Central Vietnam Heritage Sites

I had wished to visit central Vietnam long ago but of course it is a little luxury tour this time as I am going with my pregnant wife. So I arrived at Ho Chi Minh and then transfer through domestic Vietnam Airlines to Danang to visit the 3 heritage sites of Vietnam namely Hue, Hoi An and My Son Sanctuary. I will highlight the 3 heritage sites as I walk the entire site myself where else my wife waited me at the entrance as she can’t walk much.




We arrived at Ho Chi Minh on Friday the fifth day of Chinese New Year. We took a Vinasun cab for cost VND 140.000 which is quite reasonable. Then we check into Equatorial Hotel and we like the room very much. The hotel provided complimentary shuttle service to the city center.


We took the shuttle service to Opera House to visit one of the big shopping center called Vincom. We took our lunch there as there are many fast food and restaurant at the shopping center located at B3.









My wife waited me at the highland coffee place and then I walk to the Notre Dame, Central Post Office for some photos through the walking tour route. Then I walk towards the reunification palace then heading left towards the city hall. Take a left turn at the junction to visit the opera house before ending at Parkson near Vincom shopping center.












































We took the domestic flight to Danang the next morning. Is a good experience overall as it is still the TET festival and the flight are crowded with Vietnamese. We reach Danang at12:45pm and there are a complimentary pick up from Mercure Danang hotel. I personally like this hotel as well. After check in, then we quickly took a cab to visit Linh Ung Pagoda located at Son Tra Peninsula where it house a huge Kuan Yin statue overlook the beautiful danang beach. Then we took back the cab to danang city’s Vinh Thrung plaza. The cost of the cab is around VND150.000 for one way at Danang. I visited the Han Market, riverside and champa museum.



The next day is the Hue Heritage tour where I hire a car and a driver. The agency provided us Toyota Vios and I am satisfy with the car that cost me USD 100 for a day tour for 2 person as it cost a little bit as the date fall on TET festival. We go through the Hai Van pass which are chilling through the cliff road before reaching Hue Heritage Sites. Once we reach Hue, then we visited the Citadel and the purple forbidden city of Hue. It was a little bad luck as it is raining after we came out from the citadel entrance. We proceed for lunch then before the next visit of pagoda and tomb. After lunch, we proceed to Thien Mu Pagoda which is a traditional old historical living temple that are frequent visit by locals but I love the next 2 sites of the king tomb. Tu Duc Tomb is our next destination. Tips as we should visit tu duc first then only khai dinh. Let’s enjoy our visit at Tu Duc tomb with water and fresh air along the garden as the tomb are built according to the feng shui. After Tu Duc, then we will proceed to Khai Dinh with a majestic imperial guard but we need to climb up the tomb through stairs. Personally I found Khai Dinh is much more majestic and beautifully built.


The final day at Danang would be another 2 heritage sites highlight of My Son Sanctuary and Hoi An ancient town. The agency provides us a 4 wheel drive vehicle which cost us USD 70 per day tour for 2 persons. We stop at roadside of Marble Mountain to take some photos before proceeding to My Son. We reach My Son with travel time approximately 1.5 hours. My Son Relic is the ruin of Champa kingdom. We complete the sanctuary in 1.5 hours before proceeding to Hoi An.
We reach Hoi An in 45 minutes where the final heritage sites located, the ancient town of Hoi An . The ancient town is similar to what we have in Penang and Melaka heritage sites. There are temples and old heritage house in Hoi An ancient town. You may purchase a ticket of VND90.000 to visit all this places in Hoi An ancient town.
Then we took back domestic transfer back to Ho Chi Minh. It is a little culture shock taking a cab back. There was no queue and people are fighting for cabs. Here a little tips, remember to get a number from the staff wearing green shirt (Mai Linh) for a cab even you can’t fight for cab.







Final 2 days would be a relax day after our hardcore Danang. We rest the whole morning and then took the complimentary shuttle to Ben Thanh market at noon. We brought all our souvenir at the market. We took a cab to Vincom for VND35.000 from Ben Thanh market. This is a cab cost benchmark for your reference. Finally we complete our Vietnam Heritage Sites tour happily.