---
node: dest_cu_chi_tunnels
type: destination
slug: cu_chi_tunnels
title: "Củ Chi Tunnels"
lead: "The Củ Chi Tunnels are 250 kilometres of hand-dug tunnels north-west of Ho Chi Minh City, used by Viet Cong fighters through the American war. Two short sections are open to crawl through, widened for visitors."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-17
image_file: dest_cu_chi_tunnels.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cu_Chi_original_tunnel.jpg"
image_author: "Matthew Blissett"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 3.0"
---

## Overview

The network was dug over twenty years and held living quarters, kitchens vented far from the fires, field hospitals and workshops that made weapons from unexploded ordnance. It sat directly under a US base, which is the fact that explains the war's frustration in this district: the area was bombed, defoliated and bulldozed for years without the tunnels being cleared. The site presents this from the Vietnamese side and includes a firing range, which many visitors find a jarring addition.

## Highlights

Ben Duoc is the less-visited of the two entrances and is the one used by Vietnamese school groups; Ben Dinh is closer and busier. The crawl sections are genuinely tight and hot — there are exits every twenty metres for those who need them. Half a day including the drive from the city.