Hue, the old capital of Vietnam, is known for many peaceful and ancient places to visit. Unique buildings like palaces, temples, and pagodas have made a big impression on tourists worldwide.
Not only that, but the dreamy land of Hue suddenly appeared again in foreign magazines and popular music videos with the image of a creepy park with a touch of time’s desolation, Thuy Tien lake water park.
Where is Thuy Tien lake water park located?
The Thuy Tien lake water park is on Thien An hill, near Thuy Tien lake (Thuy Bang commune, Huong Thuy town), about 10 km southwest of Hue city center.
Visitors from Vietnam’s most significant cities, like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, can get to Hue by plane, train, or car.
Hue is the most popular tourist spot in Vietnam. Many people from both Vietnam and other countries visit each year. So, to make getting around more accessible, the city has a Phu Bai airport about 15 km from the city center.
Travelers can fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Hue in 30 minutes, and the trip from Hanoi to Hue takes only about an hour.
First, tourists can visit the city center to see old buildings like the Hue Citadel, Thien Mu Pagoda, Ngo Mon Gate, Thai Hoa Palace, and Quoc Tu Giam. After that, they can continue going to the park to see its beauty.
Visitors can also travel to Hue by train or bus to see the scenery on both sides of the road. But it can take a lot longer to get there.
How do tourists get to Thuy Tien Water Park?
Visitors move along the Le Duan route from the center towards the Da Vien bridge. When they reach Phan Chu Trinh, they turn right onto Dien Bien Phu street.
When going all the way to Dien Bien Phu, visitors keep turning right to Le Ngo Cat and then left to Minh Mang – Khai Dinh.
Then, turn right onto Thuy Tien and go about 1 km until you reach Thien An hill. Visitors can leave their vehicles here and walk to Thuy Tien lake.
It only takes about 10 minutes to get to Thuy Tien Lake Water Park by motorbike or taxi.
As a tourist city, Hue has a wide range of motorbike rental services that cost between 100,000 and 120,000 VND daily. Visitors can contact hotels in Hue, most of which offer this service.
Visitors can also rent self-driving cars or taxis for prices ranging from 500,000 to 900,000 VND daily.
The scary beauty of Thuy Tien Lake Water Park
Thuy Tien Lake in Hue is one of the world’s most well-known abandoned water parks. Many backpackers come to Vietnam to make this place an exciting check-in point.
The 49.9-hectare Thuy Tien Lake Water Park has a lot of exciting things, like an amusement park, an ecosystem, and a water music area with more than 2500 seats.
The park’s most exciting thing is the statue of a flying dragon on the roof of the aquarium. The water park’s top floor is shaped like a dragon’s head. The pieces of the dragon’s body are found on the floors below.
The statue looks very grand, mysterious, and even a little bit scary. Moss grows on the dragon’s body, giving it an old, quiet look typical of Hue.
Just by looking at the expansive view of Thuy Tien lake park from a distance, visitors can see the park’s creepy vibe. A lot of money and time is put into building and doing work here.
The park has many ruined buildings, statues with ghostly faces, thick forests, and wild animals running everywhere. These things have made this abandoned park popular for people who like to look around and find new things.
In addition to the dragon statue fountain, this park has many other creepy spots, such as the moss-covered slide, the still pond with the mermaid statue, the overgrown garden, and the water music stage with rows of worn seats.
Because the buildings haven’t been used in a long time, the insides are rusty and old, and the walls are covered with drawings, adding to the fear. These spooky and creepy scenes are also part of what makes Thuy Tien lake water park unique.
The ironic story about Thuy Tien Park
In 2000, the Ancient Capital Tourism Company began building Thuy Tien Lake Water Park on about 20 hectares of land. They put in a total of more than 70 billion VND.
The park was opened to the public in June 2004. But because the investor still needed to finish it, the park was inefficient. It couldn’t bring in visitors, so it closed after six months.
In 2008, Haco Hue Co., Ltd. took over from Ancient Capital Tourism Company as the park’s investor and construction manager.
This company has changed the plan for a project expected to cost 270 billion VND (Vietnamese Dong) to build. Since then, though, the work has stopped, and all the items are creepy and left behind.
The most popular tourist area in Hue is getting worse and worse. Over time, many works of art have also deteriorated, been abandoned, and become overgrown with trees and weeds.
As if the dream of having a world-famous park had ended, the Thuy Tien lake water park suddenly became popular with tourists worldwide after being featured in famous music videos and foreign press.
Thuy Tien lake water park in music videos and international media
In 2016, netizens and foreign tourists noticed Ho Thuy Tien Park. A journalist from the US Huffington Post went to Thuy Tien Lake’s abandoned water park to take a photo for a news story.
The article Abandoned water park is not for the faint of heart has made this place popular among foreign tourists who want to explore.
In 2018, NIKI made MV Warpaint at Thuy Tien lake water park. The ONF group’s KPOP song We Must Love is also made by strange and scary scenes at this water park.
Next, the MV Bad Memories by MEDUZA and James Carter, in collaboration with Elley Duhé, FAST BOY, was shot at Hue’s Thuy Tien lake water park.
The background in the abandoned park has been changed to give it a ghostly and magical look. The dragon statue on the building is a beautiful sight, like something from a science fiction movie.
In 2020, the American newspaper Insider put Ho Thuy Tien on a list of the abandoned water parks that draw the most tourists worldwide. Even though the park was closed, people came worldwide to see its haunting beauty.
Because the park is a big draw for tourists worldwide, Hue city just approved the investment policy for the Ho Thuy Tien water park project at the end of 2020. The project will cost 20 billion VND from the state budget in Vietnam.
The park is expected to be repaired and become the next unique place to visit in Vietnam’s ancient capital, Hue.
