Huế

Dai Noi

Capital of unified Vietnam from 1802 to 1945. Much of the innermost enclosure is foundations, so read it as a plan you walk rather than a palace you enter.

Lang Tu Duc

Tu Duc used it while he was alive: a lake, a pavilion over the water, pine hills and a poetry pavilion, laid out for use rather than for burial.

Com hen stalls, Con Hen island

Rice, sauteed baby clams, herbs, peanuts and crisp pork skin, mixed hard and properly fierce with chilli. Eaten at source on the sandbank it is named for.

Lang huong Thuy Xuan

The fanned bundles of dyed sticks are staged for photographs and the shops know it. Ask to roll one instead: it is quick, tactile and free.

Cho Dong Ba

The food floor rather than the souvenir aisles: this is where the mam ruoc, chilli and dried shrimp that define Hue cooking are actually bought.

Pho co Bao Vinh

The Nguyen capital's river port, now a quiet street of merchant houses with almost no visitors, nothing ticketed and nothing interpreted.

Cung An Dinh

Built 1917 and thoroughly European inside. This is where Bao Dai's family lived after his abdication in 1945, so it is the end of the story the Citadel begins.