Cu Chi Tunnels

The Cu Chi Tunnels are a 250-kilometre network of underground passages constructed by Viet Cong guerrillas beneath the jungle northwest of Saigon during the Vietnam War. At their peak the tunnels housed thousands of fighters along with field hospitals, weapons factories, command centres, and kitchens - an entire functioning military infrastructure buried beneath a landscape that American forces controlled on the surface.

The tunnels were built by hand over two decades, beginning in the late 1940s during the resistance against French colonial forces and expanding dramatically through the 1960s. Today two sections of the network - Ben Dinh and Ben Duoc - are preserved as open-air museums, allowing visitors to walk the jungle paths, inspect the ingeniously disguised trap systems, and crawl through sections of the original tunnels.

Cu Chi is approximately 40km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City. The easiest option for most visitors is an organised half-day or full-day tour from District 1, which handles transport and includes a guide - these depart daily from the backpacker areas around Phạm Ngũ Lão street. Independent travellers can take a bus from Bến Thành bus station (routes 13, 79, 94) to Củ Chi, then a xe ôm to the site.

Grab car from central HCMC costs approximately 500,000-700,000 VND and takes 1-1.5 hours depending on traffic. Motorbike rental from HCMC is straightforward for those comfortable riding in Vietnamese traffic - the route follows Highway 22.

The visit covers jungle walking trails connecting displays of original trapdoor entrances, ventilation shafts, booby trap reconstructions, and tunnel cross-section models showing the three-level structure. Visitors can descend into short crawlable tunnel sections (typically 20-50 metres) that have been widened from their original 60cm width - still extremely tight and low with limited lighting. The site also includes a film screening of wartime footage shot at Cu Chi, a weapons display, and a section showing how the Viet Cong manufactured shoes and weapons from scavenged materials.

A traditional wartime snack - boiled cassava with salt and sesame - is available at the site cafe. Ben Dinh is the more compact and visitor-ready site; Ben Duoc covers more ground, includes a large war memorial temple, and sees fewer tour groups.

Cu Chi works best as a half-day trip combined with a return to HCMC in the afternoon - the site itself takes 2-3 hours to cover properly. The guided tour service (100,000 VND/person) is worth adding to the base entry fee: the historical context provided about daily life underground and the tactical significance of each section is difficult to appreciate without it.

Most visitors come as part of a group tour from HCMC, which is fine, but booking a small group rather than a large one gives more time at each section. The shooting range is entirely optional and the noise carries across the site - some visitors find it jarring given the context.