Pakse to Hue

By bus the journey from Pakse to Hue in Vietnam is scheduled to take from 9 to 10 hours depending upon which service you take.

Bus Times from Pakse to Hue

There are currently 2 services a day from Pakse to Hue available to book online.

Buy Tickets from Pakse to Hue

Use the Search Box below to buy your tickets from Pakse to Hue.

Pakse Bus Stop

Green Paradise services from Pakse to Hue depart from the Green Paradise Tour and Travel Office in Pakse City.

Hue Bus Stop

Green Paradise services from Pakse to Hue terminate at Hue Northern Bus Station.

About Travel to Hue

Hue is a medium sized Vietnamese city located 372 km by road to the north east of Pakse, 90 km to the north of Da Nang, and 650 km to the south of Hanoi. Hue is also a popular visitor destination because of the many historic buildings located in the city. In addition to this the city has a scenic inland location on the banks of the Perfume River and a pleasant atmosphere.

History of Hue

Hue is a city closely associated with the Nguyen dynasty. A Nguyen Lord founded the city in the early 17th Century, and made it the capital of Vietnam in the early 19th Century when they became the new, and very last, of Vietnam’s imperial families. Hue continued as the capital city of Vietnam until 1945 when the last Emperor of Vietnam abdicated in favour of a communist government based in Hanoi.

Many, but not all, of Hue’s historic buildings were destroyed during the Battle of Hue in 1968. A lot of the fighting took place inside Hue’s Imperial Citadel and 150 out of the original 160 buildings in the royal compound were partially or entirely destroyed. Reconstruction of the city, and the Imperial Citadel in particular, has been an ongoing project since Reunification in 1975.

Staying Overnight in Hue

Hue is one of Vietnam’s most tourist friendly cities. The city centre has its own tourist zone located in the southern half of the city on the opposite side of the Perfume River to the Imperial Citadel. The outer perimeter of this tourist zone is marked by 4 roads:

• Le Loi
• Hung Vuong
• Le Quy Don
• Nguyen Con Tru

Within this rectangular area the street with the most nightlife is Pham Ngu Lao. There are plenty of bars and restaurants to choose from if you stay in this part of the city. There are other areas where visitors can stay, however, there are fewer restaurants with English menus and less places to eat and drink that stay open later than 19:00.

Hue has over 300 hotels, hostels, and guesthouses advertised online through major hotel booking websites. Overall, accommodation in Hue is great value for money. Beds in shared dormitories cost from $4 USD a night, with room rates rising to the equivalent of $70 to $80 USD a night for the city’s most luxurious hotels such as the Melia Vinpearl Hue. Expect to pay from $10 to $20 USD a night for a private room in 3 star style accommodation, often with breakfast included.

Visitor Attractions in Hue

Hue’s Imperial Citadel, Thien Mu Temple, and the fantastic tombs built by Nguyen Emperors to the south of the city, are the city’s main tourist attractions. In addition to this visitors should also visit Hue’s large local market, Dong Ba Market, and take the time to walk around the area to the edge of the Imperial Citadel, particularly Bach Dang Street, to see lesser known old buildings and temples constructed during the 19th Century.

Imperial Citadel

Established in 1804, the Imperial Citadel dominates the northern half of Hue city centre. The citadel covers 4 square kilometres of the north bank of the Mekong River. It’s enclosed by a 2 metre thick defensive walls and accessible via 6 gates.

With the exception of a series of ornate inner gates, and a few notable buildings, nearly everything in the Imperial Citadel has been reconstructed following the fighting in 1968. The reconstruction work, however, is fantastic and well researched, and there’s enough which has been rebuilt to take visitors several hours to explore.

Thien Mu Temple

Thien Mu Temple, also known as Pagoda of the Celestial Lady, is also located on the north bank of the Perfume River about 4 km by road to the west of the city centre.

According to local legend the Thien Mu Temple was built in 1601 to honour a mysterious old lady who approached the ruling Nguyen Lord and told him where to build his new city. The temple is also significant because of its link to both ancient legends and more modern events. The oldest of these is a romantic tale of forbidden love where the young couple agree to a suicide pact by jumping into the river. The boy drowns and the girl is rescued.

The main feature of the temple is a 7 storey Chinese style pagoda, to the rear of which is a very attractive ornamental garden.

Tomb of the Tomb of the Emperor Khai Dinh

Of the many tombs which the Nguyen Emperors built in the 19th and early 20th Century, the most spectacular of these is the Tomb of the Emperor Khai Dinh. The tomb, which has four levels running up a hillside, was constructed over a 15 year period from 1920 to 1935. To reach the very top of the tomb, where the crypt is located, visitors need to ascend 127 steep stone steps.

One of the striking features of the Tomb of the Emperor Khai Dinh is that the whole tomb has turned almost entirely black. According to local belief the colour of the tomb reflects how evil a person the former emperor was believed to be. The tomb was incredibly expensive to construct not just because of its size and hillside location but also because of the glass and metalwork imported from France to decorate the crypt. Local people were not happy to have their taxes raised by 30% to pay for the emperor’s extravagance.

How useful was this page?