Cu Chi Tunnels And Mekong Delta Tour – Review

Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta are the two most popular attractions near Ho Chi Minh City in South Vietnam. Cu Chi Tunnels are about 60 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City whereas Mekong Delta is about 70 kilometres from the city and 110 kilometres from Cu Chi Tunnels.

Also Read: Vietnam Travel Guide

Both the places are best visited via tour package. As both the places are quite far apart from each other, most of the day tour packages cover only one of them. Most of the tours you see online are either half-day Cu Chi Tunnels tours or full-day Mekong Delta tours. But as we had only one day for any day tour, we chose this 13-hour long combo tour from Klook that covered both the Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta. We paid ~INR 4700/person for the tour which also included lunch and a roundtrip transfer from the hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.

Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta Day Tour from Ho Chi Minh – Klook

Early Morning Pick-Up

The tour pickup was at 7 AM and drop-off back to the hotel was at 8 PM.

As it was early morning pickup and hardly any restaurants were open at 6:30 AM, we quickly had an omelette and coffee from the only nearby restaurant that was open. We also got vegetarian Bahn Mi packed from the street vendor next to the restaurant.

The tour includes free hotel pickup and drop if the hotel is located in District 1. If the hotel lies outside District 1, then one needs to reach the meetup location in District 1. As our hotel was in District 1, the tour guide picked us up from our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City at 7 AM. After picking up all the other group members, the tour van started moving towards our first stop – Cu Chi Tunnels.

Agent Orange Video and Stop At Handicap Art & Craft Factory

Cu Chi Tunnels is about 60 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City and it takes about 1.5 hours to reach there. As we thought of getting some sleep, our tour guide played a very informative video about the use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War and its harmful effects on people and later generations.

The video showed how the USA used a chemical herbicide named Agent Orange to defoliate the lush jungles of South Vietnam that was providing cover to the communist army of North Vietnam. And effects of Agent Orange on Vietnamese people and generations to come till date when it was consumed through water and crops. The guide told us that Agent Orange caused cancer and birth deformities. Till today, there is a 50% chance of a child born with deformities.

It was heart-wrenching to see pictures of children and adults with deformities. The video and story are another reminder of how war leaves its horrific mark on later generations.

Soon the van stopped at the Handicap Art and Craft shop for 15 minutes. The guide told us that all the paintings are painted by men and women handicapped because of Agent Orange. A small guided tour was provided that showed us how sea shells and egg shells are used to produce the crafted paintings.

Then we were taken to the art gallery where we were told that any money we pay to buy the paintings will go a long way in helping the handicapped community. The paintings were beautiful but they were very expensive.

This intermediate stop felt less about supporting handicapped people and more about pushing tourists to buy over expensive goods. Although we were not forced into buying anything but many people can choose to buy expensive goods out of pity. We found it very common in Vietnam that every tour stopped at one or two such places. The reason they have these small stops is because the tour operators get some commission from every sale.

Cu Chi Tunnels

After spending 15-20 minutes at the factory, we continued towards Cu Chi Tunnels. We reached Cu Chi Tunnels at about 9:30 AM.

Our tour guide first explained to us the significance of Cu Chi tunnels in the Vietnam War in the late 1960s. The Vietnam War was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by Russia and other communist countries, while South Vietnam was backed by the USA and other anti-communist countries.

Cu Chi Tunnels were the operation base of Communist fighters (Viet Cong) in South Vietnam. These tunnels were part of a large network of connecting tunnels which were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat with the American forces. They also served as communication and supply routes, hospitals, living quarters, and food and weapon storage for North Vietnam soldiers.

Also Read: Vietnam 7 day itinerary

After this interesting history lesson, we were given the site tour. We were shown different tunnels that were used as hiding spots, hospital rooms, and weapons storage. The site also displays different types of booby traps used by Viet Cong soldiers against US forces.

The guide told us that many of the tunnels were reconstructed and made larger to accommodate tourists. We were astonished by this fact as even the reconstructed tunnels were small, so it was very hard to imagine how Viet Cong soldiers survived in even more narrower original tunnels for years. We were invited to crawl around the opened part of the tunnels and my legs started to pain by just walking a few metres in a squat position.

The tour ended with us being served tea and sweet potatoes.

Overall tour was informative and interesting. The tour guide was a jolly fellow and kept things interesting. We enjoyed our time in Cu Chi Tunnels.

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Mekong Delta

We left Cu Chi Tunnels and started another couple of hours’ road journey for the tour of the Mekong Delta. We reached My Tho, a city in the Mekong Delta region, at around 1:30 PM.

Coconut Candy Farm

This tour was all about boat rides. A small boat ride took us to the Coconut Candy Farm. We were shown the process of how coconut is grated, processed and poured into machines to make coconut candy.

Different flavoured coconut candies were first provided as samples and then we were offered to purchase some. We bought a coconut cookie for VND 50k (~INR 175) which was available for VND 30k-35k (~INR 105-120) elsewhere in Vietnam.

This stop was again added by the tour operators to earn commissions from the sales. It is just not possible for a product to be 50% more expensive at a factory than at a retail shop. That is just a small example of how tour operators together with local shops or factories rip off tourists.

Lunch

We were then taken on a small boat to the restaurant for lunch. The motorboat was small and could accommodate less than 15 people. The boat ride lasted 15 minutes and took us through the muddy brown-coloured Mekong River.

For lunch, the group was divided into two – vegetarians and non-vegetarians. It was not a buffet but many dishes were served on the table that was more than sufficient for all the group members. I don’t know the names of all the dishes but there were fruits, soup, spring rolls, noodles, vegetables, and tofu dishes.

We didn’t like the taste of Tofu, so we didn’t like some of the dishes. But overall, lunch was decent.

Slow Boat Ride

After lunch, it was time for a slow boat ride. Every Mekong Delta travel blog has this boat ride’s photos and videos highlighted. Each wooden boat can accommodate max. 4 people and is rowed by a boatman or boatwoman. Rower gave us a conical-shaped hat and started gliding the boat using wooden paddles. The boat ride was only 10-15 minutes long but it was serene. The scenery was beautiful with coconut trees blanketing the narrow canal.

Bee Farm

The next stop in our Mekong Delta Tour was Bee Farm. We first took the short boat ride followed by another boat ride to the Bee Farm. Both of us got the chance to hold the honeycombs. Then we were served honey tea and it was delicious.

Then again there was a sales pitch to buy the honey products. It had started to get irritating now seeing so many sales pitches on a single day.

Fruits and Traditional Live Music

We were then served fruits and traditional music was being played by amateur singers on the side. We didn’t understand a word as it was in Vietnamese but the music was lovely. The fruits were fresh and tasty.

Back to Ho Chi Minh City

We then took a boat ride back to the pier. On the boat, we were given coconut water that was fresh and sweet. Our tour had ended and the van dropped us back to our hotel at about 7:30 PM.

Thoughts…

This was a very long and hectic day. It was expected as we had combined two tours into one. Although the tour had started to become boring as the day progressed, overall it was fine.

Things We Liked

• Our tour guide was a jolly person and cracked jokes now and then. We would give full marks to his dedication and effort.
• The Cu Chi Tunnels tour was not only informative but also engaging. The museums can get boring very quickly but this was not. We got to try out the hiding spot and crawl through the tunnel that was first for us.
• The lunch was decent. Varieties of cuisines were served and the taste was also better than what we generally experienced on our Vietnam 15-day trip.  
• 15-minute slow paddle boat ride along the canal.
• Evening fruits

Things We Disliked

• Numerous unnecessary intermediate stops that involved sales pitches. It was as clear as daylight that these stops meant a way to earn commissions for tour operators.
• The Mekong Delta Tour felt rushed with one boat ride after another with very little time at each stop. It also felt monotonous after a while and we had even once wished for the tour to end soon.

Have you taken the Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta tour? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below.

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