Thuy Xuan Incense Village

Hue's most photogenic craft street on the road to Tu Duc Tomb, where families roll fragrant incense and fan the bundles into bursts of colour outside their homes.

For generations the families of Thuy Xuan, on Huyen Tran Cong Chua road southwest of the centre, have made incense for the temples, altars and festivals of Hue. Sticks of bamboo are dipped and rolled in a paste of cinnamon, star anise, cloves, eucalyptus and other aromatic powders, then dried in the sun; the bundles are opened out like fans in bright pink, red, yellow, green and purple, and it is these blooms of colour lining the road that have made the village an icon of Hue photography. Most workshops welcome visitors, will show you how a stick is rolled and let you try, and sell incense, conical hats and small souvenirs. Prices are modest and buying something is the fair exchange for a photograph. Come in morning light, when the incense is freshly laid out to dry, and combine the stop with Tu Duc Tomb and Vong Canh Hill, both minutes away.