Appetizers made for kings, plus river rides to tombs and battered citadel walls: Vietnam’s old capital keeps its eye to the past

Worth It? Definitely. A common stop on two-week itineraries.
What to Do Visit king’s tombs by boat or motorbike, the citadel in town, and try Hue’s wonderful bite-sized cuisine
Best Time to Go February to May; Hue gets lots of rain, particularly from late September through December, but even dry season sees some downpours
How Long? Two or three days
Gateway It’s on Hwy 1 between Danang and Hanoi, with trains, planes and buses heading to Saigon and Hanoi
Fact Hue was severely damaged during the 1968 Tet Offensive, when US bombs shelled VC troops hiding out in the Citadel. Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket recounted the bloody street-to-street fighting that took place in the aftermath.

Split by the lovely Perfume River, Hue is home to Vietnam’s most unique cuisine: often tiny, tapas-styled dishes that were concocted by nervous chefs for kings in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It’s a real river town too, with the river drifting past the battered citadel walls and royal tombs in the hills south of town. Also nearby are the overgrown remnants of the Vietnam War at the so-called DMZ to see. The former capital is a more thoughtful, meditative place than your average Vietnamese city, with many pagodas, dedicated Buddhists (and vegetarian restaurants), universities that have trained people like Ho Chi Minh, and poems written inside the famed non la (conical hats).

See Hue’s Top 7, One-Day Planner & Tomb-Hopping 101, or my profile on Hue food, or download the Hue map.