DAY 1: CITADEL – HUE ROYAL ANTIQUITIES MUSEUM – HUONG RIVER CERAMICS MUSEUM
At 9h00: Guide pick you up at the hotel. We discover Citaldel. Located not so far from the city center, Hue royal palace can be reached easily from many hotels in Hue. Being the living area as well as working area of Nguyen kings, The 200-year old palace reflects the luxury lifestyle and architecture of the last royal family in Viet Nam. Despite the destruction caused by weather war, Hue royal palace is still an attractive destination for those who choose Hue to visit.
After visiting the royal palace, you need only 5 minutes to reach the museum. The first impression about it is the beautiful traditional house located in a big yard with a lot of trees. Coming closer, people are astonished to see the meticulous carving on ironwood columns and beautiful decoration of ceramic dragon on the roof.
Visiting the museum does not mean that you just observe the objects displayed inside. Here, you can know more about the value of each object, the luxury life of royal family and admire the talent of craftsmen who created those masterpieces. You will also have the chance to see the stunning woodcarving art in the construction of the museum, which were made by the best artists of the country.
12h00: Lunch time at My Home restaurant is a great time to savour the best Hue traditional foods and some royal tea while having your feet relax in herbal water after the meal.
In the afternoon, we visit Huong River Ceramics. This is the only museum in the country displaying ceramics found from rivers in a narrow geographical space (Thua Thien Hue province). With an area of about 700 square meters, the Museum currently has nearly 5, 000 artifacts, most of which are ancient ceramics recovered from the bottom of the Perfume River with many dates, from Cham pottery, Sa Huynh pottery, Prehistoric, Early Historical, Le profile. . . and also ceramic artifacts once produced in the ancient village of Phuoc Tich, My Xuyen.
14h00: End tour.
Including: private car, English speaking guide, entrance ticket, lunch, herbal footbath, insurance, water bottles and wet tissue.
Excluding: Personal expense, Tip.
DAY 2: THIEN MU PAGODA – ANCIENT HUE AN HIEN GARDEN HOUSE – AN DINH PALACE
At 9h00: Guide pick up at the hotel
We get on the dragon boat, go along the Huong river to enjoy the fresh atmosphere and peaceful beauty of Hue on the way to Thien Mu pagoda, the oldest pagoda. Built in 1601 by lord Nguyen Hoang, Thien Mu pagoda ( or heavenly lady pagoda) has been a holly worshipping place for Hue people until now. The pagoda boast the beauty of an ancient pagoda on the riverside. It is not only famous for the mysterious stories but also the stunning landscapes around it and the simple but attractive architecture.
After that, we visit to An Hien Garden house. A long time ago, we cared very much about Fengshui. The perfect Fengshui is leaning against mountains and face to the water. We think if your houses have perfect Fengshui, you will get richness and family members are always in good health. Hue imperial city was the capital city of the Nguyen dynasty. Visit Hue, you should visit ancient garden houses to understand Vietnamese house settings and Fengshui in the ancient houses. Brighten in beautiful garden houses in Hue is the An Hien garden house.
Lunch at restaurant.
13h00: We continue to exploring An Dinh Palace. The An Dinh Palace or Cung An Dinh was the private residence of the Khai Dinh emperor. Between 1917-1919 Nguyen Phuc Vinh Thuy (later Bao Dai Emperor) had renovated in modern style and became the residence officially. After Bao Dai abdicated in 1945, he moved from the Imperial City to the An Dinh Palace and lived with his mother and his wife, and his children. During the twentieth century, this place became the residence for both Vietnam’s last two queens, Tu Cung and Nam Phuong at different times. It lies on the bank of the An Cuu canal, at 179 Phan Dinh Phung street, Hue, Vietnam. An Dinh Palace is well-known for its beautiful sophisticated decoration.
14h00: End tour.
Including: boat, private car, English speaking guide, entrance ticket, lunch, insurance, water bottles and wet tissue.
Excluding: Personal expense, Tip.
DAY 3: MINH MANG TOMB – KHAI DINH TOMB – TU DUC TOMB
9h00: Guide pick up at the hotel
We visit to Minh Mang king tomb, the most formal king in Nguyen dynasty, this tomb reflects the traditional style of a place for the king to live when he was still alive and Rest In Peace when he passed away. With a big ares full of trees and lakes, Minh Mang tomb gives visitors a peaceful feeling when coming here. Afternoon time is the best time to visit the tomb because it is very quiet and you can have a great time when wondering around it.
In the complex of royal tombs in Hue city, Khai Dinh tomb has a unique architecture and way of decoration which is out of the traditional principle of building a royal construction. Being influenced by European culture and architecture, Khai Dinh king wanted his tomb to be built in western style while the details are still in Viet Nam’s culture . The best impression left in the mind of all visitors is the ceramic decoration of this tomb . All people feel satisfied when seeing the mosaic here and say that this place is really worth their time and money.
Lunch at the restaurant.
In the afternoon, we will visit to Tu Duc tomb. It is the tomb for the 4th king of Nguyen dynasty. This king loved poetry, paintings and music and his personality can be seen through his tomb, which look like a beautiful picture with green grass surrounding the lakes, traditional palace located in the middle of nature and a lot of pine trees giving shade and cool air in the whole day. What makes this tomb a must-see place in Hue is its picturesque beauty and the story about the king who sat on the thorn in the longest time of Viet Nam’s history. The tomb can be visited after the conical hat village which is located 300 meter from it. Besides the places in the list above, Hue has more and more interesting place to visit, including historical monuments and natural landscapes. If you want to have a good itinerary for a visit to Hue, please contact us for more information.
Including: private car, English speaking guide, entrance ticket, lunch, insurance, water bottles and wet tissue.
Excluding: Personal expense, Tip.
DAY 4: GIA LONG TOMB – DONG KHANH TOMB – THIEU TRI TOMB
9h00: Guide pick up at the hotel. We continue to learning about Gia Long Tomb (Thien Tho Tomb). It is located between the Thien Tho Mountain in Huong Tho Commune, Huong Tra District, Hue city, Thua Thien Hue Province. This is the resting place of Gia Long King, the first king of 13 Nguyen Dynasty. The tomb is lied along Perfume River with fresh air all time, covered by the majestic nature and endless mountains. The central part is the tomb of King and Thua Thien Cao Empress. This makes Gia Long tomb become a beautiful picture of the harmonical combination between nature and architect. This is the main place to visit in Hue tour program.
Dong Khanh tomb. Another tourist attraction in Hue is the tomb of Dong Khanh, also called Tu Lang, which is one of the Nguyen Dynasty’s mausoleum systems. An exceedingly well-balanced fusion of Asian and European art architecture may be seen in the Dong Khanh Tomb. Additionally, UNESCO listed Dong Khanh Tomb as a World Cultural Heritage Site on 11/12/1993.
Lunch at the restaurant.
Thieu Tri tomb. Tomb of Thieu Tri, whose literal name is Xuong Lang, is the burial place of Emperor Thieu Tri. This is a relic in the Complex of Hue Monuments recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage on December 11, 1993.
Including: private car, English speaking guide, entrance ticket, lunch, insurance, water bottles and wet tissue.
DAY 5: THANH TOAN BRIDGE AND COOKING CLASS
8h am: Pick up the guests at their hotel and start biking to Thanh Toan Village where the famous “Thanh Toan Tiled Roof Bridge” is located. On the way, you can’t help surprising to catch the images of the bustling morning local market, the green rice fields, majestic family temples as well as the daily life of local people crossing the zigzag path of the village.
10h00: Arrive and visit Thanh Toan Tile roof Bridge – a truly unique ancient bridge in Vietnam, and visit Thanh Toan Museum with a wide variety of agricultural tools exhibited to explain the details of Vietnamese life and culture.
10h15: Row the boat with the villager on Nhu Y River to enjoy spectacular sceneries and explore how they catch the fish by using some old tools such as fishing trap, casting net, etc. After observing, you can join hand with them to catch your own fish.
Get back to our “Eco Home” where you can see around the vegetable garden with many kinds grown by local farmer such as: Malabar spinach, gourd, fiber melon, winter melon, fig…
12h00: Join cooking class to learn the traditional ways of preparing and cooking Hue special such as fig salad with shrimp and meat, pancake or spring roll. After the lesson, enjoy what you have just cooked and some other local dishes.
13h30 – 14h00: Ride back to the city. End of your Eco trip to Thanh Toan village and see you again.
Including: boat, English speaking guide, bicycle, entrance ticket, cooking class at local house, lunch, insurance, water bottles and wet tissue.
Excluding: Personal expense, Tip.
DAY 6: CYCLING TO THUY BIEU VILLAGE – COOKING CLASS – FOOT MASSAGE
At 8h00 am, we start the tour by walking from your hotel in Hue center to boat station. From here, we will take the boat trip about 40 minutes along the Perfume river to visit Thien Mu Pagoda. After visiting Thien Mu Pagoda, we will come back the boat station and go on arriving to Thuy Bieu village. Coming to Thuy Bieu village, you continue your trip by bike around this village to contemplate the beauty of the immense rice paddy field and the green pomelo garden. You can try the well-known and delicious fruit of Thuy Bieu village which is smaller but sweeter than pomelo and known under the name of Thanh Tra. In addition, you can take short stop to see schools, communal houses, ancient temples and especially the garden house. Its architecture is typical of Hue and the Nguyen dynasty with small cottages hidden in large luxuriant gardens, long gates and fences carved out of ornamental trees. Then, we visit incense making family to discover the daily life of local people while they are working strenuously with joy and enthusiasm, joss paper making family to know more about a traditional custom of Vietnamese people and know why they use joss paper, also known as ghost money, for the died people, and visit paper painting family to see the countryside painting art of the young local artists.
After that, you have chance to learn how to cook some traditional food of Hue at a cooking class here and enjoy the food prepared by yourselves. After lunch, you can relax your feet by soaking the medicinal herb food spa, a traditional therapeutic practice and enjoy foot massage. This helps you refresh before coming back your hotel by private car.
Including: dragon boat trip, private car, English speaking guide, bicycle, entrance ticket to the village, cooking class at local house, lunch, foot massage with medicinal herbs, insurance, water bottles and wet tissue.
Excluding: Personal expense, Tip.
DAY 7: Tiger Punching and Squealing Elephants – Thanh Tien Paper Flower Village – Sinh Village Paintings – Bronze Casting Village
9h00: Guide pick up at the hotel. This is the last day of the journey to explore Hue, we will go to Ho Quyen, it is a relic in the Hue ancient capital relic complex, located in Truong Da village, Thuy Bieu ward, Hue city, where it is a tiger cage and a unique arena that may not be seen before. Not available anywhere in the world.
Thanh Tien bougainvillea village is located in Phu Mau commune, Phu Vang district, 10km from Hue city center. Previously this village was also known by different names such as Tan Lan or Tan Lan. The profession of making paper flowers in Thanh Tien village comes from the very typical folk worship beliefs of Hue people.
Lunch at the restaurant.
Sinh Hue village is an extremely attractive destination on your Hue travel journey. This village has existed since the 15th century. Sinh village is famous for its traditional painting craft villages and animal festivals. Sinh village paintings – a line of worship paintings over 400 years old are a cultural heritage that needs to be preserved by the Vietnamese people.
End the tour and say goodbye !
Including: private car, English speaking guide, entrance ticket, lunch, insurance, water bottles and wet tissue.
Excluding: Personal expense, Tip.
