10 Best Sights in Vietnam

A 250-km (155-mile) underground network of field hospitals, command posts, living quarters, eating quarters, and traps, the Cu Chi Tunnels illustrate the Vietcong's ingenuity in the face of overwhelming odds.

Work on the tunnels began in 1948 to combat the French and continued into the '70s. The extensive underground network made it possible for the Vietcong in the '60s not only to withstand blanket bombings and to communicate with other distant Vietcong enclaves but to command a sizable rural area that was in dangerous proximity (a mere 35 km [22 miles]) to Saigon. After the South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem regime's ill-fated "strategic hamlet program" of 1963, disenchanted peasants who refused to move fled to Cu Chi to avoid the aerial bombardments. In fact, the stunning Tet Offensive of 1968 was masterminded and launched from the Cu Chi Tunnels nerve center, with weapons crafted by an enthusiastic assembly line of Vietcong-controlled Cu Chi villagers. Despite extensive ground operations and sophisticated chemical warfare—and even after declaring the area a free-fire zone—American troops were incapable of controlling the area. In the late 1960s B-52 bombing reduced the area to a wasteland, but the Vietnamese Communists and the National Liberation Front managed to hang on.

There are two Cu Chi Tunnel tourist areas, which both have tunnels that have been expanded to accommodate tourists of all sizes. These larger tunnels are still claustrophobically small, however, and could be much too snug for some. Most guided tours go to Ben Dinh, where the firing range (M16 bullets are $1.60 each, AK47 bullets are $1.20 each) is right next to the souvenir shop.

Ben Duoc is a much prettier site and is usually less crowded than Ben Dinh, with the added advantage of having its firing range farther away from the tunnel area. What makes Ben Duoc the more pleasant site is the on-site temple and restaurant: Ben Duoc Temple of Martyr Memorial is surrounded by lush green gardens, while the Dia Dao Restaurant is a nice location for lunch.

The ticket price includes an official guide, who will show you the tunnels, air vents, and living quarters. They will also explain the re-created booby traps, the mechanized mannequins making bombs and traps, and the real-life people making sandals from tires.

Both sites are owned by the government and visiting both is not recommended, as the displays are the same.

Camp Carroll was one of the nine U.S. artillery bases located along the DMZ. It was home to the 3rd Marine Regiment and the most powerful artillery used during the war. Many battles were fought here, but the biggest and bloodiest of all was the Easter Tet Offensive when the North Vietnamese stormed the camp and the firebase fell into enemy hands. The site was cleared shortly after the war and is now a pepper plantation. The only visible remains of Camp Carroll are a small concrete platform and a few overgrown trenches. The turn-off to Camp Carroll is 5 km (3 miles) west of Cam Lo, 24 km (15 miles) northeast of Dakrong Bridge, and 37 km (23 miles) east of the Khe Sanh bus station.

Within walking distance of the Dien Bien Phu Museum, the command bunker has been remade with makeshift sandbags filled with concrete. Overhead is a reproduction of the corrugated roof from which a lone Viet Minh soldier waved a victory flag—the image, re-created several hours after the fact for a documentary film, became Vietnam's enduring symbol of victory over colonial oppression.

Can cu Con Tien was known as the Hill of Angels, or "Meat Grinder" to the United States Marine Corps stationed here during the fierce fighting and artillery strikes of 1967–68. Con Thien Firebase was the northwest anchor of the famed (and failed) McNamara Line, where over 500 million landmines and 20,000 listening devices were dropped along the south Vietnam border by the U.S., in an attempt to detect and prevent incursions by the North Vietnam army across the DMZ. Nothing much remains (it’s now a peaceful rubber plantation) except some big circular duck ponds to represent the thousands of troops from both sides who lost their lives here, but the hauntingly beautiful location and the expansive views from the top make it a worthwhile stop on a tour of the DMZ.

Tour groups flock to the DMZ to walk across the old French bridge, Hien Luong, and wander around the small museum on the north side of the bridge. They also take photos of the flag tower and an odd-looking reunification sculpture, which symbolizes the communication that developed between families divided by the river. Unable to communicate verbally (witness the loudspeakers pocked with bullet holes on display in the museum), they improvised with signals—a white scarf around the head meant someone had been killed and hands crossed behind the back announced that someone had been arrested.

French veterans organized the construction of the small, rather forlorn-looking French War Memorial, which stands across the road from the command bunker. It commemorates the 3,000 French troops buried under the rice paddies.

The battle of Hill 937 (Hamburger Hill) raged between the U.S. 101st Airborne Division and the North Vietnamese for 10 long days in May 1969 and marked the beginning of the end for the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Like many of the old U.S. bases along the DMZ, there's little to mark the atrocities that took place here and you need a permit to enter the area. But with a specialist, military guide (for translation and to keep you on the right path) and equally good level of fitness, the 7-km (4-mile) uphill hike through beautiful Ca Tu hill-tribe villages and jungle paths to the base and the steep 900-meter (3,000-foot) climb to the top are rewarded by views stretching over the Laos border to the west and Quang Tri to the east. The drive from Hue takes two hours; on a DMZ tour Aluoi would normally be one of the last photo stops. Due to the small risk of unexploded ordinance in the area, a guide is recommended. If going it alone, take enough water and keep to the paths.

The military specialist, Mr. Vu at Annam Tours, provides excellent day trips from Hue to Hamburger Hill and can arrange your permit in advance. Apply three days in advance.

Some of the battle's most intense combat took place at Hill A1, a position labeled Eliane by the French. Once considered impregnable by the French, it was the last key position to fall to the Viet Minh. A decrepit French tank and a monument to Viet Minh troops now stand here.

One of the biggest battles of the war—and one of the most significant American losses—took place on January 21, 1968, at Khe Sanh, the site of a U.S. Army base 145 km (90 miles) northwest of Hue. General William Westmoreland, the commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam from 1965 to 1968, became convinced in late 1967 that the North Vietnamese were massing troops in the area in preparation for a campaign to seize South Vietnam's northernmost provinces. Relying on an analogy with the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, he reinforced Khe Sanh with thousands of Marines and ordered the dropping of more than 75,000 tons of explosives on the surrounding area. The North Vietnamese suffered horrendous casualties—estimates are that as many as 10,000 North Vietnamese soldiers and hundreds of U.S. Marines lost their lives. Although the debate continues, many military experts believe that the battle at Khe Sanh was merely a feint designed to pull American forces away from the population centers of South Vietnam in preparation for a massive assault by the North Vietnamese in the Tet Offensive of early 1968. Although there is only a small museum commemorating the battle at Khe Sanh, a visit to the base provides a sense of how isolated and besieged the U.S. Marines must have felt as they were bombarded from the surrounding mountains. In the museum, which opens whenever tours come through the area, there are a number of interesting pictures of the battle and a book for visitors' comments that reflects the continuing debate about the American presence in Vietnam.

Once an important observation point for the U.S Marines, the Rockpile (a 755-foot karst formation know in Vietnamese as Thon Khe Tri) was used for tracking the north Vietnamese army crossing in to the south and directing U.S military fire at their suspected positions. Other than the Rockpile, nothing remains in memorial to the site, but it's worth a stop for the scenery alone if you are traveling onwards to the Khe San Combat base.