Imperial Hue, Hoi An and My Son: a week in central Vietnam

Day 1

Arrive in Hue

Private transfer from Phu Bai airport to your hotel on or near the Perfume River. In the late afternoon, Thien Mu pagoda on its bluff above the river, when the light is low, then a first look at the citadel walls from the outside. Your guide sets out the plan for the next two days over tea.

Day 2

The Imperial City at opening

The throne hall and the Forbidden City ground before 09:00

At the Ngo Mon gate for 07:00. The Imperial City sits inside the larger Capital City, and inside it was the Forbidden Purple City, reserved for the emperor’s household. Much was lost in the twentieth century; what remains, and what has been rebuilt, makes sense only with someone who can describe the plan. Expect three to four hours on foot.

Afternoon at leisure. In the evening, a dinner built around the dishes associated with the Hue court, served in a garden house.

Day 3

The tombs of three emperors

Minh Mang’s tomb first, at opening, for its long axis of courts and lakes, then Khai Dinh, a twentieth-century tomb of concrete, ceramic mosaic and European detail climbing a hillside, then Tu Duc, built as a retreat he used in life. Three tombs, three ideas of kingship. A combined ticket covers them.

Day 4

Hue to Hoi An

A conical-hat workshop on the way out of Hue, then the coast road south, stopping at the Hai Van Pass if the cloud allows. Arrive in Hoi An by mid-afternoon. A first walk through the old town at dusk.

Day 5

My Son at 06:00, craft villages in the afternoon

The tower groups in the first hour after opening

Leave at 05:15. My Son opens at 06:00; the electric shuttle takes you to the tower groups. Seventy-one structures stand in eight groups, built in brick between the fourth and thirteenth centuries for the worship of Shiva. With a guide who knows Cham architecture, the unfinished carving and the bomb craters both become part of the story.

Back in Hoi An for lunch. Afternoon in the riverside villages: a pottery village where clay is still turned by hand, and a carpentry village whose joiners built much of Hoi An’s timber frame.

Day 6

Hoi An before the crowds

The old town at 07:00, before the shops open: the Japanese Covered Bridge, an assembly hall built by Chinese merchants, a merchant house with its street front and river back. The old-town ticket covers five sites, and we choose them with you. Late morning at the market for the ingredients of cao lau and other dishes tied to the town, then a cooking session.

Day 7

Depart from Da Nang

Morning free. Transfer to Da Nang airport, about 45 minutes, for your onward flight.