Tours out of Ho Chi Minh City and across Vietnam
Central Vietnam
Hue at the pace the tombs deserve
Two full nights in the old imperial capital, arranged so the citadel gets a morning, the tombs get a whole day and dinner gets a guide who knows the names of the dishes.
Overview
Why three days rather than a day trip
Most people give Hue one day between Hoi An and Hanoi, and it shows: the citadel in the heat of the late morning, three tombs by minibus in an afternoon, and a train at five. The city is not built for that. Its monuments are spread along twenty kilometres of river, and they reward arriving early and leaving before the tour groups do.
This trip gives the city two nights. The first afternoon is inside the walls. The second day goes south along the Perfume River to the tombs — out on a bicycle through the pine hills, back on the water — and the evening is spent eating. The third morning is loose enough to fit whatever you missed.
Hue is one of the places where we work with a partner rather than our own staff. The guides and drivers are theirs, local to the city; we have booked them for years and we plan every day with them before you arrive.
- Length
- 3 days, 2 nights
- Start and finish
- Hue
- Airport
- Phu Bai, about 30 minutes from the city
- Pace
- Easy, flat, mornings early
- Cycling
- About 15 km on day 2, optional
- Best months
- February to May
Nights
Where you sleep
Both nights are in the same hotel on the south bank, which is where the restaurants are and where the traffic is calmer than around the citadel. No packing in the middle of the trip.
Day by day
Day by day
Day 1
Arrival and the Imperial City
We meet you at Phu Bai airport or Hue station and take you to the hotel. After lunch your guide collects you at about 14:30, which is when the stone inside the walls starts to cool and the morning coach groups have moved on.
The citadel is a city inside a city: the outer walls enclose a residential district, and inside that sits the Imperial City and, at its centre, what remains of the Forbidden Purple City. Much of it was destroyed in 1968. Your guide will show you which halls survived, which are careful reconstructions and which are still bare foundations, and that distinction is the most interesting thing about the place.
We finish at the flag tower around 17:30 and you walk back across the river. Dinner is free — ask the guide where they would eat.
Day 2
The tombs, out by bicycle and back by boat
Tu Duc’s tomb before the groups arrive
Pick-up at 07:00. The bicycles are fitted at the hotel and a support car follows the whole way, so anyone can hand theirs over at any point. The route leaves the main road quickly and runs through pine woods and villages to Tu Duc’s tomb, about seven kilometres out, which opens early and is at its most atmospheric before nine.
From there the lanes continue to the Nam Giao esplanade area and on to Khai Dinh, the strange concrete-and-mosaic tomb on its hillside, where the car takes over for the steeper stretch. Lunch is at a family place near the river.
In the afternoon you reach Minh Mang, the most formally composed of the tombs, and board a private wooden boat for the slow trip back down the Perfume River. It stops at Thien Mu pagoda, whose tower is the symbol of the city, and lands you near the hotel at about 17:00. At 18:30 your guide meets you again for a food walk: five or six small places, the rice-cake dishes the city is known for, and a bowl of bun bo Hue where locals eat it.
Day 3
A garden house, then onward
A slower morning. We usually suggest one of the old garden houses in Kim Long, family homes built by mandarins and still lived in, or a return to anything the heat cut short. Your car takes you to the airport or the station in time for your onward connection; for an evening flight there is time for the Dong Ba market first.
Price
Price
| Travellers | Tier 1 — simple | Tier 2 — comfortable | Tier 3 — the good ones |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 travelling | from 325 | from 405 | from 620 |
| 4 travelling | from 265 | from 335 | from 505 |
| 6 travelling | from 240 | from 300 | from 455 |
The price moves with the hotel tier and the size of your party more than anything else. Dropping the bicycles changes nothing — the car is there anyway. Adding a second guided day, for example the DMZ, is the most common change and we quote it separately so you can see what it adds.
Included
What is included
What the price includes
- Two nights in a hotel at the tier you choose, with breakfast
- Private car and driver for all transfers and days out
- English-speaking guide from our Hue partner on days 1 and 2
- Bicycles and helmets, with a support car on day 2
- Private boat on the Perfume River and the food walk
- Entrance fees to the citadel, the tombs on the programme and Thien Mu
What it does not include
- Flights and trains to and from Hue
- Meals not listed, and all drinks
- Travel insurance and visas
- Tips for guide and driver
Practical
Heat, rain and what to wear
Hue is hot from May to August — the citadel has little shade, and the stone holds heat into the evening. It is also the wettest city in the country: from September to December the rain can be heavy for days, and the river rises. We run this trip all year, but outside February to May we shift the cycling to the earliest hours and keep an indoor alternative ready.
The tombs and pagodas are active places of worship for many families. Shoulders and knees covered is the polite standard and is expected at Thien Mu.
The citadel and the main tombs are sold on combined tickets. We buy the right one for your programme, so you do not queue at each gate.
Not for everyone
Who this does not suit
If royal history does not interest you, two nights here will feel long; one night and a single tomb is a fair compromise, and we will happily cut the trip to that. Anyone hoping for a beach should know that Hue’s coast is forty minutes away and not what brings people here. And if you are travelling in October or November, do not plan the bicycle day as the heart of the trip — the weather may decide for you.
Common questions
Questions travellers ask most
Do I have to cycle?
No. The car follows the whole route and you can ride in it for any part of the day, or for all of it. The tombs are the same either way.
Which tombs do you visit?
Tu Duc, Khai Dinh and Minh Mang, which show three very different ideas of what an emperor’s tomb should be. If you want to swap one, tell us — Gia Long, further upriver, is the quietest.
Can I add the DMZ?
Yes, as an extra day and night. Look at our DMZ and Hue trip, which is built around it, or ask us to add the day to this one.
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