Huế

We spent a single night in Huế, but packed our time there.

We arrived in Huế on the train from Ninh Binh a little after 5:00 am (the train with better hours was already full). So we had plenty of time to drop our baggage off at our hotel; change into bike clothes and rain gear in the hotel lobby; eat breakfast; and get to the bike rental shop.

Bikes

We rented nicer bikes from Hue Smile Travel because we were covering more ground than any of our days in Ninh Binh; we biked about 37 km our first day in Huế. Parts of our ride were lovely. There were many riverside trails, and scenic back roads. However, while our family enjoys riding bikes, I’m not sure all of us were quite ready for the traffic in Huế which was unavoidable at points. Had I better followed our reference route, we could have exchanged some of the traffic for more riverside trail.

Our first stop on our bike ride was Thiên Mụ Pagoda. We opted to just view it from the bike path rather than going in.

Minh Mạng Mausoleum

After a bit more pretty bike ride (and some missed-turn less-pretty bike ride),

we arrived at the Mausoleum of Emperor Minh Mạng where we purchased multi site tickets for our intended visits in Huế.

The English word “Mausoleum” I think gives the wrong impression. What we found was more like a retirement property complete with ponds, scenery viewing pavilions, an area for deer, a temple, and places for wives as well.

Khải Định Mausoleum

The Khải Định Mausoleum was my least favorite of the three we visited. It was not a garden like the other two were, the nature component was the view (which has changed since the Mausoleum was built).

After our visit to the Khải Định Mausoleum, we ducked into the ECO Restaurant to get out of the rain and enjoy a great lunch.

Tự Đức Mausoleum

I think the Tự Đức Mausoleum was my favorite. The gardens, water features, and buildings all worked together to create a very beautiful space.

Between Tự Đức Mausoleum and our last stop we rode through a very colorful market area.

Our last stop before returning our bikes was Hổ Quyền. At least on the day we were there, there was not much to see. Everything was locked up. There were no hours posted to suggest it might be open at times. We were able to peek through some doors and get some sense of the place.

Bike Tour Recap

Despite our path being interrupted in places by construction (which forced us into crazy traffic and close proximity to heavy machinery; despite me missing a turn that would have kept us along the river rather than taking an almost-highway with heavy truck traffic; despite the light rain; despite a few places crazy traffic was (to the best of my knowledge) unavoidable; we had a great day exploring some of the surrounds of Huế. I was very proud of my children for maintaining safety and positive attitudes.

Huế Imperial City

Our second day in Huế my daughter saw our hotel’s nice looking pool. Unlike the pools we are used to in Thailand that are almost always comfortable, this one was quite cold.

After warming up from our quick swim, we checked out of our room, deposited our luggage with the hotel lobby, and set off off for the Imperial City.

A significant part of our children’s engagement with the site was the Explore the Imperial City of Hue Mission. Throughout the site were NFC pads that would pull up information about the location.

The information included recordings that could be listened to as well as directions to the next NFC pad. I’ll admit I was not initially excited about getting out a phone for our exploration, but the information provided did help us better understand what we were seeing. The goal of collecting all locations maintained interest in the site. Upon completion we even got a digital certificate (via delayed email):

Heritage Train

For our journey from Huế to Đà Nẵng we traveled via the Heritage Train (HÐ3). We enjoyed the views along the way, but did not think the heritage features were worth the longer travel time.