This unique tour that is exclusive to HGH Travel, starts at your hotel with a short bicycle ride to river where you will board one of the Dragon Boats to take a boat trip down a tributary of the Perfume River between the inner and outer walls of the Citadel. As you slowly cruise along the river, you can see on your right, a number of old houses that would have been the homes of the local Mandarins who served the Emperor and the local government in some way.

You land by the lovely Then Cafe that you will return to later in your tour to enjoy a rest and a drink. But for now, it is time to set out on a short bicycle tour of this interesting part of town. Enjoy the quiet roads imagining times gone by when this pace of life was the norm in this now busy town of Hue. Along the way, you can enjoy the flower gardens nurtured by locals, visit the house where the family make the Votive items that are created to burn in respect of deceased relatives. A little further on, you will meet the local gardeners who lease out space adjacent to the Citadel walls to tend their market gardens, the produce from which they then sell at local markets. And of course, if you choose to, you can always offer a helping hand in watering crops or turning over soil.

A short distance takes you back to the Then Cafe where you can sit and relax with a drink in this truly charming cafe/art gallery. The owner of the Cafe is Tuan, who will be delighted to talk about his own art work and especially about the craft of lacquer work for which he is an expert.

Back on the bikes, our next stop is to see how one significant traditional food is made. This is the food that is especially significant during the time of Tet (the local New Year) and is called 'banh chung'.  At other times of the year it is used as an offering to the altars that people have in their homes. It is left on the altar for a set period then eaten. The banh chung is made in the mornings and cooked in the afternoon.

An alternative, for the afternoon tour, is to visit the house where the traditional rice cakes are made. You can see the way in which the banana leaf is shaped to create a box or wrapper to contain a specific type of cake which is then steamed in large vats. The cakes are also part of the Tet celebrations but also eaten throughout the year.

Your last stop before cycling back to your hotel is to enjoy some local traditional Hue crispy pancakes, a dish that is  unique to this city.

Detailed Schedule