Hanoi (VNA) - August and September offer a particularly evocative time to explore Vietnam, as the red-and-gold colors of National Day on September 2 fill the streets. From Ho Chi Minh City, travellers can extend their journey through the Cu Chi Tunnels to Tay Ninh and Ba Den Mountain, where history, culture and nature converge.
In the days surrounding National Day, the red flag with its five-pointed golden star appears across city streets, outside homes and on public buildings. For Vietnamese people, it is one of the most significant occasions of the year. For international visitors, it also offers a rare opportunity to observe, more vividly than usual, the connection between history, national pride and everyday life in contemporary Vietnam.
For those exploring southern Vietnam at this time of year, a journey from Ho Chi Minh City to the Cu Chi Tunnels, Tay Ninh and Ba Den Mountain offers a particularly compelling route. The trip can begin amid the flag-lined streets of Ho Chi Minh City, continue into a chapter of history preserved beneath the ground at Cu Chi, and then lead onward to Tay Ninh, where an entirely different facet of Vietnam’s cultural landscape unfolds.
From flag-lined streets to tunnels beneath the ground
Located northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, the Cu Chi Tunnels are among southern Vietnam’s best-known historical landmarks. Today, the tunnel system is preserved across two sites, Ben Duoc and Ben Dinh, remnants of an underground network that once stretched for more than 200 kilometres.
For international visitors, Cu Chi is more than a place to hear stories of war. Here, travelers can enter preserved sections of the tunnels to gain a sense of how people once moved and lived underground, watch documentary footage and explore surviving traces of a defining period in Vietnam’s history. Official tours at Ben Dinh also introduce visitors to documentary screenings, exhibition spaces and artefacts connected to the local guerrilla warfare experience.
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| A pathway inside the Cu Chi Tunnels (Photo: Collected) |
For those seeking a deeper historical perspective, Ben Duoc is also home to the Ben Duoc Martyrs’ Memorial Temple. As part of a journey onward to Tay Ninh later the same day or the following morning, Cu Chi serves as a natural transition point. From stories of war and years spent beneath the ground, the road gradually leaves the urban landscape behind, passing through increasingly open outskirts before heading towards one of the most distinctive mountains in southern Vietnam.
From Cu Chi to Tay Ninh
As the journey continues towards Tay Ninh, its character begins to shift. If Cu Chi takes visitors back to the years of war through its underground tunnel system, Tay Ninh reveals another facet of Vietnam, where landscapes, spirituality and local cultural life come together in a single journey.
One of the most prominent stops is Sun World Ba Den Mountain, a tourism complex on Ba Den Mountain, located around 100 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City. Rising 986 metres above sea level, the mountain is known as the “Roof of Southern Vietnam”. Late August and early September are also an especially atmospheric time to visit, as the cloud-hunting season coincides with the Vu Lan Festival and a series of cultural activities marking National Day.
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| Sun World Ba Den Mountain illuminated against the clouds and sky of Tay Ninh - the “Roof of Southern Vietnam”. |
From the underground tunnels of Cu Chi, travelers can continue their journey upwards aboard the cable cars of Sun World Ba Den Mountain, watching the Tay Ninh plains gradually recede below and, at times, seeing the summit enveloped in layers of cloud.
For international visitors, this connection creates a remarkably complete journey through southern Vietnam: from a landmark that offers insight into the country’s modern history to a destination where nature, spirituality and enduring cultural traditions remain woven into everyday life. During the Vu Lan season in particular, experiences such as pinning a flower to one’s lapel or releasing lanterns on the mountain offer a direct encounter with an aspect of East Asian cultural heritage, rather than one experienced solely from the outside.
A flower pinned to the lapel during Vu Lan
Just over a week before the National Day holiday, on August 22, the summit of Ba Den Mountain will take on a distinctive atmosphere with a special Vu Lan programme. Rooted in Buddhism, Vu Lan has long become an integral part of Vietnamese culture. It is a time to honour parents and grandparents, remember loved ones who have passed away, and express gratitude towards those who gave us life.
The rose-pinning ritual during the Vu Lan programme - a moving spiritual and cultural tradition on Ba Den Mountain.
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| The rose-pinning ritual during the Vu Lan programme - a moving spiritual and cultural tradition on Ba Den Mountain. |
The most recognisable symbol of Vu Lan is the rose pinned to one’s clothing: a red rose for those whose parents are still living, and a white rose in remembrance of those who have passed away. For international visitors, this simple ritual offers an immediate way to understand one of Vu Lan’s most universal messages: family, gratitude and remembrance.
According to the planned programme, from the afternoon of August 22, visitors can receive a flower to wear, collect a lantern, take part in Vu Lan rituals and listen to Dharma talks centred on maternal love and filial devotion. As night falls, small lanterns are gradually lit across the mountaintop, each carrying a personal prayer or expression of gratitude for parents and loved ones.
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| Visitors reverently releasing lanterns on the summit of Ba Den Mountain. |
For a visitor witnessing Vu Lan for the first time, it may not be necessary to understand every ritual to appreciate the moment. The sight of thousands of people gathered amid the mountains and sky, holding small illuminated lanterns as darkness gradually descends, offers an intimate glimpse into a very different dimension of Vietnamese cultural life.
A market where a leaf can “buy” your food
If Vu Lan brings visitors closer to the spiritual life of Vietnam, another distinctive experience awaits at Sun World Ba Den Mountain just before National Day: Cho La, or the Leaf Market. Held on August 30 and 31, this unique market uses leaves in place of money. Visitors simply receive a leaf, choose a dish and exchange the leaf at the stalls.
For international travelers, it is a particularly accessible cultural experience. No extensive knowledge of local customs or language is required; the concept of the market can be understood almost immediately upon arrival. Behind its simple format lies a long-standing spirit of sharing associated with Cho La in Tay Ninh.
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| A radiant smile from an international visitor experiencing the Tay Ninh Leaf Market. |
Visitors can also sample local treats such as bo bo, boiled sweet potatoes and cassava, or tau pho, alongside traditional folk games. Following the Cu Chi stop, these humble foods offer another way of encountering history through everyday life, transforming stories of the past into experiences that can be seen, touched and tasted.
A different portrait of southern Vietnam at 986 metres
While experiences such as Vu Lan and Cho La take place on specific dates, Sun World Ba Den Mountain offers plenty to discover throughout the year. From the cable car cabins, the Tay Ninh plains stretch out below, while when the clouds gather, the summit can appear to float in a vast sea of mist.
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| The majestic Lady Buddha statue of Tay Bo Da Son emerging through the floating sea of clouds atop Ba Den Mountain. |
Set against this natural landscape is a Buddhist architectural and artistic complex featuring the 72-metre-tall Buddha Goddess of Tay Bo Da Son and the 36-metre-tall Maitreya Buddha, crafted from thousands of natural sandstone blocks. During August and September, visitors can also explore The Sound of the World: The Ceramic Sutra, an exhibition featuring more than 400 ceramic sculptures inspired by Buddhist themes.
For international visitors, Sun World Ba Den Mountain is therefore more than a viewpoint or pilgrimage destination. It is a place to ride a cable car, seek out the clouds, explore Buddhist art and architecture, and take part in distinctive local traditions, from wearing a Vu Lan rose to exchanging a leaf for food at Cho La.
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| Illuminated lanterns carrying heartfelt prayers of filial gratitude during the Vu Lan season. |
The Vu Lan programme, featuring the rose-pinning ritual and lantern offering, takes place on August 22, while Cho La will be held on August 30 and 31. Combined with a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels, the Ho Chi Minh City–Cu Chi–Ba Den Mountain route offers international travelers a richly varied journey through southern Vietnam, moving from the country’s modern history to its landscapes, spiritual traditions and distinctive cultural experiences in Tay Ninh./.
