"The Vietnamese Imperial City" a Hue Travel Page by SirRichard

Hue is a medium size city located in the coast, at about the middle of Vietnam, near Danang.
Its main touristic interest comes from the Imperial Nguyen Tombs, the Citadel (former Imperial Palace) and the Perfume river.
It reminds somehow several landmarks of Beijing (Ming Tombs, Forbidden City...) so if you have been there before, you will have a sense of "deja vu", only in a smaller size and not so well preserved.
Apart from that, Hue has not much to offer to the visitor, but is a main transport hub, so you will pass by sooner or later.

The Imperial past of the city has left some important landmarks.
Most of them were abandoned during the 1975-1990 period (after the Reunification) as signs of a "feudal dinastic power", which was not politically correct at that times.

After being declared "UNESCO World Heritage Site", Hue city has realized the economic importance of restoring sites (improving tourism and incomes at the same time) and a huge restoration labour is being held.

The Perfume River divides the city in 2:
- The North side is the old part, including mostly the Citadel, museums, palaces...
- The South side where the modern city is.

There are boat tours by the river stopping on the way to visit the many Nguyen Tombs along the river.