Located about 70 kilometers northwest of HCM City center, Cu Chi Tunnels in Phu My Hung commune in Cu Chi district is a popular site for foreign travelers.

Many videos showing foreign travelers’ experience at the Cu Chi tunnels have attracted tens of millions of views and millions of interactions.

A one-minute video of Joe Hattab, a traveler from Spain, is one of them. It has attracted 40 million views and 2.2 million likes, becoming one of the hottest videos about the Cu Chi tunnels.

Hattab is not the only foreign traveler who is surprised and excited when visiting the tunnel system. On some international tourism apps, people can book tours to the Cu Chi tunnels.

Some travel firms in HCM City have confirmed that tours to the historic relic site always sell well and it is a must-see destination when coming to HCM City.

Most tours to the Cu Chi tunnels are designed to last half a day, with the departure time at 7.30am or 1pm, and tour fee of VND400,000-500,000 per traveler, with English speaking tour guides.

Most foreign travelers like the tours because the time is convenient for them and they have opportunities to learn more about Vietnam’s history.

Vincent Reed, a traveler from Ireland, commented that at the Cu Chi tunnels one can learn about history but but also relax thanks to the greenery, and peaceful and quiet atmosphere. 

At the tunnels, Reed shot guns, crawled into tiny tunnels and ate cassava. He hopes that Cu Chi will become better known, so that Vietnamese generations and foreign tourists can have the opportunity to visit the historic site.

Some travelers were introduced to the Hoang Cam stove which dissipates smoke from cooking to prevent it from being detected. They also ate boiled cassava dipped in sesame salt, a familiar dish for the army and people during the difficult period.

Cu Chi tunnels were voted by TripAdvisor as one of 25 Asian symbolic destinations in 2017; by the South China Morning Post as one of the world’s seven best-known tunnels in 2018; and by CNN as one of the top underground destinations.

Phan Dau