CHAN MAY PORT · PRIVATE SHORE EXCURSION
Hue Countryside Shore Excursion: Thanh Toan & the City of Ghosts
A private, fully guided day from Chan May port — the mosaic tombs of An Bang, village life at Thanh Toan bridge, lunch on Hue’s own dishes, then the Imperial City. Your first stop is 45 minutes from the gangway.
First stop 45 min from the gangway
Licensed guide all day
Lunch and all tickets included
Back 75 min before all-aboard
This Hue countryside shore excursion turns a Chan May port call into the day most cruise itineraries miss. Instead of ninety minutes on the road before anything happens, your first stop comes 45 minutes from the gangway: An Bang cemetery, the coastal “City of Ghosts”, where fishing families have built tombs in ceramic mosaic that rival the royal ones. From there it is a short run inland to Thanh Toan bridge, a 250-year-old covered bridge over a village canal, with rice fields, a farming-tools museum and a working market around it. Lunch is Hue’s own dishes at a local restaurant — included — and the afternoon belongs to the Imperial City with your licensed guide, who stays with you from port gate to port gate. Tickets, lunch, private car and guide are all in the price. A flat US$39 deposit holds your date and is refunded automatically if your ship cannot dock — and you are back at the gate 75 minutes before all-aboard.
WHY THIS DAY WORKS ON A SHIP’S CLOCK
- Met inside the port, honestly stated. Many operators advertise “shipside pick-up” at Chan May — the port does not allow it. We say it as it is: your guide and driver wait at the Internal Gate, about 200 metres from the ship.
- The first stop is 45 minutes away, not ninety. Most Hue days from Chan May spend the first hour and a half on the road. Ours turns off at An Bang — you are walking among the mosaic tombs before the tour buses have reached the city.
- A deposit you get back. Many operators keep 20% deposits in full when plans change. Ours is a flat US$39 — refunded automatically if your ship cannot dock. Don’t port, don’t pay.
- Zero card fees — on the deposit and the balance alike. Many operators add 3.5–4.5% card surcharges. We add none: the US$39 deposit is fee-free, and on the day you choose — Vietnamese dong in cash, or a secure card link. Either way, the fee is ours, not yours.
- You know your team before you sail in. Guide’s name, photo and number reach you on WhatsApp 48 hours ahead — and that guide stays with you the whole day, not just at one site.
YOUR DAY, HOUR BY HOUR
Example day — ship docks 07:00, departs 17:00 (all-aboard 16:30). Pickup is adjusted to your ship’s actual docking time.
Itinerary
Met at the Internal Gate
Your licensed guide and driver wait inside the port, a 200-metre walk from the ship — name board up, cold water and towels in the car. The guide is yours from this moment to the moment you step back out.
Pickup follows your ship
The City of Ghosts
Forty-five minutes after the gangway you are walking lanes of tombs built like small palaces — tiled roofs, dragons and phoenixes in broken-ceramic mosaic, the same craft you will see on the royal tombs. Your guide explains why a fishing village built this, and how to walk it respectfully. Around half an hour.
~30 min · no ticket
Bridge, market and rice fields
A short drive inland to a village that has traded on its covered bridge for 250 years. The morning market runs beside it, the fields run behind it, and in the small farming-tools museum village women still show how rice was pounded and husked. An unhurried hour.
Museum ticket included
Lunch on Hue's own dishes
Into the city for the dishes Hue is known for — steamed rice cakes, bánh nậm, bánh lọc, the beef noodle soup the whole country copies — at a local restaurant your guide knows. Lunch is included; vegetarian and other needs are arranged in advance.
Included
The Nguyen court, with your guide
The afternoon is the citadel: throne hall, royal precincts, the stories the signboards don't tell. After a morning among the villagers who fed and served this court, the palace reads differently. Around an hour and forty minutes.
Ticket included
The drive home
Doors close by 13:45 and the coast road does the rest. If the morning has run slow, this is the leg that never gets squeezed — An Bang does.
Buffer is never traded
Back at the gate, clock in hand
You step out at the Internal Gate a full 75 minutes before all-aboard — enough margin that the walk back to the gangway is a stroll, not a sprint.
75-min buffer standard
IF THE DAY RUNS SLOW
Every Vietnam Legacy Tours cruise day carries a published shortening order, agreed before you sail in. On this route: if the gangway is late, we skip An Bang and drive straight to Thanh Toan. If the delay is longer, Thanh Toan shortens. Lunch, the Imperial City and the 13:45 departure from Hue stay. Nobody bargains with the drive back.
RAIN PLAN
October to December is Hue’s rain season. Umbrellas live in the car; the bridge at Thanh Toan is roofed and its museum is indoors; the Imperial City’s long covered galleries make it the most rain-proof site in the city, and on wet days we run the sheltered stretches first. If the fields around Thanh Toan are under water, your guide keeps the bridge and the museum and gives the extra time to the Imperial City. The schedule bends; the buffer does not.
Included
- Private air-conditioned car with English-speaking driver
- Internal Gate pickup inside Chan May port (all port pickup fees)
- Licensed guide for the whole day
- Imperial City entrance ticket
- Thanh Toan farming-tools museum ticket
- Lunch of Hue specialities at a local restaurant
- Bottled water and cold towels
- Vietnam Legacy Tours hotline through the day
Not included
- Alcoholic drinks at lunch
- Gratuities
- Personal spending
Paying the balance
Pickup follows your ship
Know your team 48 hours before
Shoes and clothing
October–December is rain season
Nothing to pay on the day
2 guests — US$164 · 3–4 guests — US$127 · 5–6 guests — US$98 · 7–9 guests — US$84 · per person
Lunch, every ticket, the private car, your licensed guide and all port pickup fees are in the price — nothing else to pay on the day beyond the balance itself.
Prices are per person, minimum two guests. Ten or more? Message us for a group quote.
US$39 deposit holds your date — the balance is settled on the day in Vietnamese dong cash or by secure card link, with no card fees either way. Don’t port, don’t pay: if your ship cannot dock, the deposit is refunded automatically.
Prices are in US dollars; on the day you pay in local currency at the published bank rate — or simply tap a card link. No card fees, no ATM hunt at the port.
Sailing in with your roll call? Message us on WhatsApp +84 93 246 5127
Frequently asked questions
What is the “City of Ghosts” — and is it respectful to visit?
An Bang is the cemetery of a coastal fishing village, and it is very much alive: families tend the tombs, and the lanes are open to anyone who walks them quietly. Since the 1990s the tombs have grown into small palaces — tiled roofs, dragons and phoenixes in broken-ceramic mosaic, the same craft you will see on the royal tombs. Your guide explains what you are looking at, what not to touch, and why a fishing village spends this way on its ancestors. Shoulders and knees covered, voices down, no climbing on the tombs — the same courtesy as at any grave.
Why Thanh Toan instead of another royal tomb?
Because by the time you reach the Imperial City you will have met the people who fed it. Thanh Toan is a rice village with a covered bridge from 1776, a morning market beside it and a small farming-tools museum where village women still pound and husk rice by hand. Royal tombs are on every Hue day from the port; this village is on almost none. If tombs are your priority, our Chan May to Hue Shore Excursion is the day for you.
Do we still see the Imperial City?
Yes — the afternoon is the citadel, around an hour and forty minutes with your licensed guide: throne hall, royal precincts, the working history of the Nguyen court. What changes is the order of the day: villages first, palace second, so the palace makes sense.
What is lunch — and can you handle vegetarian or other needs?
Lunch is included, at a local restaurant your guide knows: Hue’s small steamed rice cakes, bánh nậm and bánh lọc, the beef noodle soup the rest of Vietnam copies. Hue has a long Buddhist vegetarian tradition, so meat-free is easy; tell us about allergies or other needs when you book and we arrange the table ahead.
How much walking is there?
Easy, all day. An Bang is flat sandy lanes, Thanh Toan is flat village paths and a bridge, and the Imperial City is broad and level — a couple of easy kilometres at stroll pace, with benches and shade. There are no tomb staircases on this day.
What if it rains, or the countryside floods?
October to December is the wet season. Umbrellas are in the car, the bridge at Thanh Toan is roofed and its museum is indoors, and the Imperial City has long covered galleries. If the fields are flooded, your guide keeps the bridge and museum and gives the extra time to the Imperial City. Rain changes the sequence, never the guarantee.
How do we pay?
A flat US$39 deposit holds your date, with no card fees. The balance is settled on the day, your choice of two ways: Vietnamese dong in cash, or a secure card payment link — no card fees either way; we absorb them. Prices are quoted in US dollars and converted at the published bank rate of the day. One practical note: there are no ATMs at Chan May port — if you prefer cash, your driver simply adds an ATM stop on the way.
What if our ship skips the port or docks late?
Ship can’t dock: deposit back automatically. Docking late: the published shortening order — An Bang first, then Thanh Toan — at no extra charge, with lunch and the Imperial City protected. Very late: shortened day or full refund, your choice. Cancelling for your own reasons? Up to 24 hours before the day the deposit comes back too; inside 24 hours it is retained.
“Every operator can drive you to the Imperial City. What I wanted to show first is the Hue that lives outside the walls — a fishing village that builds palaces for its dead, a bridge where farmers have traded for 250 years. Walk those in the morning, and the palace in the afternoon finally makes sense.”
- Reply within 1 hour
- Free cancellation
- Licensed operator No. 46-0086/2026