Flooding In Hue!

Every year during the rainy season there’s a ton of tourists asking “what is [place] like during the rainy season?” and getting not-very helpful answers from other tourists or expats. This post is specifically my experience in Hue during the rainy season in 2023, over a few days when it even FLOODED.

I hope that this post will give you some ideas of what to do if you’re planning on visiting this area during the rainy season, and to help prep you for what to do if you’re stuck in a flooded part of town.

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Vietnam Travel Essentials

The absolute must-haves for your trip to Vietnam!

Go with an Airalo eSIM and stay connected
Don’t forget to get travel health insurance!
Check Hostelworld for discounted stays or Agoda for slightly nicer ones
Search Skyscanner for flights (domestic and int’l)
Use 12Go to book bus and train tickets
Take a guidebook for tips on where to go

What's In This Post

My experience: the night it flooded

The evening of November 14, 2023 it rained so hard and for so long that the next morning the street was flooded, all the way up to the hostel doorway. This was about knee-deep, or slightly higher if you’re on the shorter side.

Luckily, the flood waters wasn’t coming into the hostel itself…mostly. Every so often a motorboat or large truck would come by and the waves washed back into the hostel. The hostel owners were kept busy sweeping it back out again, trying to keep their kids from playing in the flood waters, and making breakfast for 20-ish backpackers.

We had power still, but almost everything was closed and all tours were canceled. Likewise, buses out of town were canceled, and the trains were severely delayed. If you could make it to the airport then flights were still running, but getting out there from the town center was tricky.

A few backpackers from my hostel made their way to the train station to try and get out of town, but I heard later that they were trapped on the trains without food, water or power for nearly a day.

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How flooded was it?

Not every street in Hue was flooded. The parts nearest the river were the worst off, which is also where most of the hostels and sightseeing stuff is located.

Technically you could still get into town. Some backpackers arrived on overnight buses that morning of the flood, and the hostel owner waded out into the flood waters to walk them to the hostel. However, since the town was flooded there wasn’t anything to do anyway, so they just had to hang out at the hostel.

Go out, or stay in?

I did NOT want to go out into the flood water. It looked brown and disgusting, and I know that flood water can be dangerous to walk in. Either you trip over something hidden in its depths, or there’s some nasty germ trying to get you. In fact, the next day I heard about dead rats floating past people’s knees as they walked to an open restaurant for dinner. Yuck!

Luckily for me, I had a small stash of food in my room, including a leftover chicken sandwich and a variety of snacks and water. I could hole up for a day while waiting for the waters to recede.

This sort of thing is why I always recommend keeping SOME food with you, even if you’re in a country where it’s cheap and easy to get meals. Having an emergency granola bar or two can help when you’re in a pinch.

The next day: the waters receed

The flood waters receded the next day (on my street anyway) and restaurants opened up again. Some tours were still canceled, however, and many stores and restaurants were still closed.

Mostly everything else that I wanted to do was still closed, and my weather app forecast more rain for the next few days. I didn’t want to get stuck in Hue, so I booked a tourist bus to Hoi An for the next day instead.

How often does it flood in Hue?

Talking with the hostel owner, I learned that Hue has been flooding regularly for the past few years.

Likewise, so do other towns along this part of Vietnam, like Da Nang and Hoi An. While it may not happen EVERY time it rains, and it may not even happen EVERY year, it’s more and more of an expected occurrence.

It’s a good idea to be prepared for potentially being stuck somewhere, especially if you’re traveling in Vietnam during rainy season. Unfortunately for tourists, the parts that tend to flood more are also the parts that we like to stay in (or visit), so floods can definitely impact a touring schedule.

What to do if you’re in a flood zone

Basically, the people that had the worst time were the ones with a strict schedule that they had to keep to. They had things booked that couldn’t be moved or canceled, and they HAD to figure out a way to get out of town. That put a lot of extra stress on them, both emotional and financial.

Ideally you’d have a very flexible schedule during the rainy season in Vietnam. If it floods, or even if it rains heavily enough that you can’t go out, you can adjust your schedule by a few days and still see what you want to see. Two or three days after the flood, things were back to normal in Hue, so if you can wait around you’d be able to still go sightseeing.

Having travel insurance could help, as some policies include “severe weather” stipulations which flooding might fall under. At the very least, booking tours and hotels with flexible cancellation or rescheduling options would be a great idea.

And finally, I highly recommend carrying some with you. Even just a few protein bars and fruit can make a huge difference when you’re stuck somewhere, if you don’t want to go out into the flood waters.