do it on.
Shark Hostel
The social one: cheap, central, with a bar and a crowd heading to the same places tomorrow. Book here if you want company for the DMZ tour.
Best things to do in Hue
The Imperial Citadel
The reason the city is on the map. A moated walled city with the Forbidden Purple City inside it, where only the emperor, his family and his eunuchs were allowed. Half of it is restored, half of it is still ruins with grass growing through, and the contrast is the most affecting thing about it.
The city in half a day, with a guide
Hue is a city where a guide earns their money, because almost nothing is labelled in a way that explains what happened here. This covers the Citadel and one of the tombs, with the history attached, and turns a walk round some old walls into something you actually follow.
The DMZ and the Vinh Moc tunnels
An hour and a half north is the line that split the country in two, and the heaviest day out in Vietnam. At Vinh Moc an entire village dug two kilometres of tunnels on three levels and lived down there for six years, with a maternity room where seventeen children were born. You walk through them. Then Khe Sanh, and the remains of the American base.
It is uncomfortable and it is the single most worthwhile thing you can do from this city.
A food tour of the old town
Hue food is not like the rest of Vietnam: small plates, lots of them, court cooking that trickled down into street stalls. Eight tastings, places with no sign on the door, and by the end of it you can order confidently for the rest of your trip.
The Hai Van Pass with an easy rider
The best way to get from here to Hoi An, and the reason a lot of people ride in Vietnam at all. Twenty-one kilometres of mountain road above the sea, with your bag going ahead in a van and you on the back of a bike with someone who has done it a thousand times. It takes a day and it replaces a bus journey you would have forgotten.
Dragon boat, pagoda and the royal tombs
The gentler version of a Hue day: up the Perfume River on a dragon boat to the Thien Mu Pagoda, then out to the tombs by road. Good if you would rather not ride, and the river approach to the pagoda is how it was meant to be seen.
Thien Mu Pagoda
The symbol of the city: a seven-storey octagonal tower on a bluff over the river, and a working monastery behind it. The Austin car in the courtyard belonged to the monk who drove it to Saigon in 1963 and set himself on fire in protest. Free, and quiet before nine.
An evening along the Perfume River
Once it is dark the riverfront turns on: the Trang Tien bridge changes colour, the walking street fills up, buskers set up on the bank and the night market opens. Free, and the nicest hour of the day here.
Best area for backpackers
The south bank, around the walking street
The river splits Hue in two: the Citadel on the north bank, and everything backpacker-shaped on the south. Stay on the south side, within a few streets of Pham Ngu Lao and Vo Thi Sau, and you can walk to dinner, to the bars and to the bridge.
The Citadel is a fifteen-minute walk over the bridge, which is exactly the right distance: close enough to do on foot, far enough that you are not sleeping next to a tour bus car park.
Good to know about this area
- Almost every hostel and homestay in the city is here
- The walking street runs on Friday to Sunday evenings
- Scooter hire from about €4 a day, usually where you sleep
- The Citadel is fifteen minutes over the Trang Tien bridge
- Tours to the DMZ and over the Hai Van Pass pick up from here
- Cheap food a street back from the riverfront
How to plan your days in Hue
Two days: one for the Citadel and the city, one for the tombs along the river. Pick how long you have.
The Imperial Citadel. Half a day inside the walls: the Forbidden Purple City, the gates, the pavilions and the parts still standing in ruin. Walk back through the Dong Ba market and over the Trang Tien bridge.
Tonight: the bridge changes colour after dark, then eat on the walking street.
Tombs and pagodas. Rent a scooter and ride the loop past the tombs of Tu Duc, Minh Mang and Khai Dinh, which are three completely different ideas of what a grave should be. Finish at the Thien Mu Pagoda on the river bank.
Tonight: on to Hoi An over the Hai Van Pass, or the night bus back up to Phong Nha.
Food and drink in Hue
Vietnamese people will tell you Hue has the best food in the country, and they are not being polite about the old capital. The court cooked in small, precise, many-dish meals, and that habit filtered down into the street.
The famous one is bun bo Hue: a beef and lemongrass noodle soup with a chilli-red broth that makes pho look shy. Beyond that it is banh, a whole family of tiny steamed rice cakes served in sets, and a lot more heat than either end of the country uses.
Eat bun bo Hue somewhere that is already open at six in the morning. Here it is breakfast, not dinner, and the good places sell out.
Getting there and onward
Hue is on the main railway and on the coast road, so it is easy to reach from either direction.
Getting there. Two and a half hours by bus from Da Nang, three and a half from Hoi An. The train between Da Nang and Hue runs over the Hai Van Pass along the sea and is one of the best rail journeys in Asia for the price of a sandwich.
Around town. The centre and the Citadel face each other across the river and are both walkable. For the tombs, take a scooter or a Grab.
Onward. Phong Nha is four hours north, Hoi An three and a half hours south. If you are heading south, do it over the Hai Van Pass rather than through the tunnel.
- TrainDa Nang 3 hrs over the Hai Van Pass · Hanoi 13 hrs
- BusHoi An 3.5 hrs · Phong Nha 4 hrs · Da Nang 2.5 hrs
- ScooterFrom about €4 a day, ideal for the tombs
- Dragon boatUp the Perfume River to the Thien Mu Pagoda
- PlanePhu Bai, 15 km outside the city
Staying safe in Hue
Hue is quiet and safe. What actually goes wrong here is that people underestimate the distances and walk around the Citadel in full midday sun.
- Take water and a hat into the Citadel. There is almost no shade in there
- Fix the price of a dragon boat before you get on, and include the way back
- Park your scooter in a guarded spot at the tombs. It costs about twenty cents
- Start early. By noon it is punishing here for most of the year
- Take a cyclo tour offered to you for almost nothing. It will not stay that price
- Swim in the Perfume River. The current and the boat traffic are both against you
- Try to do all seven tombs in one day. Pick two or three and look at them properly
- Ride out to the tombs without a helmet. They do check on that road
Rebels on the Road tip
Everyone does the Citadel and the big three tombs. Almost nobody goes to Ho Quyen, the imperial arena about three kilometres south, where the emperors staged fights between elephants and tigers until 1904. It is an overgrown stone amphitheatre in the middle of a residential area, free, unsigned, and usually completely empty. Pair it with the Voi Re elephant temple next door and you have an hour of Hue that even the guides tend to skip.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need in Hue?
Two. One for the Citadel and the city, one for the tombs. Three if you want the DMZ tour as well, which takes a full day.
Is Hue worth it, or should I go straight to Hoi An?
Worth it, and especially if you have any interest in history or in food. Hue is the stop people expect least of and rate highest afterwards. If you have only two weeks in the country, though, and you want beaches and tailors, Hoi An is the one to keep.
Where should I stay in Hue?
The south bank of the river, around the walking street. Every hostel, bar and tour pickup is there, and the Citadel is a fifteen-minute walk over the bridge.
Is Hue expensive?
No. €18 a day covers everything, and the Citadel at €7 is the one real ticket you will buy.
What is Hue's most famous dish?
Bun bo Hue: beef, lemongrass and a chilli broth, eaten for breakfast. Most Vietnamese people rank it above pho, and in this city they will say so directly.
Is the Hai Van Pass as good as people say?
Yes. Twenty-one kilometres of switchbacks above the South China Sea, with the cloud usually sitting on the top of it. On a bike with an easy rider it is a whole day and one of the best things in the country; on the train it costs a few euros and you get the same coastline through the window.
Are the royal tombs worth the trip?
Yes, and they are not interchangeable. Khai Dinh is dark concrete and glass mosaic and looks like nothing else in Asia, Minh Mang is formal and symmetrical, Tu Duc is a garden complex where the emperor lived before he died. Pick those three.
When is the best time to visit Hue?
February to April: dry and mild, which matters in a city where you spend the day walking on stone with no shade. September to December is the wettest season in Vietnam and can flood.
