Hue beauty from outskirts to citadel

Hue City with charming Perfume River is more romantic and poetic by Hue’s royal splendor. Palaces and pagodas, tombs and temples, culture and cuisine, history and heartbreak – all create a unique feature that tourists cannot forget in Hue travel. From the outskirts to Hue Citadel, everywhere in this city brings a sense of peace and prosperous empire in the past which remains until now.

hue citadel

Thanh Toan Bridge

Thanh Toan Bridge

Thanh Toan Bridge, an ancient bridge with special architecture, is located in Thanh Thuy Chanh Village, about 8km from Hue City to the east. Undergoing ups and downs of time and history, the bridge remains its own featured architectural style. Near the bridge, it is a large ground where locals gather to organize many activities. The bridge is also a "communal house" where community activities have been taking place for a long time. Apart from folk mark festival held every two years on the third day of the first lunar month, Bai Choi festival is also held here. This is a long-lasting folk game bearing Vietnamese culture and identity. In Northern Vietnam, there are two most famous tile-covered bridges: Khuc Thoai Bridge and Phu Khe Bridge. Thanh Toan Bridge in North Central Coast Vietnam and Japanese Covered Bridge in Hoi An (South Central Coast) are two well-known ones. The bridge has particular architectural motif and highest artistic value among bridges in Vietnam.
Ngo Mon Gate

Ngo Mon Gate

Ngo Mon Gate is not just as simple as a gate, but also a whole complex architecture. Above the gate, there is Ngu Phung Pavillion (Pavilion of Five Phoenixes) where some important court ceremonies used to be taken place. Here is also the place where the abdication ceremony of the last Vietnamese emperor occurred on August 30 1945. Ngo Mon Gate is a monumental and palatial complex architecture - one of the highest architectures of Hue Citadel. The total height of Ngo Mon Gate is 14.80 meters. The grandness and beauty of the gate creates a "mutation" in space and impresses visitors coming to Hue Imperial Citadel. The work was built under the power of Ming Mang Emperor. Though Mgo Mon Gate is quite similar to Tiananmen (China), Minh Mang Emperor's architects had creation and high skill in designing and decorating. Thus, Ngo Mon Gate becomes a beautiful architectural work closed to the natural landscapes, emotions and souls of Vietnamese people in general and locals in Hue in particular.
Thai Hoa Palace

Thai Hoa Palace

Thai Hoa Palace is located in the inner area of Hue Citadel. It is the enthronement place of 13 Nguyen Dynasty's emperors, from Gia Long to Bao Dai. Hue Citadel used to be the center of this country. Thai Hoa Palace is the most important architecture in Hue Citadel. Here is the place where Nguyen Dynasty's emperors sat on the throne and ruled the country for over 100 years. It is considered that the name of Thai Hoa Palace is a criteria, a desire of Nguyen Dynasty about a peaceful and wealthy country. Among tens of palaces in Hue Imperial Citadel, Thai Hoa Palace is the most beautiful, biggest palace, located in the most prominent position. If Ngo Mon Gate is considered as the "facade" of Hue Citadel, Thai Hoa Palace is the "heart" where there is throne of emperors. Thai Hoa Palace is the land of dragons.

Thai Hoa Palace, like other imperial architectural works in Hue, has the solemn contemplation as its architectural style, but not overcast and boring. The architecture is the harmonic combination of criteria in the imaging method and the relation with exterior, garden and nature. Thai Hoa Palace is a typical work in Hue imperial as well as palatial architectures. Thai Hoa Palace is the convergence of quintessence of architectural decorative art, construction techniques of Nguyen Dynasty, creating a very unique style of Hue. It can be said that Thai Hoa Palace is the zenith of Hue imperial architectural art.

Hue Vietnam to most wonderful beaches

Hue city - the ancient capital of Vietnam is a city filled with the greenery and serene atmosphere, but equally exciting and crowded. The city still preserved unique architectural tombs, temples, famous world heritages along with wonderful natural landscape. The stretching of beaches, the cool gentle streams and the white foam waterfall are ready to give tourists the fresh flavor when visiting poetic Hue.

Lang Co Beach

Lang Co Beach

Located 70 kilometers to the south of Hue, Lang Co Beach has long been famous as one of the most beautiful beaches in Vietnam with more than 10kilometers of white sandy beaches and the blue seawater. In the period from April to July, the air is actually pleasant and cool. It really is the best time to visit Hue in general and Lang Co beach in particular.

Visitors to Lang Co, tourists will completely participate in the recreational activities with fishing, scuba diving or enjoy the local cuisine with crab soup, crab vermicelli or Lang Co oysters.

Thuan An Beach

Thuan An Beach

About 30 minutes by motorbike from the city center, Thuan An Beach lengthens 12 kilometers with the gentle cool waves. Tourists often choose this destination as an ideal choice in the period of time from April to September when the weather is hottest.

Tourists can rent tents or stay in the wild right on the beach and immerse in cool water. In particular when the night goes down, tourists can stroll along the beach, or enjoy the taste of fresh seafood grille on scented charcoal.

Canh Duong Beach

Canh Duong Beach

Stretching more than 8,000 meters, Canh Duong Beach has for a long time been famous for fine white sands, rows of shady casuarinas and the emerald seawater. All create romantic natural scenery captivating tourists. Experiencing Canh Duong Beach, tourists seem to lose in the world of pristine beauty, enjoy the fresh air, and dispel fatigue and the hustle of urban life.

In addition, tourists will also be attracted by the abundance of fresh seafood dishes at reasonable prices, such as steamed crab, grilled squid, many kinds of shrimps and fishes for the tourists choice.

Ham Rong Beach

Ham Rong Beach

Although there is no brand as the Lang Co, Canh Duong or Thuan An, Ham Rong Beach possesses a pretty prime location and poetic landscape. Linh Thai mountain with the height of 800 meters along with the deep green forests winding in multiple arc to embrace the nearly 6 kilometer long beach. 3 beaches are always available for tourists relaxing, namely Ham Rong, Dong Duong and Dam lagoon. In particular, Ham Rong seawater is always clear and blue along with rocks stacked together create beautiful natural scenery.

Truoi Lake

Truoi lake

Participating in Hue travel, tourists should set their foot in Truoi Lake to explore the beauty of this destination. There are four streams flowing into Truoi Lake, namely Hop Hai, Vung Thong, Ong Vien and Ba Trai. Each possesses its unique beauty. There are always hundreds of tourists taking a trip or picnic here on hot season. Taking part in the lake, tourists can comfortably immerse in the cool water, join in the fascinate entertainments such as fishing or casting the net; simultaneously, enjoy the grilled fish dishes, or delicious fish porridge from their own efforts.

Source: hue-vietnam.info

Hue becomes ASEAN City of Culture

On April 19, in Hue City, the sixth Ministerial Conference in charge of ASEAN’s Culture and Art took place, representatives of Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, and China discussed relevant issues, and awarded the title “ASEAN City of Culture” to Hue.

Hue is the third city, after Cebu (The Philippines) and Singapore, becoming ASEAN City of Culture. This is the land of history, poetic and beautiful nature, also a place of reserving the value of tangible and intangible cultural heritages, including relics of Hue Citadel and Nha Nhac (Hue Royal Court Music) once recognized by UNESCO as world cultural heritages. In recent years, many cultural events are held in Hue. For example, Hue Festival, an international event, is held every two years. The purposes of these events are to promote Hue tourism, the image of Vietnam, Vietnamese people and culture; to expand exchanges and cooperation to promote economic development; to contribute to affirming the rich cultural identity of Hue, the city of heritage and tourism of Vietnam.

Hue awarded title ASEAN City of Culture - Source: Image from baothuathienhue.vn

After receiving the title of “ASEAN City of Culture”, the Chairman of Hue People’s Committee, Mr. Nguyen Van Cao pledged to have a detailed plan and program on introducing Vietnamese in general and Hue people in particular the image of ASEAN community, at the same time promulgating Hue culture to the region and the world. The targets of Hue after receiving this tittle are to bring achievements into play, and to promulgate the image of peaceful, civilized ASEAN community with happy and comprehensively developed people. In the process of introducing, promoting the image of ASEAN community, many activities of cultural heritage value of preservation and promotion will take place in Hue, the ancient capital, in the integration and development phase. At the same time, exchanges, cooperation and community stability of ASEAN and the region will be focused through regional tourism cooperation, conferences, workshops, and cultural activities like cultural festivals, exhibits, and trade shows.

Mr. Nguyen Van Cao also thanked the Government, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, other ASEAN countries and international friends for supporting Hue during that time. He also expressed his wish of continuing to receive the attention and support in promoting the image of the country, people and culture from ASEAN community. By virtue of this, culture will be truly a cultural bridge between nations and peoples with the aims of building a world of peace, stability and prosperity, making Hue really a place of cultural exchange. Thereby, promoting the conservation and promulgation of cultural heritages, development of economy will be strengthened to be worthy of the title "ASEAN City of Culture". In two-year term, Hue will play its part in enhancing exchanges, cooperation with other cultures and civilizations in ASEAN.

Leaders meet and have conversation - Source: Image from baothuathienhue.vn

With this great tittle, Hue also has to establish the cultural identity of ASEAN. With the topic “raising the cultural role in the stable development of ASEAN”, the ministerial conference focuses on discussing and concretizing pledges given, strengthening ASEAN community, and promoting partnership with other countries to share experiences on developing art and culture. In terms of the role of culture for sustainable development of ASEAN community, utilization of knowledge, science, technology and art forms to improve the quality of material and spiritual life in ASEAN, a wealthy and prosperous community will be established in the near future.