Handpicked experience · Da Nang
Da Nang, Vietnam
A pass that divides two climates, a citadel mostly erased in 1968, and an emperor whose grave was hidden by killing everyone who dug it.
Walking around the historical Imperial Citadel (Forbidden Purple City) and learning about Vietnamese Royal Culture with the local expert guide (for guided tour).
Tasting the flavours of well known Hue royal cuisine.
Enjoy yourself on the refreshing Dragon Boat trip on the romantic Perfume River, see Hue from the water side.
Visiting the most well-known 7 Floor Thien Mu pagoda and learning about significance of Buddhism in the Vietnamese lifestyle
Seeing the Royal tomb and learning about the architect, history and culture influence of the late King.
A mountain road that separates two different climates
An imperial city where the gaps say more than the buildings
A tomb its owner lived in for years
An object at a riverside pagoda that changed how the world saw a war
A private car and guide for the whole distance
A long day from Da Nang or Hoi An to Hue and back, crossing the Hai Van Pass to reach the old imperial capital: the citadel, a Nguyen emperor's tomb, and the pagoda above the Perfume River.
Hai Van means ocean cloud, and the name is a forecast. The ridge runs out into the sea and blocks the northeast monsoon, so it separates two different climates: Da Nang can be dry and bright while Hue, an hour beyond, sits under grey drizzle for days. Travellers are regularly surprised by this. Pack for the far side, not the side you woke up on.
Most vehicles now take the tunnel underneath. Tour cars take the old road over the top because the view is the point, which is also why a low cloud day removes the highlight without anything having gone wrong.
Hue was the seat of the Nguyen emperors and the citadel was a city inside a city, with the Forbidden Purple City reserved for the ruler and his household at its heart. In 1968 the city was fought over for weeks, and the inner enclosure was very nearly erased — of roughly a hundred and sixty buildings, a handful came through.
What you walk through today is therefore part survival, part painstaking reconstruction, and part empty ground where foundations are still marked out in the grass. Knowing that changes the visit. The gaps are the most eloquent thing in the complex.
The royal tombs are not simply burial sites. Emperors built them in their own lifetimes and used them — Tu Duc's is a walled park with a lake, a theatre and a pavilion where he wrote poetry, and he spent years living in it before he needed it.
His actual grave has never been found. He was buried at an undisclosed site by a work party of several hundred men, and every one of them was executed afterwards so the location would stay unknown. Whatever you are shown at the tomb that carries his name, the emperor is not in it.
Behind Thien Mu Pagoda, under a shelter, sits a pale blue Austin sedan. It is the car that carried Thich Quang Duc to the Saigon intersection where, in 1963, he burned himself to death in protest at the treatment of Buddhists — the photograph that went around the world. The monastery keeps it, which is why a quiet riverside pagoda holds one of the most confronting objects in the country.
This is a long day and most of it is driving, so it suits people who would rather see Hue properly than not at all. Cover your shoulders and knees for the pagoda and the tomb. Rain gear is worth carrying even in bright weather at the coast, and shade is scarce in the citadel courtyards.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
That ridge was a border long before it was a road — it marked the frontier between Dai Viet and Champa for centuries, and the climate line is a large part of why it made such a natural one.
Over the top. Most traffic uses the tunnel now, but the old road is taken because the view is the reason for it — which also means low cloud can take that view away.
Less than most visitors expect. The inner Forbidden Purple City was nearly erased in the fighting of 1968, and only a handful of some hundred and sixty buildings survived.
Marked-out foundations. Much of the inner enclosure is grass with the outlines of vanished halls, alongside reconstruction that is still going on.
Because it was a residence first. Emperors built these complexes in their own lifetimes — Tu Duc's has a lake, a theatre and a pavilion where he wrote poetry.
No. He was buried at an undisclosed site, and the several hundred men who did it were executed afterwards so the location would never be known.
The Austin that carried Thich Quang Duc to the Saigon intersection where he burned himself to death in 1963. The monastery has kept it ever since.
A good share of it, yes. It suits travellers who would rather see Hue properly in one day than leave it out of the trip.