Cu Chi Tunnels Day Trip from Ho Chi Minh City
A visual guide from the Ho Chi Minh City travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
An hour and a half northwest of Saigon, the Cu Chi tunnels preserve a fragment of the roughly 250-kilometre network that guerrillas dug largely by hand — begun in the French era, then vastly expanded during the American war, with kitchens, workshops, hospitals and meeting rooms hidden beneath the forest floor. Today it is Vietnam's most-visited war site and Saigon's classic day trip: sobering, strange and genuinely fascinating.
Ben Dinh vs Ben Duoc
Two separate sites show the tunnels. Ben Dinh, slightly closer to the city, hosts most big group tours; Ben Duoc is larger, quieter and part of the official memorial complex — many travellers find it the more atmospheric choice. Either way, guides walk you past camouflaged trapdoors, bomb craters and smokeless Hoang Cam kitchens, then offer a crawl through tunnel sections widened for visitors. They are still tight, hot and dark — skip the crawl if small spaces bother you.
Planning the Trip
Half-day bus and minivan tours leave Saigon early, and the first groups beat both the heat and the crowds; speedboat tours run up the Saigon River instead, swapping highway traffic for breeze and stilt-house scenery. Independent travellers can hire a car for flexibility. Wear dark clothes you don't mind muddying, bring water and mosquito repellent, and confirm current site hours and fees when booking — details shift season to season. The optional firing range costs extra.