Bao Vinh Ancient Town

What reviewers say

Excerpts from public Google reviews. They are the reviewers’ opinions, not ours, and we have not verified them.

• ★ 5a year ago

  This is just an ordinary residential neighborhood with some old houses still preserved. The style of the houses is somewhat similar to Hoi An, but the street is short, and not many families have kept their original homes, so it’s not a tourist destination with a strong commercial vibe. When visiting here, people should maintain a simple mindset of sightseeing and exploration.

• ★ 53 years ago

  Bao Vinh lies some 5km northeast of Hue along the Perfume River. It is a very pictuersque spot that speaks volumes about Vietnam, both its history and its current state of affairs. Once upon a time, Bao Vinh was a bustling port with a vibrant fishing community. Its rise as a trading port originated from the Chinese merchants’ commerce in this area during the 17th century. They traded much sought-after goods: rice, salt, seafood, and fish sauce. The workmen of Bao Vinh made coffins, inlaid pearl crafts, bricks, tiles and woven handcrafts. There were 39 century-old houses from this era of prosperity, but only about 15 remain and they are in ruins. When Hue no longer served as the capital of Vietnam, Bao Vinh’s booming commerce slowly declined. Today, there are still traditional craftsmen here, as some of the old craftsmanship has been revived, such as the making of conical hats, incense, carpentry and blacksmiths. Take a slow walk in this area to get a sense of Vietnam's history, the realist version.

• ★ 58 months ago

  great but so much potential hasn't been yet put in right place. Still feel the town just alike any others, nothing so special I could felt every time I went.

• ★ 5a year ago

  Hidden city with lovely house beside a green river will be your best moment in Hue

• ★ 42 years ago

  A nice place for some “drive by tourism”.😁 it’s a cool place to see. Really recommend if you have a scooter here that you just drive through, you’ll get some awkward looks as these doesent seem to be visited by many foreigners. But either way it’s a cool place worth seeing. Not sure if there’s anything to stop at here but make sure to respect the locals either way ;)

• ★ 35 months ago

  Visited Bao Vinh Ancient Town on the 28th of December the lunar new year of 2025. Had high hope due to the festivities shown on YouTube the day before, but was disappointed. Although the official of the town did try their best to create many sites along the street for people to take Tết photos and the ancient houses had nice new year decoration, the atmosphere is too loud chaotic. This is due to too many cars and motorbike parking on the sidewalk, merchants encroaching onto the street, and large water puddles even on a very sunny day. Traffic on this small street is bad due too many cars, large trucks, and packed of motorbikes Unless you really enjoy the Hội An style ancient home (around 12 or so by my count) among many run down buildings, this does not qualify as a legitimate tourist attraction. Keep trying town leaders.

• ★ 17 months ago

  Not many old buildings left, but interesting for a short visit to get a feel for an old neighbourbood.

• ★ 1a year ago

  Pictures make it look nice but, as soon as we drove there we were ready to go some place else. Just a bunch of small dirty buildings and we saw nothing we wanted to see or do. Go to walking street by the river instead, much nicer.