Hue, Vietnam: A 3-Day Trip
That Time The Purple City Wasn't Actually Purple
The third instalment of our honeymoon in Vietnam (read about Ho Chi Minh and Nha Trang here) was full of excitement but also relaxation.
So as you just read, we spent four glorious nights by the beach in Nha Trang. We had a huge villa that was too big for us and we got fresh fruit and coconuts whenever we wanted. For scale, it was about three times the size of our flat. And how did we decide to leave the place? A 14-hour train ride to Hue sharing a compartment with two other people.
Fatima was more hesitant at first but went along with the idea – we decided it would be a little different, and if anything, we’d save a night’s hotel as it was a sleeper train. We huddled together to watch a movie on a laptop and within just minutes, Fatima spotted a rat. Disaster.
The next 13 hours and 55 minutes was, for Fatima, traumatising and she was on high alert. Meanwhile, the next room up, a cabin full of American high-school students, started screaming about five minutes later. I guess we know what happened to the rat.
When we finally reached Hue, we were both very excited to see a van emblazoned with our hotel’s logo greeting us at the train station.
While Fatima’s first surprise was an unpleasant rat, her second was that I had upgraded our room and so we were staying in a traditional Vietnamese house. Again, it was huge, especially the pool, which was twice the size of the one we had just left behind. Sadly, it was just as cold if not even colder.
#Poollife
Although many people who travel around Vietnam typically go to Danang, we chose to go to Hue because we wanted to see the old capital, including the Purple City. Like many of the hotels in Hue – and dotted across the country – ours was a specialist spa hotel. Everything was really natural and our room came with fresh bath salts, and the hotel generally carried a great scent as you walked around.
The food in the hotel’s two restaurants was delicious too, perhaps some of the best we tasted in Vietnam (you can see some of the pictures on our Instagram page).
We only spent a few days in Hue and made the most of it. While we explored the hotel on the first evening, we travelled to temples and to the Purple City on the next day. Unfortunately, it wasn’t purple as advertised.
Where's the purple?
But it was still amazing and full of history. Although the hotel provided a driver to the sights, we didn’t have a guide and sneakily listened in on other groups with English-speaking tour guides.
First, we visited the Tomb of Minh Mang, built in the early 1800s, a large courtyard and tomb surrounded by a lake and forestry.
Next, we visited the Thien Mu Pagoda near the Perfume River, where we lit incense. We also learned that there was a small orphanage here where monks cared for the children.
Finally came the city’s biggest attraction, the sprawling Imperial City, a large walled fortress where the ruling royal Nguyen family lived and military and administrative functions were organised. We spent most of the day here, roaming around the citadel.
In the evening, we decided to treat ourselves with an aromatherapy massage. It was so much better than the Thai massage in Nha Trang and was so relaxing that we both almost fell asleep! Top Tip: The secret was the cajaput oil which smelt amazing!
The next morning, we headed to the main market in the town where we had to constantly dodge motorcycles as they haphazardly drove past, and often into, pedestrians. We were offered fish, nuts, clothes and fruit, but we ended up just going for the familiar and buying some caramel toffee sweets.
We didn’t have long though and headed back to the hotel just after noon, to make sure we’d make our flight to Hanoi.
Some tips:
We spent two nights and a little under three days in Hue – unless you really want to relax and have more you want to see, that’s plenty of time as we didn’t feel at all rushed.
The food in Hue is known to be great, make sure you enjoy it!
Looking back, it would have been nice to have a guide for the Imperial City, so do think about coughing up for one!
We stayed at Pilgrimage Hue and both really recommend it strongly. Make sure you take some insect repellent with you, though!
Unlike Ho Chi Minh and Nha Trang, there were bugs everywhere and we were bitten several times on our first night before we remembered to spray on the repellent. That’s especially true for rooms with private pools.
If you compliment their hats enough, you might get one for free. At least Fatima did!
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