Cu Chi Tunnels

Roughly 40 kilometers fromHo Chi Minh City, around an area known as the Iron Triangle in the Cu Chi district, lay the most complex tunnel system inSouth Vietnam. It is a site worth seeing if you are visiting this city, especially for those who are keen onVietnamhistory.

During the Vietnam War (1959-1975), tens of thousands of miles of tunnels were dug by Communist guerrilla troops (known as Viet Cong) to combat better-supplied American and South Vietnamese forces. The tunnels concealed living areas, storage depots, ordnance factories, hospitals, headquarters; soldiers used these underground routes to house troops, transport communications and supplies, lay booby traps and mount surprise attacks, after which they could disappear underground to safety. In the years following the fall ofSaigonin 1975, the Vietnamese government preserved the Cu Chi tunnels and included them in a network of war memorial parks around the country.

Now visitors toVietnamcan crawl through some of the safer areas of the tunnels, view command centers and booby traps, fire an AK-47 rifle on a firing range and even eat a meal featuring typical foods that soldiers living in the tunnels would have eaten. After the unique experience of crawling through the tunnels, you can also visit the ethnic minority villages in Cu Chi district, to learn the diversified culture of the area provided that the time is adequate.