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Cu Chi

The Cu Chi tunnels are located in Cu Chi district next to the Saigon River, about half-way between Ho Chi Minh City and the Cao Dai Holy See – the journey usually takes around 1½ hrs from either end, depending on the traffic.

The original tunnels were dug long ago by the Viet Minh to provide hiding places from which to attack French soldiers. During the 1960s, the Viet Cong reopened them and greatly extended them both horizontally and vertically. At their peak, an integrated 200km network of passages, on five or more levels in places, stretched to within thirty kilometres of the centre of Saigon. Their total length was somewhere between 200km and 300km, and the deepest levels were more than 30m underground. The complex included entire underground ‘villages’ – accommodation, canteens, and even schools and hospitals.

Despite the use of chemicals, defoliants, napalm, huge ploughs and carpet bombing by B45’s, the integrity of the tunnels was never seriously compromised by the enemy. 
The tunnels played a pivotal role in the American War - it is said that the 1968 Tet Offensive was masterminded from there. Without doubt, the impotence of the GIs in penetrating the network and the effects of fighting an enemy that could appear at any time, strike with deadly force, then vanish like a wraith sapped the resolve of the US soldiers and contributed to their defeat.

Today the remaining tunnels have become a major tourist attraction giving the visitor a unique experience and a feel of what underground life in the American war must have been like. The tunnels have been widened for our benefit (otherwise we would not be able to enter them!) For those interested there's even the opportunity to fire off rounds from an AK47 or MK16 at the nearby rifle range.