Known as an ancient city with cultural values and quiet way of life, visitors to Hue can marvel at the grand Hue Citadel, explore spectacular Royal Tombs of Nguyen Emperors and craft villages on way, see marvelous colonial mansions from the French era and many more!
Hue street food is another great draw, with its incredible subtleties and outstanding diversity.
However, like many tourist cities in the world, Hue has some common scams. Although they are not so aggressive like Hanoi and Saigon, some of our friends/ clients had encountered during their travel to Hue. Thus, it inspired us to create this list of 11 common scams in Hue, Vietnam.
Read on to learn to avoid for safe trip to our beautiful hometown!
1. Overcharged taxi at Hue Train Station/ Hue airport
How it works
A couple of ways taxis can overcharge you:
♦ Rigged meter: jumping too fast or too much.
♦ Extra fees: additional fake surcharges such as a bag fee.
♦ Taking a longer route: pretending not to know your destination or claiming to avoid a traffic jam.
Especially, at Hue Train Station, many taxi drivers form an union. They create these rules which agreed by everyone who camp outside the train station:
♦ Whoever tourists drivers approach first, they are their customers and the rest can not offer the tourists anything else.
♦ They claim a price of 150,000 VND ($7/ person) to go to Hue center. In fact, price to Hue Center per 4-seat taxi is approximately b50,000 VND/ car ($2).
♦ If you say no, they will follow you and not let you hail any other taxi in the area.
What to do
Taxi meters are based on distances, not time. So if you see one jumping wildly even when you are stationary, you know it is a scam!
To prevent yourself from falling prey to those, only take cabs from Thanh Cong Taxi (white blue taxi), Vinasun (white green stripe taxi).
Ask taxi driver to stop immediately if you find out he is scamming you. Threaten him that you call the police in Vietnam.
Also, never agree to a fixed fee, unless you have done your research and know the market rate.
You can con the fair price of any route by checking:
♦ With your hotel / hostel staff.
♦ An online taxi fare estimator.
♦ Taxi booking apps like Grab.
Here is fixed price offered by many tour operators and taxi companies in Hue for:
♦ Hue airport to hotels in City center: $15/ private 4-seat car by tour operators.
♦ Hue Train Station to city center: $3-5/ taxi by taxi company.
Finally, to avoid bad impression on getting to Hue and have a tentative driver who wait for you at airport and train station with nice car, cool AC and waters, hire a private car.
Recommended private car company in Hue: Bee Bee Travel. You can also ask to combine airport pick up and visit Hue sightseeing in a day.
2. Motorbike taxi at Hue Bus Station
How it works
This happens to some budget travelers who uses local bus to Hue. Once the local bus stops, some motorbike “taxis” might approach you with an offer, which they claim is cheaper than normal taxis.
Or they might say don’t worry about the fee, just go first and if you’re happy, you pay how much you want.
They might even say that there is no bus to the place that you want to go! That is usually nonsense.
Some others use the same trick as the cyclos, where they claim to bring you around for free but in actual fact, will bring you to a secluded spot and demand a huge sum of money.
What to do
Avoid using, unless for short trips and with a fare agreed before the ride.
Use reputable bus company that drops you in the middle of Hue center. We recommend:
♦ Hoi An to Hue bus: The Sinh Tourist.
Read more 5 Most Reliable Bus Companies to Travel from Hue to Hoi An or vice versa.
3. Motorbike Rental
How it works
Motorbike rentals can get pretty tricky in Hue. It can vary from many tricks.
There is the standard scam where the owner follows you, “steals” your bike back with a master key and then demand compensation from you for “losing” his bike. However, this case is very rare in Hue.
Another common scam would be mechanical problems or even imaginary problems with the bike which the owner will demand a repair fee for.
Also, note there are many fake unstable Honda motorbikes around which causes you trouble on the road.
Finally, they require your passport or a sum of deposit money which they steal later on.
What to do
Rent your bike from a reputable place.
Recommended Motorbike rental company in Hue: Hue Motorbike Rental.
Also test the bike out upon rental to identify any problems and sound out immediately.
It would be ideal to know your bike or to research the specs on the web before renting so that you are able to tell a fake Honda bike from a real one.
Prepare a copy of your passport and pay later when you return bike.
Do also note that a Vietnamese driving permit is needed to drive here.
4. Cyclos
How it works
Those three wheel bicycles / trishaw you see lining the streets at tourist attractions in Hue might cause you some unpleasant experience if you are not careful.
They will approach you and offer a ride with a fixed price such as 200,000 VND for an hour. It’s actually not a bad deal in Hue for an hour of leisure on cyclo around Hue.
However, they will take you around and eventually lengthen to time to nearly two hours or more while ignoring your request of getting back to hotel after one hour.
End of the ride, he will bring you back to your hotel/ or maybe stop quit far from your hotel and request double payment compared to what you have agreed from the beginning. Of course, you will be upset but find no way to leave them.
Real Case in Hue
We had one of our clients whose name is Laura from Slovekia. She had to pay 400,000 VND in total for two “forced” hours on the cyclo.
What to do
However, it must be said that a cyclo experience can be an interesting one.
Pay half of it up front then pay the rest when you are back to hotel.
Or simply ask your hotel reception to arrange a cyclo ride for you.
In case you want to experience cyclo ride in Hue without hassle, we arrange cyclo ride without commission fee for you. Contact us.
5. Luggage fee
How it works
Sometimes, you might be asked to pay more because you have a larger or heavier bag by bus or train staff.
It is not correct in Vietnam, there is no such rule.
What to do
Do not pay
6. The cash grab/ Sleight of hands
How it works
When opening your wallet to pay for something, be extremely careful not to expose your cash / notes too much.
Some vendors / service providers will simply grab your cash on the pretext of helping you sort out a currency that they assume you are unfamiliar with.
In the confusion, they will quickly pocket some of your cash through sleight of hand before returning the remaining cash to you.
Real Case in Hue
One of our clients, Luke after a night out. He was offered by motorbike taxi driver in Hue for a ride to hotel with only one dollar. He agreed and hop on the motorbike.
When it came to payment, Luke opened his wallet to find a 20,000 VND note. The motorbike driver said he would help by grabbing his wallet to pretend finding him the right note. Once he managed to have the wallet, he quickly took all of our friend’s money and took off.
What to do
Only store small cash enough for your dinner/ night out and keep your other valuables / cash in safe box at hotel.
Don’t deal with motorbike taxi drivers. Just say no to them!
7. Change in Votive Money
How it works
This scam does not happen in Hue yet! However, for a smooth travel of your in Vietnam, you should know this trick. Taxi drivers or shop vendors will return change for you by using votive money. Votive money is used for burning for the death people. They look exactly like real money, only the colors look more fading and the quality of the note is not firm.
Real Case in Hanoi
Read more of this new scam in Hanoi: Taxi driver cheats foreign visitors with fake money.
Have a look at real money and votive money below:
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Real Money |
Votive fake money |
How to avoid
When using taxi, use reliable company or hire private car in Hue to pick up and drop off in town.
Having small change when you need to ride a taxi or buy souvenirs.
On fake money for the death, notice these words “NGÂN HÀNG ĐỊA PHỦ” (Meaning Bank in Hell) on both side.
8. Exchanging Coins at Dong Ba market
How it works
This trick happened to our clients before even in front of our eyes in Dong Ba market. There are many ladies who try to separate your tour guide from you. They approach you and say they have many coins and want to change in USD or EUR note with you. If you agree to exchange money, they will give you whole bunch of coins. While waiting for you to count the number of coins correctly, they will grab your note and run away.
This trick is found at shops on top of Hai Van mountain as well.
How to avoid
Just say no to them!
9. Drugs offered by motorbike drivers in front of bars/ clubs
How it works
If you are offered drugs by motorbike drivers at night or in a club, do NOT take them.
You will be reported to the police and the “reporters” will be rewarded for tipping the police off.
What to do
Firmly reject.
10. Restaurants with tourist menus
How it works
Some local restaurants have two menus: One for Vietnamese and one for foreigner.
Be careful of restaurants that list prices in USD. When it is time for payment, they might demand payment in Vietnamese Dong and use an unreasonably expensive exchange rate.
What to do
Avoid, but if you must try, do ask about the prices before ordering. If all you get are vague replies, that’s the sign to leave.
Dine at reputable restaurants in Hue. Check out our comprehensive list for Hue Restaurants here.
11. Shopping scams at Dong Ba Market or any retail stores in Vietnam
How it works
Always inspect your goods after purchase, especially those that are wrapped, as they might have been swapped with a different, lower value item.
The same goes for your change or if you were to change money at a money changer.
Also, note that a common scam in Vietnam is that vendors will claim that something is free.
Once you have used it (service, food, etc) however, payment will be demanded.
Besides street vendors who peddle fake ware, there are many shops which sell fake stuff as well, such as silk and even war relics!
What to do
You can ask your hotel / hostel staff or tour guide of things you want to buy in Hue first. They will help to point out a good location for you.
If you find researching too time-consuming, other options available include:
♦ Using local connections: get a local guide to bring you around. Contact guide from Bee Bee Travel.
♦ Shopping at reputable stores: recommended Lac Viet Book Store or Phu Xuan Book Store.
Also always verify any items purchased both before and after purchase.
Emergency numbers when fall in common scams in Hue
♦ Police: 113
♦ Fire: 114
♦ Ambulance: 115
None of us like to be scammed while traveling to another country. Neither do us! However, it’s always better to be wise travelers than victims. Despite all these minor reputation, Hue is undoubtedly a great destination on every budget. As long as you are aware and using the right partner for your travel to Hue, you’ll find yourself enjoying our amazing land!
BEE BEE TRAVEL | EXPLORE HUE LIKE A LOCAL
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