Hue (pronounced Hway) was once the capital of Vietnam before it was really Vietnam. Up until 1954, when the French and US propped up a president in Saigon, Hue was the capital and the home of the emperors who had varying degrees of power and autonomy over the area dating back hundreds of years.

We arrived in Hue from Ho Chi Minh City around 1pm and were picked up by a car I arranged with our hotel for 530,000 VND or around $21. A Grab would have been cheaper, but the driver was there with a sign, air-conditioning cranked up, cold bottled water, and cold towels. There were even some snacks in the car.

We were driven to the Azerai La Residence Hue, a large boutique hotel right on the Perfume River across from the Imperial Citadel. Our room was ready. I had booked through the Delta Stays portal to take advantage of the new $100 hotel credit on my wife’s Delta Gold Amex card. That made the net price $76.

Our King room was nice and had a view of the hotel and the river beyond. I’m not sure if we were upgraded as I booked the most basic room on the Delta portal as it was just a one-night stay.

As we just had the afternoon and evening in Hue, we took a Grab to the main market on the other side of the river where I planned to leave my wife to browse around and I would walk over to the Imperial Citadel. As I got about halfway through my 20 minute walk to the Citadel, she texted that the market wasn’t great and she was getting a Grab back to the hotel.

I walked on to the Citadel and paid the 400,000 VND to enter. I decided against a tour or audio guide as there’s lots of written displays and it was so hot, I knew I wouldn’t be too long.

I spent a couple of hours exploring the site, which is huge. When I had enough, I decided to walk back to the hotel across a bridge and see a bit more of the town along the river.

We relaxed for a couple of hours, but we did notice that the hotel had extremely slow internet service, which was a pain when we were trying to get our work email or watch a TV show on the iPad. I took a few pictures of the gym, spa and pool area.

I had originally booked another food tour for that night, but as I had not yet paid, we decided to cancel it and just do our own thing. We went back to the market area in search of some street food. We found Bun Bo Hue and Com Hen, two local dishes available at stalls outside the market which were cheap and tasty. Com Hen is pictured – basically it’s seafood and rice.

We walked through the town to reach another outpost of Mixue, the bubble tea/ice cream place we had enjoyed in Phnom Penh. Then we walked back to the main street on the river and took a Grab back to the hotel.

The next morning, I actually moved up our driver to Da Nang from 10am to 8:30am as we were ready to move on. First, we had an early breakfast at the hotel. It was a perfectly nice breakfast (no status needed to enjoy it as it’s included with the room price), but obviously anything feels a bit disappointing after the Park Hyatt Saigon.

Our driver was there at 8:30am and we checked out to move on to our last hotel of the trip in Da Nang. Overall, the hotel was pleasant and comfortable, but the lack of usable internet would be a problem if you need to stay connected to the office or stream anything. Hue was interesting to see, but unless you have a major interest in pre-1950s Vietnamese history, you could probably skip it if you were pressed for time.

Up Next: Hue to Da Nang by Car

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