What to Do in Huế, Vietnam on a Budget

Huế can be a great stop for travelers on a central Vietnam itinerary. In this post, we’ll cover the best things to do in Hue, where to stay, and what to eat on a budget.

Updated: March 2026. Originally published: October 2016.

Note: Prices mentioned below reflect costs at the time of our visits and may have changed.

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About Hue, Vietnam

Once the national capitol and home to the royal Nguyen family, much of the Imperial City was destroyed during the Vietnam-American War.

The Hue Citadel and complex of restored monuments has since become a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It’s easy to visit by car, train, bus, or motorbike tour from Da Nang. Though to be honest, if we could only choose one, we personally recommend visiting Hoi An over Hue.

On our first trip, arriving via the overnight train from Hanoi, we spent two full days exploring this relatively small city, which seemed like the right amount of time for us.

The video above is a quick recap of our two-day stay. 

We returned to Huế a decade later during a motorbike road trip to Phong Nha, and we were pleasantly surprised at how the riverfront and city had developed.

Hue Vietnam Map of Things to Do

Next we’ll share some cheap things you can see, do, and eat in Huế, Vietnam.

The map below shows all the places we recommend, including a suggested biking route around the Citadel and along the Perfume River (purple line). 

Click on any blue icon to see our picture for that location.

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Cheap Things to See and Do in Hue

There are several possible tours, museums, and attractions you can visit in Huế. Souvenir and clothes shopping is also a pretty big draw.

But for independent budget travelers like us, you can still get a lot out of the city’s free or inexpensive activities.

Historic sights

First, you’ll want to explore the UNESCO World Heritage Citadel and monuments in town.

You can walk around or cycle (more on that later) and learn how Hue has played a significant role in Vietnam’s history, from imperial times to the Vietnam-American war.

For extra guidance and historical background, join a tour!

Huế Walking Tour

Update: The free walking tour we did with ESL students is no longer offered. (A new free walking tour company has started in Hue but we haven’t vetted them ourselves.)

However, we still highly recommend the lead tour guide from our visit, Thu, who continues to give group and private tours in the city through Bee Bee Travel. 

On our tour, we were led by one of the co-founders of the group, Thu, who was a knowledgeable guide and engaging leader. We were also accompanied by two of her “apprentices” who each led a portion of the tour and conversed with us along the way in English.

We learned about the general history of Vietnam and Indochina, toured the Đông Ba market, and stopped at a few important monuments within the walled Citadel.

We treated the two students to lunch afterward as a thank you, and they introduced us to a dish called nem lụi and to the region’s famous savory pancakes, which were both delicious (Nhà Hàng Quán Rom restaurant can be found on the map above).

Lunch for the four of us was about $7.20.

Biking Around the Sights of Huế

Once we had some background info under our belts, our guides-now-friends confirmed that biking to Thien Mu Pagoda and around the Citadel would be a great next step.

We had rented bikes through our Airbnb host (30,000 vnd, about $1.35 for a day) and navigated by way of Google Maps.

TIP: Download any area from Google Maps in advance which allows you to see your GPS location even offline. To learn how to do this, plan safe routes, and choose the most cost-effective way to stay connected abroad, we walk through our exact setup step by step inside the Google Maps Travel Hacks and WorldWide Connectivity tutorials in our Toolkit.

We first followed the Perfume River to the Thien Mu Pagoda. Bike and motorcycle parking along the roadside is monitored for a small fee but, otherwise, entrance is free and open to the public.

The pagoda is a well-known symbol of the city and is one of the closest visit-worthy monuments outside of the Citadel that you can reach by bicycle (or boat).

Though the road to the pagoda is pretty flat and wide, riders should always be alert and have a good sense of Vietnam’s “rules of the road” – which may seem chaotic at first.

The Huế Citadel is another foundational part of the city that is great to explore by bike.

Four citadels and a moat were constructed around what was once the Imperial City, enclosing the royal family’s homes, shrines, and palaces.

Some of these impressive buildings still exist today, alongside every-day neighborhoods and commercial districts.

If you stay just inside the city walls, which make a large square, you’ll have a nice route that avoids some of the busy traffic in the interior (see route in purple on the map above).

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Eating Out

Half the benefit of travel in Vietnam is all the fresh, affordable food. While Huế has its fair share of Western and air-conditioned, sit-down restaurants, these tend to come with “foreigner prices.”

For a range of meal options, from American bar food to Italian to sit-down Vietnamese, start at Phạm Ngũ Lão street. This is a bit of a tourist/shopping area but has a high concentration of restaurant choices and many have their menus on display outside.

To try local specialties in a comfortable setting, Nhà hàng Bánh Gánh on Võ Thị Sáu is an excellent starting place – though not the cheapest prices. We loved their eggplant and banh beo with crispy fried shallots.

Nhà Hàng Quán Rom on Điện Biên Phủ, near the train station, is where our local guides took us for nem lụi and bánh xèo. 

Coffee culture is strong in Vietnam, and Hue is no exception, with plenty of coffee shops of all types. The Vietnamese “salted coffee” craze (cà phê muối) originated in the city of Huế, and is widely available.

Tip: Some of the open air, local places charged different prices to tourists back in the day, so we learned to find local restaurants that have picture menus with prices published so you know exactly what you’re getting into.

Where to Stay in Huế

There are tons of hotels in Huế, especially on the south bank of the river. We recommend trying a homestay just outside of the tourist center, where you can walk to restaurants and bike to the main attractions.

We paid $14-$20 per night for our stays – both near to the river and including a Vietnamese-style breakfast, AC, and good wifi. The bedroom and private bathroom were spacious.

We highly recommend the quiet location and facilities at our recent accommodations, Seven Homestay. It was a fantastic value if you don’t mind a wet bath (shower next to the toilet) and using Google Translate with the hosts.

Book the family-run homestay near the tourist center >

Should you go to Huế?

We definitely enjoyed it and our visit helped us understand more of Vietnam’s past. While it may not be the best stand-alone destination, Huế makes a great stop-over for travelers who are already visiting Central Vietnam.

If you’re debating between Da Nang, Hue, and Hoi An – we recommend prioritizing Hoi An – but you can read more about Central Vietnam options here.

You could technically see “enough” of Huế in one day, however, we found two full days to be an ideal amount of time.

Our Experiences Getting To and From Huế

You can get to Huế from Hanoi in the North or Ho Chi Minh City in the South by overnight bus or train, or by a short flight into Da Nang.

On our first trip, we opted for the “soft sleeper” overnight train car and booked online. It was about $36 each, departing from Hanoi train station around 8pm and arriving to Huế around 9:45am the next day.

Book private and public transit across Vietnam through BookAway >

We shared a car with a German couple, who got off about three hours before us, and then we were joined by two Vietnamese ladies. It was a good value for budget travelers like us, although you do have to tolerate smelly train bathrooms (and we also spotted two baby cockroaches in the car).

We brought our own baked goods for breakfast, but there are vendors walking through and selling food in the hallways around meal times.

For our onward travel to Hoi An, we splurged a bit and booked a day-long motorbike tour.

Some Peace Corps friends of ours had highly recommended Mr. Phu, a motorbike tour guide that had taken them out into the rural villages from Hoi An. Phu and another guide picked us up from our Airbnb in Huế at 8am and we adventured together to several different sights until about 5:30pm, when we were dropped off at our Airbnb in Hoi An.

Since our backpacks were small enough, they simply strapped them to the back of the bike, giving us a nice back rest. It was an incredible experience. Costs for these kinds of day trips are around $65 per person.

After more than a decade visiting Vietnam, we also made a visit to Hue on our own independent motorbike road trip. It’s well situated to break up a trip from Da Nang to Phong Nha. 

If you have any question or recommendations to share about Huế, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!

Read more on Vietnam travel:

–Best Central Vietnam Destinations
–3 Day Hoi An Itinerary and Self-Guided Walking Tour Map
–Hue to Hoi An Motorbike Tour/Transfer
–Best food in Hoi An: Our favorite restaurants
–Where to stay in Hoi An
–5 Best day trips from Hoi An
–Suggested Vietnam Itineraries: 10+ Days in Vietnam
–A budget guide to Ninh Binh
–A budget guide to Hanoi
–A budget guide to Mai Chau Vietnam

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