Hue Imperial City (The Citadel)

Visit the Citadel which is Hue’s prime attraction, and contains the Imperial City, the Forbidden Purple City and the Emperor’s Private Residence. The citadel was oriented to face the Huong River (Perfume River) to the southeast. The entire complex was the seat of power until the imposition of the French protectorate in the 1880s. Thereafter it existed mostly to carry on symbolic traditions until the monarchy was ousted in 1945. At the time, the Purple Forbidden City had many buildings and hundreds of rooms. Once vacated it suffered from neglect, termite ravages, and inclement weather including a number of cyclones. Nonetheless the Imperial City was an impressive sight. Most destructive were man-made crises as evidenced in the bullet holes still visible from the military conflicts of the 20th century. Out of 160 buildings only 10 major sites remain, such as the Thái Hòa and Cần Thanh temples, Thế Miếu, and Hiển Lâm Các. The city was made a UNESCO site in 1993. The buildings that still remain are being restored and preserved, so some areas may not be available to visit.

Thien Mu Pagoda

Thien Mu Pagoda which is considered by many as the unofficial symbol of Hue. To reach the Pagoda, we will take one of the local Dragon Boats and cruise up the Perfume River to the Pagoda. Thien Mu is an active Buddhist monastery with origins dating back to 1601. One of its most poignant displays is a car belonging to a former monk who in 1963 drove to Saigon and set himself alight to protest against the South Vietnamese regime and its cruel treatment of Buddhist monks and followers.