A Quick and Simple Guide to Traveling in Hue, Vietnam
As you may or may not know, in November of 2016 I took to a five month trip around the world to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, followed by Italy, France, Monaco, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
I originally planned on documenting my travels as I went, but working part-time while traveling to and exploring a new city every three to seven days proved to be more than enough for me to handle at the time.
It’s now been eight months since I returned from that trip, and I decided that in 2018 I would finally sit down and write at least one blog post a week, and that I would start with some quick and helpful travel guides based on the cities I’d visited.
Now, while I’m calling this a guide, rather than being a standard travel guide, each one of the following sections will be a personal experience covering how my girlfriend and travel buddy Casie and I got to our destination, where we stayed, what we did, where we we ate, and some general observations about each place.
This will not be an exhaustive list of everything to do, the best places to eat, and the best hotels. If you’re looking for that, visit Trip Advisor.
If you have any interest in traveling to any of the countries I listed above at any point, which I would highly recommend, these quick guides might be helpful. This account will hopefully provide you with some ideas of where to stay, what to do, and where to eat, but depending on your interests and budget you could do things completely differently.
More than being helpful, hopefully these guides will inspire you to visit some of these places. The world is a large and amazing place, and it’s certainly worth exploring in 2018 and beyond.
I’ve already written a bit about the first couple of places we visited — Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. So let’s head off to the next stop — Hue, Vietnam.
First, a Bit About Hue
Hue is a city located in central Vietnam. From 1802–1945 it was ruled by the Nguyen Dynasty and served as a the country’s capitol from 1802–1945.
The main attraction of the city is its large, 19th-century Citadel, surrounded by a moat and large stone walls. Housed inside the walls is the Imperial City, which boasts many palaces and shrines, the Forbidden Purple city — the emperor’s home — and a replica of the Royal Theater.
In 1968 during the Vietnam war, the city unfortunately suffered a devastating amount of damage from American military bombings of historic buildings, in addition to the massacre at Hue committed by communist forces.
After the war, the destroyed buildings were neglected as they were viewed as victorious symbols of the communist regime. However, there has since been a restoration effort of many of these historical sites.
Hue might not be at the top of most Vietnam travel guides as a must-visit destination. It’s fairly small and unassuming, but it carries with it a lot of charm. Additionally, the country’s historical context mixed with its beautiful tombs and impressive citadel provide more than enough to explore and marvel at.
How We Got There
Casie (pictured above) and I took an overnight 12-hour sleeper train from Hanoi. We could have flown or taken a bus, but we read some bad things about taking overnight buses for that distance in Southeast Asia, and the train was very reasonably priced.
With the help of our Hostel, we booked a four bunk sleeper cart about two days before our travel date. I’ll mention this many more times over the course of this travel series, but I would highly recommend utilizing your hotel or hostel front desk as much as possible when you’re traveling. They can offer tremendous recommendations about where to eat, what to visit, and how to get to your next destination. More often than not, they’ll be able to book things for you and for cheaper than you would find figuring it out yourself.
For awhile, we thought we were going to be the only people in our cart, but at the very last moment a local family of four joined us. There we were, four adults and two small children crammed into a four bunk cart. This was going to be interesting.
If you’ve traveled to foreign countries at all, you’ll understand that situations like this happen often, and you just have to roll with it. They’re all part of the experience of traveling, and tend to make your trip more interesting and memorable.
While the father of the two children (a girl and a boy) was clearly aggravated by our presence (not sure what he expected booking four people to two beds), it was the little girl that ended up breaking the ice by offering Casie and I part of her apple. It was a very sweet gesture. But being that I’m allergic to raw apple I had to regrettably decline.
Soon, Casie and I were watching the movie Room on an iPad, slowly falling asleep while the children watched silently over our shoulder. Eventually, everyone fell asleep. This family did not stay in the cart with us all the way to Hue, but instead got off the train about six hours into our journey while Casie and I were asleep.
For the most part, the sleeper train was pretty enjoyable. It wasn’t luxurious, but it was comfortable enough and an interesting experience. When we woke up in the morning roughly 10 hours into the trip and it was finally light outside, we got to see some of the beautiful countryside Vietnam has the offer.
If I had to do it again, I would consider flying to Hue, but I would definitely entertain the idea of taking the train again and would absolutely take it over a bus.
Where We Stayed
We stayed at the Jade Hotel for three nights. It was one of the better two-star hotels we stayed at (many two-star hotels & guest houses in Asia are equivalent to a two-and-a-half or three star hotel in the U.S.) and was highly rated and cheap (about $20 a night for a large, clean, comfortable private room including free breakfast).
The hotel staff was excellent and very accommodating. They helped us book our tour of the famous tombs in Hue, and took care of all our laundry. The hotel was centrally located and was walking distance to everything.
I would definitely stay there again if I ever went back to Hue and would recommend it to any traveller. The only downside of the hotel was the Wifi was a bit spotty, but for the most part we were able to make it work.
What We Did
As I mentioned earlier, being that Hue used to be the capital city of Vietnam, it has many old, historical sites within it. The biggest attraction is the Imperial City within the Citadel. If you go to Hue, this is the number one thing I would recommend visiting. We spent a solid two to three hours walking the grounds of this ancient village that used to house the king.
Unfortunately, much of the city was destroyed during the Vietnam War, but you can tell by the sheer size of it and the current architecture that in it’s prime it was a site to behold.
The other main sightseeing attractions in Hue are the royal tombs. There are seven royal Tombs. We visited four of them — the Tomb of Minh Mang, the Tomb of Tu Duc, the Tomb of Khai Dinh, and the Tomb of Thieu Tri. The best way to visit them is to hire a driver to take you to each tomb. You can buy a pass that will allow you to enter three of the tombs, the Citadel, and a pagoda. This is the best deal you’ll find. I would also recommend hiring a driver to take you to each tomb as they are not walking distance from one another.
Depending on the tomb, you can spend a solid hour or more walking the grounds. These tombs range from 85 to 170 years old. They’re all worth a visit and are all unique and beautiful in their own way. Many are surrounded by beautiful lakes and gardens.
While there are obviously older structures around, whenever you’re knowingly in the presence of ancient buildings that were created without the modern technology we have today, it’s easy to marvel at the achievements of older generations.
In addition to some local Pagodas and the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), (which we didn’t visit), the other main attraction our hotel recommended was the night market. We went there a couple of nights, but it didn’t appear to be lively or dense with shopping. Perhaps we weren’t there at the right time, but we weren’t overly impressed with the options.
Where We Ate
While you’re in Southeast Asia, if your hotel, hostel, or guest houses provides food, give it a go. Generally it will be good food. Many places offer free breakfast to guests, and I would definitely take advantage of that because it’s convenient, free, and will get you off on the right foot for a long day of exploring. The Jade hotel offered pretty good food, so we ate there for most of our breakfasts and few other meals.
From what I can remember, here are some of the other places we dined at.
Serene Cuisine — one of the top restaurants in Hue. This hotel restaurant is great for a nice dinner. Really friendly staff. Excellent smoothies. Affordable. When compared to some places we ate in Vietnam, this is on the higher end of pricing, but we’re still talking really cheap when compared to western prices.
Golden Rice — another top restaurant in Hue and a great spot for dinner. Lots of menu options and a good selection of beer. Prices compared to Serene Cuisine.
Nina’s Cafe — this is THE breakfast spot in Hue. Super cheap and they offer a full, delicious western breakfast. Many western options like pancakes and waffles. Free Wifi. If I went back to Hue this is the first place I’d go for a meal whether it was breakfast or not.
Hallo Bubble Tea — I’m a HUGE fan of bubble tea, and basically everywhere we went in Asia I was scouting for a good bubble tea spot. This spot isn’t your traditional bubble tea. If I remember correctly they don’t have boba, but they have a lot of different smoothie flavors and also serve food.
Ancient Town Restaurant — This restaurant is an outdoor spot right on the river. They have a huge selection of food and tea. Good eats. Fast, friendly service.
General Observations
Overall, Hue is an overlooked city by backpackers. It’s quite small, doesn’t have a well-known nightlife, and besides the ancient attractions, which we loved, there isn’t a ton to do there. However, we felt that the city had a certain amount of charm to it, and it was definitely a slower change of pace when compared to the density and hustle and bustle of Hanoi.
From a personal perspective, if I were backpacking again in Vietnam, I probably wouldn’t go back to Hue as there are new cities I’d like to explore. But if I were visiting Vietnam for the first time and had an extra two days, I would definitely make Hue a priority. It’s historical significance in Vietnam is enormous, and it has a lot to offer with it’s Citadel, tombs, and good eats.
In my next post, I’ll be taking you further south to Da Nang.
