Hue Weather by Month 2027, and When the Citadel Floods

Hue weather is at its best from February to April: highs of 25 to 31°C and under 65 mm of rain a month. September to December is the wet season, and October alone averages 773 mm, which makes Hue the wettest of Vietnam's big cities. May to August is dry and hot, with June and July averaging 34.7°C in the afternoon.

The figures below are long-term averages for the Hue station in Vietnam's national climate standard, QCVN 02:2022/BXD. One station, one method, so the months compare fairly.

Hue weather by month

Hue gets 2,936 mm of rain a year, against 1,670 mm in Hanoi and 2,205 mm in Da Nang. Of the national stations, only mountain ones such as A Luoi and Nam Dong record more. October and November together bring 1,414 mm, almost half the year's rain in 61 days.

The best time to visit Hue

March. It is the driest month at 51 mm, highs reach 28°C, and the stone courtyards of the Imperial City are pleasant at midday. February and April are close behind. Expect a few misty mornings: Hue averages 4.6 fog days in March, the most of any month.

Hue and Da Nang are only 103 km apart, but the Hai Van Pass between them is a weather line. In February, Hue sees 11.6 rain days and Da Nang 5.6. In January, Da Nang gets 132 hours of sun, Hue 104. Drive south over the pass in winter and you often leave drizzle for sunshine; our Da Nang weather guide has that city's figures. For the rest of the country, see the best time to visit Vietnam.

The Perfume River and Truong Tien Bridge on a clear day, with the hills west of the city behind.

Hue in summer: May to August

Summer is dry and hot. Afternoon highs average 33.5 to 34.7°C, and the station record is 41.3°C, set in May. The heat comes with a hot, dry west wind off the mountains that locals call the Lao wind. July humidity averages 74%, the lowest of the year, so the heat is dry and the sun is fierce.

See the Citadel and the tombs before 11:00 and after 15:00. May has the most thunderstorms, 11.6 days on average, usually short and late in the afternoon. Thuan An beach, about 15 km east, is where Hue goes to cool off, and the sea there is 28 to 30°C from May to September.

A summer evening at Thuan An, the nearest beach to Hue.

Hue rainy season: September to December

From September the north-east monsoon pushes moist air off the sea into the Truong Son mountains, which rise to 1,444 m at Bach Ma, about 40 km from the city. The air rises, cools and drops its rain on Hue. September brings 411 mm, October 773 mm and November 642 mm. Rain often falls for two or three days without a break.

December is calmer, at 350 mm, but it is the gloomiest month: 76 hours of sun, about two and a half hours a day, with 90% humidity. Nights fall to 19°C, and the record low is 9.5°C. Hotels have no heating, so bring a fleece. Our guide to the rainy season in Vietnam explains why the centre is wet when Hanoi and Saigon are dry.

Typhoons can reach the coast from early September to about 10 December. Vietnam's national forecasting centre publishes storm tracks and warnings in English.

Bach Ma and Do Quyen in the wet season

Bach Ma National Park lies about 40 km south of Hue, and its summit takes the monsoon rain first. From September the trails turn to mud, fog sits on the ridge and landslides can close the road up. Bach Ma Discovery and the two Do Quyen Waterfall tours are the only Jungle Boss tours that close for the wet season, from September to November, and they reopen on 1 December.

The Bach Ma Discovery day trip costs VND 4,500,000. It leaves central Hue between 07:30 and 08:00, returns around 17:30, and climbs 301 steps of via ferrata beside Do Quyen waterfall before an 85 m zipline over it. From December, the driest months there are January to August. Our Bach Ma National Park guide covers the trails and the summit.

Does Hue flood? The Citadel in flood season

Yes, most years, between October and mid-November. The Citadel sits on low ground on the north bank of the Perfume River. When rain in the mountains meets a high tide, the river backs up, and the streets inside the walls and along the bank go under first.

A school yard in Hue under water after Typhoon Ketsana in late September 2009.

2025 showed how bad it gets. Rain and floods lasted 23 days, from 15 October to 6 November. From 19:00 on 26 October, Bach Ma Peak recorded 1,739.6 mm of rain in 24 hours, the most ever measured in Vietnam. The Perfume River crested at 5.05 m, second only to the 1999 flood, when Hue took 977.6 mm in a single November day.

Inside the Citadel, water ran through Ngo Mon gate, the Nine Holy Cannons were partly submerged, and parts of the palace were 30 to 50 cm deep. A 15 m stretch of the Citadel wall collapsed. Across the city, 32 of 40 wards and communes stood in 1 to 1.5 m of water. The monuments closed from 27 to 30 October, reopened on the 31st, then closed again at 10:00 on 3 November when the river rose a second time.

Travel stopped with it. The railway through Hue closed at 16:00 on 27 October with water 15 to 20 cm over the tracks, and reopened at 05:00 on 31 October at 5 km/h. Phu Bai airport kept flying, about 80 flights over four days with two pairs cancelled. Most buses south stopped on 30 October. Between mid-October and mid-November, keep two spare days, take a room above the ground floor and avoid prepaying anything you cannot move.

The Citadel and tombs in the rain

Light rain does not close anything. The Imperial City ticket costs 200,000 dong (about US$7.60) and the main tombs 150,000 dong each. Throne rooms and galleries give cover, but the paved courtyards between them pool after heavy rain, so wear sandals.

The tombs are harder. Khai Dinh sits up a hillside of stone stairs that turn slick with moss when wet, and Minh Mang and Tu Duc are mostly open gardens. On a wet day, do the Imperial City, Dong Ba market and Thien Mu Pagoda, and keep the tombs for a dry morning. Our list of things to do in Hue has more.

The stairs at Khai Dinh tomb are dark with moss and slippery after rain.

Hue Festival dates and the weather

The Hue Festival used to run for one week every two years. In 2026 it ran all year, opening on 1 January at Ngo Mon gate, with its peak week of music on the Perfume River from 13 to 18 June, in the hottest month. The 2027 programme had not been published by mid-November 2026. Our Hue Festival itinerary covers how to plan around it.

Thien Mu Pagoda stands on a rise above the Perfume River.

Phong Nha from Hue, in any weather

Phong Nha is about four hours north by road, or about 3 to 3.5 hours by train to Dong Hoi. It shares Hue's wet season, with 649 mm in October at Dong Hoi, but apart from those three Hue tours, every Jungle Boss tour runs all year, including the multi-day cave expeditions. The Elephant Cave and Ma Da Valley trek costs VND 1,950,000, runs daily and takes children from age 9. Our Hue to Phong Nha travel guide has the buses and trains.