Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas (CC BY-SA 3.0)
A self-guided audio tour up the Perfume River valley outside the walls of Hue's Citadel, by car, stopping to walk each pagoda and imperial tomb; the drives are not narrated. It starts at Thien Mu Pagoda, founded in 1601, and its seven-storey Phuoc Duyen Tower of 1844 to 1846, visits the Dai Hung Hall and the car that carried Thich Quang Duc to Saigon in June 1963, and goes on to the Temple of Literature of 1808, the Ho Quyen arena built in 1830 for elephant-tiger combats, and the Voi Re temple to the dynasty's war elephants. After Tu Hieu Pagoda in its pine forest, it walks the tomb of Tu Duc, built from 1864 to 1867 as a palace and retreat, with its lake, temples, theatre, stele and sepulchre, and the tombs of Empress Le Thien Anh and Kien Phuc beside it. It visits the tombs of Dong Khanh and Thieu Tri, climbs Khai Dinh's tomb, begun in 1920, to the Thien Dinh Palace, and follows the axis of Minh Mang's tomb from the Great Red Gate across Trung Minh Lake to his sepulchre. It ends at the tomb of Gia Long, founder of the Nguyen dynasty, the Nam Giao Esplanade of 1806 and the tomb of Duc Duc.
27 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 108 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 21 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
Thien Mu Pagoda and the Phuoc Duyen Tower, Dai Hung Hall, Thich Quang Duc's car, Temple of Literature (Van Mieu), Ho Quyen Arena, Voi Re Temple.
Tu Hieu Pagoda, Tomb of Tu Duc: Luu Khiem Lake and Xung Khiem Pavilion, Hoa Khiem Temple, Luong Khiem Temple and Minh Khiem Theatre, Tu Duc's salutation court and stele pavilion, Tu Duc's sepulchre, Tomb of Empress Le Thien Anh, Tomb of Kien Phuc, Tomb of Dong Khanh, Tomb of Thieu Tri, Tomb of Khai Dinh: the stairs, the salutation court and the stele pavilion, Thien Dinh Palace.
Minh Mang: Dai Hong Mon and the salutation court, Minh Mang's stele pavilion, Sung An Temple, Trung Minh Lake and the bridges, Minh Lau Pavilion, Minh Mang's sepulchre (Buu Thanh), Tomb of Gia Long, Nam Giao Esplanade, Tomb of Duc Duc.
The pagoda founded in 1601 on Ha Khe hill, and the seven-storey octagonal tower Emperor Thieu Tri ordered in 1844.
The blue Austin that carried Thich Quang Duc to a Saigon intersection on 11 June 1963, kept behind the main sanctuary.
The tomb Tu Duc built from 1864 to 1867 and used as a palace and retreat, every building named for modesty.
The tomb of the twelfth Nguyen emperor, begun in 1920, climbing in terraces of concrete and mosaic against Chau Chu Mountain.
The Great Red Gate, about nine metres high, at the eastern end of the long axis of Minh Mang's tomb.
The tomb of the emperor who unified Vietnam and founded the Nguyen dynasty, built under his own supervision from 1814 to 1820.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 27 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration. 27 narration points.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every narrated point in Hue — the Royal Tombs and Thien Mu Pagoda, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
27 narration points, including Thien Mu Pagoda and the Phuoc Duyen Tower, Dai Hung Hall, Thich Quang Duc's car, Ho Quyen Arena and Tomb of Tu Duc: Luu Khiem Lake and Xung Khiem Pavilion. That is about 32 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.
Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~1–2 hours total, but you walk at your own pace. 27 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.