Vietnam Hue

Hue, the historic capital of Vietnam, sits astride a truly majestic and beautiful river, the Song Huong (Perfume River). The north-bank is host to its share of hotels and restaurants, but the area is dominated by the old fortified city known as the Citadel, spread across more than 5 square kilometres of ground, crowding out development on that side of the river. As a result, guesthouses, hotels and restaurants have sprung up on the south bank, starting with the river road, Le Loi Street, and stretching further south. The south bank of the river has been developed as park cum promenade, with an eclectic variety of public sculptures on display.

Hue is the capital of Thua Thien Province, with a population of about 340,000. Its location in central Vietnam, just south of the DMZ, made it a scene of heavy fighting during the American War. It's 15km west of the South China Sea and about 540km south of Hanoi and 644km north of Saigon. While the city is also known for the manufacture of textiles and cement, tourism has become its bread and butter.

Hue's complex history has earned it a reputation as a political, cultural and religious centre, but nowadays, visitors to contemporary Hue will find a city that only dimly reflects on its past, and only does so as a begrudging nod to its western visitors. Like Halong Bay to the north, the complex of tombs, pagodas and palaces throughout Hue and its surrounds has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. But to the Vietnamese psyche, shaped by centuries of war and struggle, tempered by nearly forty years of communist rule, this heritage is largely irrelevant and completely disconnected from the present. The overwhelming sense one gets from the city, on even the most casual visit, is of an unstoppable forward drive, and of a people constantly looking to the future.

But the profitability of tourism has lead to a paradoxical situation where, in order to move forward, the citizens of Hue must pry open those doors to the past they would rather leave shut. As a result, the tourist industry here has developed into a half-hearted attempt to give the foreigners what they want and send them on their way. While this has been effective in one sense -- a steady stream of tourists keeps showing up and paying for tours -- in the larger scheme it has also meant many poorly-run tours and disappointed travellers.

At the moment, Hue is a premier tourist destination mostly in theory. In practice, it's still a work in progress. That notwithstanding, it's a beautiful, vibrant city, with great places to stay, great food, and a number of interesting things to do, on and off the well-worn tourist trail of historic attractions.

A word about Hue tours
We've heard numerous complaints about every kind of tour available in Hue. The boat tours can be cramped and noisy. Where lunch is offered as part of the ticket price, it often amounts to only a dish of beans, and you're expected to buy the rest of your meal out of your pocket. Tourists are often dropped off at tombs and ordered to return in one hour, which is hardly enough time to walk from one end the other. The cheapest tours will not provide any information about the sights. And there's a wide variety of standard rip-offs that seem to accompany each tour.

If you want to enjoy a cultural tour of Hue, you're going to have to pay for it. Go for a small group tour, book it through one of the better hotels if possible, and be sure you have time to chat with your guide before you sign up to gague the extent of his or her knowledge and language skills. Otherwise, skip the tour altogether and do it on your own. If you take a motorcycle taxi, hire one to take you there, and a separate one to take you back -- the driver may try to convince you to let him wait for you, but he'll likely charge you much more for it in the end, and there are plenty more taxi drivers where he came from. Take your time. Pack a lunch -- food and beverages in and around the historical sites are well over-priced. Don't try to see everything -- just target a few key spots. Expect nothing much more than you would from a day in the park, and you'll avoid some of the frustrations and let-downs we keep hearing about.

Touring the Sites on your Own
Everything can be visited by car, bicycle, or motorbike on your own. However, everything worth seeing is very poorly marked, and there are a lot of fuzzy maps available that put things in the wrong location. This is done partly by design -- to discourage tourists from touring on their own and force them to hire a guide. But, in fact, one of the best ways to wile away the hours in Hue on a beautiful day is to try to find someplace on your own anyway, get lost, see the countryside, stop along the way, and you'll eventually wind up some place interesting, even if it isn't the place you were heading for when you set out!