Half Day Cu Chi Experience From Hotel Inside Ho Chi Minh City Only

General information

Destination	Category
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam	Sightseeing Tours

Program details

Leaving the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City behind we journey 2 ½ hours west towards the Cambodian border bound for the Cu Chi Tunnels. Before arriving at the tunnels visit some local friends and gain an insight into local life in the area, both past and present. Learn about their lives, culture and customs and get an insight into the recent past through local eyes.

Continue onto the Cu Chi tunnels were built by local fighters during the Indochina conflict as a base from which the Viet Cong could operate from close to the Southern Vietnamese capital. The location proved of significant strategic importance, at the end of the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail and within striking distance of the southern Vietnam capital. Initial construction started in 1948 when the Viet Minh required somewhere to hide from French air attacks and by 1965, the tunnel complex was estimated to consist of 200km's of tunnels.

It included, hospitals, schools, meeting rooms, kitchens and sleeping quarters. Life was difficult for the inhabitants and to protect against outside intruders bobby traps were laid throughout the complex. Today the Vietnamese government has preserved approximately 75 kilometers of the tunnels as a memorial park, in some areas tunnels have been widened and low powered lights installed so that western tourists can now fit through the complex.

Our local guide will take us on a fascinating trip around the Cu Chi Tunnels where we learn more about the conditions the people lived in, the hardships they faced and the amazing ingenuity employed to maintain life in the tunnels. We walk past huge bomb craters , evidence of the heavy bombing campaigns in the region during the Indochina conflict, discover hidden entrances right beneath your feet, wander past tiny little chimneys in the ground that dispersed smoke from the underground kitchens, sample some of the simple cuisine that local fighters would have survived on and have an opportunity to venture into the tunnels and explore the complex. Following our step back in modern history we return to the chaos of Ho Chi Minh City.

Meeting/ Pick up point: Pick up at Front entrance of the Central Post Office - 2 Cong Xa Paris St, District 1 (next to Notre Dame Cathedral) at 7.30am
Duration: Between five and six hours.
Languages: English.
Others: Please dress up to standard with shoulders & Knee covered.