The two tunnel grounds
For a day on the relic, when the wartime tunnels are the reason you came.
Bến Dược is where the regional leadership worked. The ground splits into Khu A, the military command, and Khu B, the party committee. On the same ground you can enter Đền Tưởng niệm Liệt sĩ Bến Dược, the liberated-zone reconstruction, the East Sea lake with three miniature monuments, and a live-fire range. Bến Đình is the district-committee base: hidden lids, a round tunnel mouth, termite-mound vents, an M41 tank, and a reconstructed craft yard for rice paper, rice alcohol, and rice pounding.
The whole Cu Chi relic is a special national relic by Quyết định 2367/QĐ-TTg of 23 Dec 2015. Bến Dược alone was a national historic site by Quyết định 54/VHQĐ of 29 Apr 1979. Bến Đình was recognized by Quyết định 101/2004/QĐ-BVHTT of 15 Dec 2004.
The memorial started on 19 May 1993, with stage 1 opened on 19 Dec 1995, and the heritage inventory gives it 40,299.3 m², with a basement of nine display sections under the title of Sài Gòn – Gia Định. The liberated zone is given as 38.5 hectares and three periods, 1961–1964, 1965–1968, and 1969–1972. A larger cluster, the reconstruction plus the East Sea mockup and the Cedar Falls sand-table house, is 197,633.5 m², started 24 May 2008 and opened 19 Dec 2009. Those are not the same boundary.
The memorial at Bến Dược
Đền Tưởng niệm Liệt sĩ Bến Dược is on the Bến Dược ground. The start is dated 19 May 1993 and stage 1 to 19 Dec 1995. The temple is given as 40,299.3 m², with a basement of nine display sections under the title of Sài Gòn – Gia Định. The 2021 notice names incense at the memorial.
After 17:00
On an ordinary day the gate closes at 17:00. Arriving at 19:00 and expecting the grounds to be open wastes the evening. On a Trăng chiến khu night the path is a moonlit village, a staged night of tunnel digging, and a performance. People who do not want the late return are pointed at the homestay, nhà nghỉ, and tents. The show starts at 18:00 and the published ends are 20:30 and 20:40.
Morning on the river
If you slept at the homestay, the morning is birds in the trees, wind off the river, a coffee on the grounds, a bicycle around the East Sea lake, and a walk in the planted forest. Breakfast for an overnight booking is at the restaurant on the grounds. The pool is free with that booking.