Thua Thien Hue, central Vietnam
Tours in Hue
Hue is where most people come for the Imperial City and the royal tombs, and then discover the mountains behind it. Bach Ma National Park rises to 1,444 metres about 40 km south of the city and holds Do Quyen Waterfall, which the operator running trips there calls the highest in Southeast Asia. The result is a city where you can spend the morning in a nineteenth-century citadel and the next day clipped to a cable 200 metres above a valley.
Every tour, cheapest first
2 trips
Jungle Boss
Bach Ma Discovery
1DA day trip from Hue that puts you on a 130 metre suspension bridge across a waterfall, up 301 steel rungs beside it, and then on a zipline back over the top.
The only way to cross the waterfall bridge, climb the via ferrata and ride the zipline in a single day from Hue.
Jungle Boss
Do Quyen Waterfall Top Adventure
2D1NDescend 200 metres down the face of one of Southeast Asia's tallest waterfalls on rope, after a night camped at the Five Lakes and a training session on a smaller fall.
The only tour that abseils 200 metres down the face of the waterfall itself.
Discount code
Discount coupon for the Jungle Boss tours above. Enter it at the payment step on their site for 5% off.
What Hue is actually good for
The Imperial City
The walled citadel of the Nguyen dynasty, at 200,000 VND for an adult ticket. Combination tickets covering the citadel plus two tombs run 420,000 VND and plus three tombs 530,000 VND, both valid two days, which is better value than paying per site.
The royal tombs
Khai Dinh, Tu Duc and Minh Mang each cost 150,000 VND and each is genuinely distinct: Khai Dinh is blackened concrete and glass mosaic, Minh Mang is formal and symmetrical, Tu Duc is a garden the emperor used as a retreat while alive.
Bach Ma National Park
Entry is around 60,000 to 65,000 VND. The Five Lakes trail links a chain of swimmable pools, and the Hai Vong Dai summit viewpoint sits at 1,450 metres. Guided adventure trips add a 130 metre suspension bridge across the waterfall, a via ferrata of 301 steel rungs and an 85 metre zipline.
Do Quyen Waterfall
One of the tallest waterfalls in Vietnam, reached on foot from the Bach Ma summit road or descended on rope with an operator. The two day tour includes a 200 metre canyoning descent beside the falling water, with training first on a smaller fall.
Thien Mu Pagoda and the Perfume River
Free to enter, open through the day, and best reached by dragon boat along the Perfume River rather than by road. The seven-storey tower is the single most recognisable structure in the city after the citadel.
When to go
January to April is the most comfortable, around 20 to 24C with light drizzle. The dry season runs March to August but late summer gets fiercely hot. September to December brings the heavy rain, and in Bach Ma that means fog thick enough to erase the view plus a real flash flood risk.
Getting there
Hue has its own airport at Phu Bai and sits on the main north-south railway, about 3 hours from Dong Hoi and 2.5 to 3 hours from Da Nang on the coastal line, which is one of the most scenic train rides in the country. The Hai Van Pass road to Da Nang is free to drive and worth the detour by motorbike or car.
What it costs
Budget travellers manage on 500,000 to 800,000 VND a day. Add the combination monument ticket at 420,000 to 530,000 VND once, and the Bach Ma adventure tours are a separate bracket at 4,500,000 VND and up.
Worth knowing first
- Buy the combination ticket if you plan to see the citadel plus two or more tombs. Paying separately costs noticeably more for the same sites.
- Bach Ma between September and December is a gamble: the tours may run but the fog and rain can take the view and the safety margin with them.
- The tombs are spread out along the river south of the city, so plan them as one loop by car, boat or motorbike rather than as separate trips.
- Adventure tours in Bach Ma include Hue-area hotel pickup, but not transfers from Da Nang or Hoi An.
Hue questions people actually ask
How many days do I need in Hue?
Two days covers the Imperial City, two or three tombs and Thien Mu Pagoda at a reasonable pace. A third day lets you add Bach Ma National Park, and a fourth is needed if you want the two day Do Quyen canyoning tour rather than the one day version.
Can I do Bach Ma as a day trip from Da Nang or Hoi An?
You can join the tours, but transfers are only included within the Hue area, so you would need your own transport for roughly two hours each way. Given the day already runs from about half seven to half five, most people find it works far better from Hue.
Is Hue better than Hoi An or Da Nang?
They do different jobs. Hue is the history: a former imperial capital with a citadel and tombs that neither of the others can match. Hoi An is the old trading town and the food. Da Nang is beaches and the international airport. They sit within a few hours of each other and most itineraries take all three.
What is there to do in Hue when it rains?
Quite a lot, which is useful given the September to December wet season. The Imperial City, the tombs, the Museum of Royal Antiquities and the food are all fine in rain. It is the Bach Ma mountain trips that suffer, so if your dates are in the wet months, plan the city and treat the mountains as a bonus.
Elsewhere in Vietnam
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