Traveling to Vietnam would not be complete without visiting historical sites and learning about the Vietnam War. Here are 8 top places in Vietnam to know about this conflict.
1. Hoa Lo Prison
Hoa Lo Prison is a national-level historical site located in Hanoi City; Hoa Lo each year attracts thousands of international visitors to visit and learn about Vietnamese history.
France built this Prison in 1896 as Maison Centrale, which is home to political prisoners. More than 2,000 people were imprisoned here from the early 1950s until 1954 with poor living conditions. Today, the prison space still remains gloomy, cramped, and cold.
During the Vietnam War, Hoa Lo was where The Vietnamese detention American pilots and jokingly called the ” Hilton Hanoi Hotel “. The American ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Dougglas Peterson, and US presidential candidate 2008 John McCain are famous prisoners.
Information about the Place:
Location: 1 Hoa Lo Street, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
Opening hours: 8h – 17h| Open every day of the week
Sightseeing ticket price: 30,000 VND/person
Website: http://hoalo.vn/
2. Vinh Moc Tunnels
Vinh Moc Tunnel is an attractive tourist destination in Quang tri province, attracting many domestic and international tourists to visit and experience. This place, a legend tunnel, is a testament to the resilience and courage of the locals during the Vietnam War.
This tunnel is a massive underground structure used to avoid US Air Force bombing. The tunnel system has three floors and a total length of nearly 2km with 13 doors and ventilation doors.
The tunnels are designed as an underground village with 94 households with freshwater wells to meet people living in the tunnels.
Information about the Place:
Location: Vĩnh Thạch, Vĩnh Linh District, Quảng Trị Province
Opening hours: 7 AM – 5 PM
Sightseeing ticket price: Adults: 40,000 VND/person, Children: 20,000 VND/person.
3. Hien Luong Bridge and Ben Hai River
Hien Luong Bridge and the Ben Hai River are historical relics of the Vietnam war in Quang Tri province. This is an excellent place for you to learn about the war that America caused in Vietnam.
This relic system includes many places such as bridges, flagpoles, exhibits, monuments, and restored loudspeakers. In 1954, the Geneva Agreement took the 17th parallel as a military demarcation line to temporarily separate the North and South. Coming here, you will feel the indomitable spirit and strength of the people here during the war years and understand why America lost this war.
Information about the Place:
Location: Trung Hải, Gio Linh District, Quảng Trị Province
Opening hours: 24h
Sightseeing ticket price: Free
4. My Lai Village
The relic of the Son My massacre lies in Tinh Khe commune, Son Tinh district, Quang Ngai province, 13km northeast of Quang Ngai city.
On March 16, 1968, with the policy of burning clean, breaking clean, killing clean, American troops turned this place into a land of death. American soldiers landed here, and the massacre began. The total number of people who died in Son My was 504, including 182 women, 173 children, 60 older adults, 24 families killed, and 247 houses burned.
To Son My today, visitors can stop in front of the statue to feel the extreme pain of Son My victims that day. Inside the museum, visitors can see many preserved artifacts: an old brass tray with holes in bullets, a shirt, sandals of a child who was shot dead; all kinds of dishes and pots and pans were broken by bullets.
In those artifacts, you can see the hairpin of Ms. Nguyen Thi Huynh. After she died, her lover found the hairpin; he kept it for 20 years before handing it to the museum.
Information about the Place:
Location: Tinh Khe, Son Tinh, Quang Ngai, Vietnam
Opening hours: 8 AM – 5 PM
Sightseeing ticket price: 20.000 VND
Website: https://www.facebook.com/mylaimassacretours/
5. Cu Chi Tunnels
Cu Chi Tunnels is a famous Vietnam War historical site located in Phu My Hung Commune, Cu Chi District. This place is about 70km from Ho Chi Minh City to the West – North.
The Cu Chi Tunnels are a base of “no two” in the history of the Vietnam War. In addition to the works used to fight, the Cu Chi tunnels also have a dining room, a bedroom, a meeting room, a living room, and a military hospital.
After the Vietnam War ended, the historical site of Cu Chi Tunnels has become an attractive tourist destination, attracting thousands of domestic and foreign tourists to visit.
Coming to Cu Chi Tunnels, visitors will experience the feeling of having to crawl to move in tight tunnels and experience underground lifelike actual residents during the war.
Stepping out of the tunnel, visitors can also watch documentary videos about the fierce fighting time of the Cu Chi people and enjoy rustic but quite delicious food. That is the tapioca with salt and sesame.
Information about the Place:
Location: Provincial Road 15, Phu Hiep, Cu Chi, Ho Chi Minh City
Opening hours: 7 AM – 5 PM
Sightseeing ticket price: 35,000VND/Vietnamese and 70,000VND/foreigner.
Website: http://en.diadaocuchi.com.vn/
6. The War Remnants Museum
Located on Vo Van Tan Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, War Remnants Museum is a vivid picture of Vietnam in the Vietnam War. The museum consists of 3 floors; each floor presents different topics.
The museum’s ground floor is a ticket office, a multi-purpose room. One of the prominent stops on the first floor is the “Tiger Cages” – A place to simulate a kind of detention in Con Dao prison. In addition, the ground floor is a place to display significant artifacts such as airplanes, tanks, and cannons used by the US military during the Vietnam War.
The first and 2nd floors of the museum are the place to present images of the Vietnam War. Many exciting topics such as The world with the Vietnam War or The story of the Agent Orange victims have made many people come here to be angry or in pain. Many Americans witness the cruel things that American soldiers have done to the people of Vietnam but have to shed tears of regret and mercy.
Information about the Place:
Location: 28 Vo Van Tan, in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City
Opening hours: Daily from 07.30 – 12.00 and 13:30 – 17:00
Sightseeing ticket price: 40.000 VND/Person
Website: http://www.baotangchungtichchientranh.vn/
7. Independence Palace
Independence Palace, formerly known as NORODOM Palace, was renamed in November 1976 by the Vietnamese government and recognized as a National Historical-Cultural Relic. It is a place associated with many events related to fighting for independence and reunification of the Vietnamese nation since the French built the Palace in 1868.
Here, on April 30, 1975, President Duong Van Minh and the entire government of the Republic of Vietnam were arrested and forced to surrender unconditionally, marking the end of the Vietnam War. Coming to this palace, visitors can explore unique rooms, historical artifacts, and valuable works of art.
Information about the Place:
Location: 135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, District 1, HCMC
Opening hours: 8 AM – 1 PM
Sightseeing ticket price: Adults: 40,000 VND/person, Students: 20,000 VND/person, Children: 10,000 VND/person
Website: https://www.dinhdoclap.gov.vn/
8. Con Dao Prison Complex
Con Dao Prison is the name of a prison system in Con Dao island built by French colonialists in 1862. This place is like hell on earth with extreme tortures, in which tiger cages are the culmination of the Crime of the prison regime.
The most famous place in this Prison is the tiger cage. The French built the tiger cage on 5,475m2, consisting of 120 cells, with bars above it, and 60 sunbathing rooms (without roofs) used for torture, torture, and repression in nearly 2,000 political prisons. If a prisoner is locked up in a tiger cage and protests, the prisoner will use a pole to poke and torture the water.
Con Dao prison is currently on the list of 23 extraordinary national monuments of Vietnam. It is a tourist destination and a place to find memories of many Vietnamese veterans.
Information about the Place:
Location: Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Con Dao, Ba Ria – Vung Tau
Opening hours: 8 AM – 6 PM
Sightseeing ticket price: 20,000 VND/person.
Above is our list of 8 Historical Sites To Learn About the Vietnam War; hopefully, after reading the article, you will choose the right historical site in your Vietnam travel itinerary to learn about this War.