Originally Posted by
NYTA
I noticed nobody mentioned Hue - given that we'll be in Hoi An it seemed like a logical day trip. Worth it? Better than My Son?
I would not do it as day trip because car transport back/forth will take min 5h and unless you leave at 7AM and come back at 9PM you won't see much. Imperial Palace easily will take 4h to see, add the same amount of time for 1-2 Imperial tombs and your day is gone.
Was there this May. Hue definitely worth to see it and I would put 2 night at Hue and 2 nights ad Hoi An, I arranged this way - car transfer directly from from Da Nang airport to Hue, stayed there 3 nights and came back for one night for Hoi An, but I was at at Hoi An during my previous visit.
For travelling back we had a train ride and honestly, I am not big fan of trains (except Shinkansen) but that 3.5h tran ride was one of the best I had and you can't get better scenery - more than half time the train follow coastline and you can sit there, watch outside thru window and channel your inner cat.
Check seat61 for that route and details - plenty of info. I bought my tickets at
www.baolau.com - DO NOT buy 'private' car cabins - not much difference from Vietnam Railways cabins while being 3x-4x more expensive.