Gia Long Tomb

The remotest and most peaceful of the royal tombs, where the founder of the Nguyen dynasty and his queen rest side by side amid 42 pine-covered hills and near-total silence.

Emperor Gia Long, who unified Vietnam and founded the Nguyen dynasty in 1802, chose a vast natural amphitheatre of forty-two hills on the upper Perfume River for his tomb, completed in 1820. Unlike the later, more architectural mausoleums, Thien Tho Tomb relies on landscape: a broad lotus pond, a paved court of stone mandarins and horses, and twin stone sarcophagi for the emperor and Empress Thua Thien standing side by side on a terrace open to the sky, the only royal tomb in Hue where a queen lies beside her husband. A stele pavilion and the Minh Thanh temple complete the ensemble, restored in recent years. Reaching it still takes some effort, around 16 kilometres from the centre by road through villages and pine forest, or by boat, which is exactly why it stays so quiet. Combine it with Minh Mang Tomb nearby for a full morning upriver.