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Is there an airport in Hue? Phu Bai, and when Da Nang wins

Hue has its own runway a short ride from town. From abroad you will still land 80 km away.

VerdictFly into Phu Bai from Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, a 16-minute drive from town; from abroad, land at Da Nang and go on by train, bus or car.

5 min readBy Minh VoLast reviewed

Is there an airport in Hue? Yes: Phu Bai International Airport (Phú Bài, HUI), south of the city, and it is the one to book if you are flying in from Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. Coming from abroad, you will land at Da Nang instead. On the day we read the airports operator's flight board, every Phu Bai departure was domestic, while Da Nang had flights to 18 cities abroad. From Da Nang, Hue is two to three hours north by train, bus or car.

A red and white Vietjet Air jet parked on the apron at Phu Bai airport near Hue, ground equipment beside it

Land at Phu Bai with a car booked and the last leg is short, going by 12Go's reviews for that ride. Karen G.'s flight in July 2026 was delayed several times, and her driver waited anyway; in May, Diep H. found hers at the door, holding a sign with her name. The run up from Da Nang's airport is less predictable. Max T.'s shared car in October was still being arranged at departure time and left 20 minutes late, though the drive itself was comfortable. Juan A.'s van that month turned up an hour late. Emilia T. was collected 50 minutes early in September, in an SUV with room behind for two small cabin bags, and found the driving frightening, though she was dropped at her hotel. Luis C. was sent to the back row of his van, and the driver would not stop at his hotel. Louise took the train from Da Nang in October and found it comfortable, with food and drinks on board.

Hue's airport and the alternative

These are the two airports that matter for Hue. The straight line is from our Hue map pin; the road distance is to Pham Ngu Lao street on the south bank, where most visitors stay. The flights column is what ACV, the state airports operator, listed on its board for 23 October 2026.

AirportStraight line from HueBy road to the south bankDepartures on 23 October 2026Into Hue
Phu Bai (HUI)14 km15.5 km, a quarter of an hour with no traffic19 with a time, all to Ho Chi Minh City or HanoiTaxi or Grab car; no public bus
Da Nang (DAD)80 km95 km, about 1 h 30 min with no traffic158, of them 64 to 18 cities abroad (Seoul, Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo among them)Train, bus LK01, shared van or private car

Phu Bai has two terminals: T1, built for about 1.5 million passengers a year, and the newer T2, built for 5 million. It handled about 1.6 million in the first nine months of 2026, by ACV's count reported in Báo Xây dựng. "International" is in the name, but at a meeting with ACV on 20 October 2026 the city was still asking for regular or charter international routes, starting with South Korea, China, Taiwan and Thailand. Until those appear on the board, a flight from abroad means a connection in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, or Da Nang. The next airport out, Dong Hoi, is 158 km away in a straight line; our airports by destination guide has the same comparison for every stop on a Vietnam route.

If you are already in Vietnam, compare both. Phu Bai saves the long road leg, but its fares are not always the lower ones. One traveller on r/VietNam wrote in December 2025:

"Ironically, a few years ago I went from Hue to Da Nang Airport to catch a flight to HCMC because the flights from Hue are more expensive."

u/thg011093 on r/VietNam

Phu Bai to Hue: taxi or Grab

No public bus serves the terminal. The Hue bus company's route 01 runs from the North bus station to the Phu Bai industrial zone, every one to three hours, and its route list has no airport stop. That leaves a taxi or a Grab car; Grab lists Hue among its cities. With no traffic the router puts the 15.5 km to Pham Ngu Lao at about a quarter of an hour.

We found no published fixed fare. On 23 October 2026, the lowest price for a prebooked private car from Phu Bai to Hue on 12Go was about 249,000 dong, and the reviews above are for cars booked that way. A second road is coming: the Tố Hữu extension, a new link of more than 9.5 km from the centre to the airport, is due by the end of 2027, though VnExpress found it unfinished in September 2026.

The front of Phu Bai airport terminal under a grey sky, its name across the roof, a silver van and two cars in the car park
Image: Viet-Hoang Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons, copyrighted free use

Da Nang airport to Hue: train, bus or car

Da Nang's airport sits in the city, about 3 km by road from the railway station and 6 km from the central bus station. Grab puts a ride between the airport and the city centre at 70,000 to 120,000 dong. From there:

OptionFirst leg from the airportTime to HueFareHow often
Express train (SE)About 3 km to Da Nang station2 h 28 min (SE2) to 3 h 11 min (SE10)Soft seat 86,000 to 113,000 dong (3 November)6 a day, 2 of them at night
Tourist train (HĐ2, HĐ4)About 3 km to Da Nang station2 h 55 min (HĐ4) to 3 h 58 min (HĐ2)Soft seat 185,000 to 395,000 dong07:05 and 15:20
Bus LK01About 6 km to the central bus stationAbout 2 h to 2 h 15 min, by the Hue operator's estimate70,000 to 80,000 dongEvery 14 to 15 minutes, 05:30 to 19:00 from Da Nang (the Hue operator lists 05:00 to 19:00)
Shared van or carPickup at the airport2 h to 2 h 30 min as listedFrom about 156,000 dong (12Go, 23 October)Many a day
Private carDoor to doorAbout 1 h 30 min on the router, with no trafficFrom about 804,000 dong (12Go, 23 October)Any time

The train is the one with a timetable you can trust. The day trains on 3 November leave Da Nang at 07:05 (HĐ2), 08:59 (SE10), 12:28 (SE4), 13:21 (SE2), 15:20 (HĐ4) and 18:00 (SE20); SE6 and SE8 run in the small hours. Buy the ticket on the railway's own ticket site, which listed the same eight trains for 10 November. Our Hanoi to Hue train guide explains seat classes and booking.

LK01 is a public bus that runs through the Hai Van tunnel. Its fare is the lowest here, but you first need a ride across the city to the central bus station. The shared vans save that leg by picking up at the airport, and the reviews show what you trade for it: late pickups, early pickups, small boots and a driver who would not go to the hotel.

A truck and a car driving out of the arched north entrance of the Hai Van road tunnel, green hillside above
Image: Lưu Ly / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Arriving in Hue

Trains stop at Hue station, about 2.4 km by road from Pham Ngu Lao. LK01 ends at the South bus station, about 3 km out. Both are a short taxi or Grab ride from the hotels. The Hue destination page maps the airport, the station and both bus stations, and if the Citadel is first on your list, see the Imperial City ticket prices before you go.

The pink colonial-style facade of Hue railway station with its clock and a blue Ga Hue sign, workers painting the upper floor
Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

In the flood months, the airport is the safer bet

October and November are Hue's wettest months; our Hue or Da Nang comparison has the rainfall by month. During the city's flood at the end of October 2025, Phu Bai kept flying: ACV counted 36 flights and more than 3,500 passengers on 27 and 28 October, Znews reported. Over the same days the railway stopped the SE7 and SE8 and the Hue to Da Nang tourist trains. One traveller who landed at Phu Bai on 27 October 2025 found the city flooded, booked a hotel next to the airport, and told another user heading there:

"It is! The airport area survived. But prepare for loooong delay."

u/One-Plantain-2254 on r/VietNam

A woman in a black dress holding a clear umbrella in heavy rain beside a brick gateway and wet greenery in Hue
Image: nhavantuonglai / Pexels

Our take

From Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, fly into Phu Bai and take a car. From abroad, land at Da Nang and take an SE train if your landing time fits one. We'd skip the lowest-priced shared van on a late landing or with big bags, and take a private car instead. In October and November, keep a day of slack around any overland leg; the flood showed that a flight into Phu Bai can keep running when the trains stop.

What we could not confirm

  • We found no published fixed taxi fare from Phu Bai to Hue. The 12Go prices are one day's listings, not official fares.
  • We read ACV's board for one day, 23 October 2026. Charter or seasonal international flights may appear, and Hue has asked for them.
  • Times for the shared vans come from booking listings and reviews, not operators' timetables.
  • Da Nang's airport bus 03 runs along Ton Duc Thang street, where the central bus station is, but its route list names no stop there, so we left it out of the table.

How we checked this

On 23 October 2026 we read every Phu Bai flight and every Da Nang departure on ACV's board for that day, recomputed the straight-line distances from OurAirports coordinates and routed each leg on the public OSRM router. We read the Da Nang to Hue trains and soft-seat fares for 3 and 10 November on the railway's ticket site, LK01 on both bus companies' route lists, the Hue company's reply on the city's feedback portal, Grab's Da Nang airport page, and the terminal and passenger figures in Báo Xây dựng. The arrival stories come from 12Go reviews on the Phu Bai to Hue and Da Nang Airport to Hue pages; the Reddit quotes were read through Arctic Shift.

References

Photo: VietJet Air aircraft at Phu Bai International Airport, Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Data checked: October 2026.

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About the author

Minh Vo
Minh Vo15 posts

Getting around, entry and health

Pen name for the getting-around beat: trains, flights, airports, visas and entry rules, health and safety. Journeys are computed from the operator's own timetable.

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