Thua Thien Hue Province borders the Quang Tri Province to the north, the city of Da Nang to the east, the Quang Nam Province to the south, and the Xekong Province of Laos to the west.


The province has a complex topography. It is made up four different zones: a mountainous area, hills, plains and lagoons separated from the sea by sandbanks. It has 126 km of beaches.

The mountains, covering more than half the total surface of the province, are along the west and southwest border of the province, their height varying from 500 to 1480 metres. The hills are lower, between 20 to 200 metres, with some points at 400 metres, and occupy a third of the area of the province, between the mountains and the plains. The plains account for about a tenth of the surface area, with a height of only up to 20 metres above sea level. Between the hills are the lagoons which occupy the remaining 5 per cent of the surface area of the province. (Atlas des lagunes de Thua Thien Hue, 2003).

The climate is similar to central Vietnam in general: a tropical monsoon climate. In the plains and in the hills, the average annual temperature is 25°C, but in the mountains only 21°C (statistical yearbook 2004). The cool season is from November to March with cold northeasterly winds. The lowest average monthly temperature is in January: 20°C. In the cool season temperatures can fall to 12°C in the plains and the relative humidity is high, between 85 et 95%.

Then follows a warmer period from April to September with average monthly temperatures up to 29°C in July, reaching up to 41°C at times. The relative humidity is lower, sometimes down to 50%.

The annual precipitation in the province is 3200 mm but there are important variations. Depending on the year the annual average may be 2500 to 3500 mm in the plains and 3000 to 4500 mm in the mountains. In some years the rainfall may be much higher and reach more than 5000 mm in the mountains (Atlas des lagunes de Thua Thien Hue, 2003).

The rainy season is from September to December - about 70 percent of the precipitation occurring in those months. Rainfall often occurs in short heavy bursts which can cause flooding and erosion, with serious social, economic and environmental consequences. The floods of November 1999 led to 600 deaths and affected 600,000 homes.