School trips to Ho Chi Minh

Why visit Ho Chi Minh?

Learn more about the Vietnam War

If your students are studying the Vietnam War, a school trip to Ho Chi Minh is unbeatable in terms of helping them to gain a deeper understanding of the causes and effects of the conflict.

Ho Chi Minh City is located in the south of Vietnam and is often still referred to by its former name, Saigon. It was capital of South Vietnam between 1955 and 1975, when it fell to North Vietnamese forces at the end of the Vietnam War.

On your history school trip to Ho Chi Minh, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to visit the War Remnants Museum, which houses exhibits relating to both the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War. Previously known as the Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes, and then later, the Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression, the museum was finally renamed the War Remnants Museum after the normalisation of diplomatic relations with the US in 1995.

A visit to this museum is an opportunity for your students to look at the Vietnam War from a Vietnamese perspective. They’ll see military equipment from the period and reproductions of the ‘tiger cages’ which were used by the South Vietnamese government to imprison political prisoners. There are also graphic images illustrating the devastating effects of Agent Orange, napalm and phosphorus bombs, as well as atrocities such as the My Lai massacre.

And at the Reunification Hall, the former presidential palace of South Vietnam, you’ll be able to visit the war rooms, where your students can watch a propaganda film about the end of the war. These visits are a fantastic opportunity for your students to develop their understanding of the power of propaganda.

To learn more about the guerrilla warfare that typified the Vietnam War, make sure you include a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels were dug out and used by the Viet Cong as supply routes, kitchens, hospitals and training facilities. Your students will be able to stand in sniper hideouts no bigger than a dustbin, and crawl through the tunnels where the Viet Cong soldiers spent months on end.

Explore the Mekong Delta

On a school trip to Ho Chi Minh, you can also choose to spend some time exploring the Mekong Delta, an important region for agriculture and fishing. You’ll be able to visit rice paddies and fruit farms, as well as take a motorboat ride in the delta.

You can visit Can Tho, the largest city in the Mekong Delta. The city is famous for its rural canals, rice paper-making and floating markets. You’ll be able to visit one of these floating markets, where your students will have a fantastic experience of Vietnamese life and culture.