Private tour to the Hamburger Hill and the DMZ

Hi all,

I am travelling to Vietnam in September, and I want to see some old war sites including the Hamburger Hill and Khesannh near the DMZ. Anybody has done this tour? and give me some advices ( travel agents, knowledgeable guide....for this tour ), and what%26#39;s the weather like in September?

Thanks,

Kristen.

Private tour to the Hamburger Hill and the DMZ

Hi, I toured the DMZ area several times and the most practical way to do it in a shorter period of time is start at Hue. There are lots of travel/tour agencies in Hue that can customize a tour or put you in a tour group. Or if you have more time you can consider starting at Hoi An and heading due west to get to the new Ho Chi Minh Highway (National Route 14) and head north along the Lao Border until you get to Highway 9 south of the DMZ and then head east back to Highway 1. That would take several days. I did that trip in November 2007 and we stayed overnight at A%26#39;luoi,

A Shau, Khe Sanh and Dong Ha before finishing the tour at Hue. Hamburger Hill is just off Highway 14, but it is my understanding to stop and photograph it or visit it you need a special permit that is only issued in Hanoi. We stopped, jumped out of the car for a few seconds, took a quick photo and took off before the army or police stopped. Supposedly they will take your camera, among other things. One explanation was that it was a restricted military area very close to Laos. I would have liked to spend more time and actually climb up the Hill, but my tour guide and driver didn%26#39;t what to stop for more than a few seconds. The same goes for visiting some of the hill tribes along Highway 14. That was the only place where there seemed to be restrictions of any sort. Along Highway 9 you can stop at the Lao Bao Border Crossing, visit the former French Prison at Lao Bao, Khe Sanh, Lang Vei, the Rockpile, Camp Carroll, the DMZ and the Vinh Moc Tunnel complex. The Citadel in Quang Tri City quite interesting and the site of very significant military action in 1972 and 1975 and has very few western tourists. The few hotels along the Loa Border and Highway 9 are pretty basic, cheap, but with hot water and A/C. If you stay in Dong Ha try to not to stay at a hotel near the intersections of Highway 9 and Highway 1 as the truck and bus traffic is non-stop all night with the typical constant horn blowing. Very hard to sleep. As far as the weather in that area. In November 2007, the weather was really extreme with several back to back typhoons. All along Highway 14 there were serious landslides that closed the road in at least 50 places. They were had finishing clearing a lane in 49 places when we got to the 50th and had to pay a heavy duty tractor to pull us through the mud. That same November, Hue was so flooded I left the city in a canoe to get to Highway 1. But, I%26#39;v been there on prior occasions when the weather was perfect the whole time. September is the rainy season for Central Vietnam, but you can never tell how bad it may or may not be. Hope this is helpful, if you need more info send me a PM.

Private tour to the Hamburger Hill and the DMZ

Hi Kristen,

An excellent post by jason1010----I have done this trip in May---July, when the weather is OK ---Hot!( I did it with a motorbike and guide)

I can only reinforce all of what advice has been posted.

It is significant the the army has a large presence at certain places up here, because the Laotian/ Vietnamese border here is / has been in some sort of dispute for as long as I can remember. So expect to be restricted from entering some areas. Organized tours will not expose you to this , but if you go alone ( and this is good fun), you will encounter the things that jason1010 describes!

Its worth the trip, though!

plover

A layover somewhere at night is wise, as a 1 day trip is a very long day and too crammed.

We did this tour in April 2008 with Eco travel in Hue, their guide was knowledgeable and helpful, see their website http://www.ecotravelvietnam.com

Happy travel!

Hi Kristen,

My family did this tour last year with Mr. Vu who works as a private guide for the battlefield tours in Dong Ha. We did a 2 day tour which covered the former war sites along the DMZ including Khe Sanh base, Conthien fire base, Camp Carroll, the Rockpile and the most interesting sites - Vinh Moc tunnels. The second day we took a ride down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to visit the infamous Hamburger Hill and some old U.S LZ and fire bases nearby. It took some 1 hr to reach the top of the hill and , of course another hr back, but there%26#39;s not much left to see there, all is covered with overgrown vegetation. But we still saw some VC fighting holes on the hillside and some bomb craters and a hellipad on the top. The landscape along the Ho Chi Minh Trail is extraodianry, and especially our guide, Mr Vu is very professional and knowlegeable, and his English is incredibly excellent. We did the tour in May so the weather was dry. September is the monsoon in central Vietnam. Try to do it as early as possible. August is still dry. You can contact Mr. Vu at vudmz@yahoo.com for this tour.

Cheers.