Dien Bien Province is on the North - West Vietnam. It is next to Lai Chau, Son La provinces, Laos and China. The province has many mountains stretching along north-west and south-east direction. Muong Thanh Valley is largest one of this region. The topography includes forests, high mountains, narrow valleys, small plains, and springs.

Dien Bien is mountainous tropical area. There are the dry and the rainy seasons. The average temperature is about 21ºC - 23ºC.

Dien Bien possesses charming natural scenery such as Pa Khoang Reservoir, Tham Bang Cave, Ban Phu Citadel, and Museum of Dien Bien Phu Victory.

Dien Bien is also proud of many historic sites: Noong Nhai Vestige, Muong Phang Forest, especially, Dien Bien Phu Vestige with a global well-known victory in 1954.

Traveling from Hanoi to Dien Bien Phu, it takes 1 hour by plane. But by road, travelers go over kilometers of mountainous road and cross Pha Din Pass. The stretch of road goes uphill and downhill alternately with many sharp bends. It is a memorable event for everybody in this superb mountain.

The network of road is convenient include: - It takes 478km from Hanoi following National Highway No. 6 to Tuan Giao and then the 279 to Dien Bien Phu. - It is 195km from Dien Bien Phu to Ma Lu Thang border gate (Lai Chau) following National Highway No. 12. - The National Highway No. 279 links Tuan Giao to Tay Trang border gate vise Dien Bien Phu.

Beside that, there is Muong Thanh Airport in Dien Bien Phu, connecting Ha Noi - Dien Bien Phu.

Attractions in Dien Bien Phu:

1.    Dien Bien Phu
2.    Command bunker of General De Castries
3.    Hill A1
4.    Historical Sites of Dien Bien Phu Victory
5.    Museum of Dien Bien Phu Victory
6.    Statue of Dien Bien Phu Victory
7.    The Command post of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign
8.    Hoang Cong Chat Temple Festival

1.    Dien Bien Phu

Dien Bien Phu is a comparatively new town established in the middle of the 19th century to help to rid the area of incursions by bandits from Siam, Laos and China. Its remote location in the extreme northwest of Vietnam deterred both visitors and development, apart from becoming a French garrison during the colonial period.

The town rocketed to international prominence when the Viet Minh troops under General Giap overcame the beleaguered French forces in 1954, the decisive battle that ended nearly a century of French occupation of Vietnam.

Recently, Dien Bien Phu has begun to expand rapidly following and the Vietnam government’s policy of encouraging ethnic Vietnamese families to move to the area. Nevertheless, despite a boost from tourism stimulated by the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the town is still little visited.

There is a reasonable road, but the five hundred kilometers journey takes most of two days, assuming an overnight stay. A flight to Dien Bien Phu is the most practical means of travel if time is limited.

There are few hotels in this area of the northwest, and none above our ‘local’ standard.

The major attraction is the battlefield, its associated museum and relicts, and more recently, the largest statue in Vietnam erected to commemorate the 2004 anniversary. However, for the adventurous visitor, it is an attractive centre for majestic scenery and an access point for encounters with Lai Chau Province’s wide variety of ethnic minority groups that have hardly been touched by tourism.

A road journey from Dien Bien Phu to Sapa will take through some of the best scenery in Vietnam. Rough roads, very basic hotels and few amenities deter the tourists and leave the forests, waterfalls, terraces and the many minority villages in a pristine state waiting for the serious traveller.

Sin Ho village is definitely worth a 20km detour. The track runs across vertiginous mountain sides and is not for the faint-hearted, but rewards the traveller with spectacular views of near perpendicular terracing and majestic forests. The area is home to Red, White and Flower H’mong and Dao ethnic minority communities. Those that have the good fortune to arrive on Sunday morning will find a wholly authentic local market.

Tam Duong has even more colourful ethnic minority communities – White and Flower H’mong, Dao Khau, Giay and White and Black Thai peoples.

2.    Command bunker of General De Castries

Fifty years ago, one could see the top of the bunker from a high hill. To reach there, however, Vietnamese troops had to fight heroically during 55 days and nights, amidst numerous hardships and difficulties. Around the bunker were situated dense systems of defense lines, including many layers of barbed wires and four tanks. The bunker is 20m long and 8m wide. It consists of 4 compartments, which serves as both working offices and resident places.

One now can still find the iron vaults and sandbags atop the bunker. There used to be a roofed trench connecting the bunker of De Castries with the blockhouse at Cay Da in Hill A1. French troops piled up wooden planks and sandbags to make trenches. They took the wooden planks from the houses of the Vietnamese ethnic minority groups.

Inside this bunker, De Castries received such high-ranking officers as French Prime Minister Joseph Laniel, US President Dwight Eisenhower, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, as well as well-known journalists. At 5h30pm on May 7th, 1954, Ta Quoc Luat, head of Company 360, Regiment 209, Division 312 captured alive General De Castries who was sitting at his desk in the corner of the bunker.

The tunnel had four compartments as follows:

Compartment 1
This is the office of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Piroth, who was in charge of French artillery in Dien Bien Phu. Prior to his departure to Indochina, Piroth submitted a tactical plan to Henri Navarre, in which he affirmed that �no artillery gun of Viet Minh could fire three times without being destroyed in Dien Bien Phu. However, after experiencing the fierce attacks of Vietnamese artillery, Piroth committed suicide with a grenade in a tunnel at the end of Muong Thanh Bridge on March 15th, 1954. De Castries worried that his troops would lose their morale if they knew this so he had Piroth buried in the one end of Muong Thanh Bridge. Then he cabled to inform Navarre that Piroth had disappeared together with his jeep.

Compartment 2
This is the office of Seguin who was in charge of the French air force in Dien Bien Phu. He was tasked with the protection of the Muong Thanh and Hong Cum airfields. He himself faced shameful defeat. Before attack of Vietnamese troops, the French troops carried out around 100-150 sorties each day, transporting some 100-300 tons of goods to Dien Bien Phu. After assaults of Vietnamese troops, especially when the runways of Muong Thanh Airfield were cut off, French troops had to parachute goods to Dien Bien Phu, many of which came to hands of Vietnamese troops.
 
Compartment 3
This is the office of De Castries�s secretary. Upon being promoted to the Commander of the Dien Bien Phu entrenched camp, he required to have this secretary, who was both a nurse and a journalist. When the Vietnamese troops attacked Dien Bien Phu on March 13th, 1954, De Castries asked her to come back to Hanoi by airway.
 
Compartment 4
This is the information and radio transmission center of the French troops in Dien Bien Phu.

When the Dien Bien Phu campaign ended, Vietnamese troops captured only one female French nurse, De Galard. She was among one of the first to be released under Vietnam's policy.

3.    Hill A1

Hill A1 is situated in Muong Thanh Ward, Dien Bien Phu City, Dien Bien Province. Hill A1 was the strongest post of all the 49 strongholds in Dien Bien Phu fortified entrenched camp.

Hill A1 had three defense lines. The first one, stretching from the Cay Da blockhouse, protected the way to the hilltop. Currently this is the main road leading to the top of Hill A1. The second line was for counter-offensive assaults and the last one was a kind of underground bunker atop the hill. There were trenches connecting these three lines. Unaware of the underground bunker atop the hill, Vietnamese troops assaulted from the dried stream. To occupy one third of the hill, Vietnamese troops lost 2516 troops and discovered the bunker thanks to enemy’s flare.

Tactical method was changed. Despite numerous difficulties, Vietnamese troops dug a tunnel to destroy the bunker with explosive. After 16 days and nights, Vietnamese troops found a brick foundation, which was left from some construction built by French troops in 1940. Considering that was the bunker wall, Vietnamese troops brought 970kg of explosive there and detonated them at 20h30pm on May 6th, 1954. The pressure of the explosion made the ears of the French captain in charge of the bunker bleed. He thought that was a new kind of weapon used by Vietnamese troops and surrendered. The explosion left an enormous hole like a crater, which is rather afar from the top of Hill A1. This hole now serves as a tourist attraction.

4.    Historical Sites of Dien Bien Phu Victory

The valley of Dien Bien Phu was 18km long and 6-8 km wide when the Dien Bien Phu campaign began. To date, the valley spreads over 20km long. On November 20th, 1953, French paratroopers occupied the valley and built 49 strongholds in three sub-sections. Among these sites include artillery emplacements, remains of airplanes, Muong Thanh Bridge, the command bunker of De Castries, Hill A1 and the cemetery. Some 35km from the center of Dien Bien Phu City, in Muong Phang Commune lays the Command Post of General Vo Nguyen Giap.

Following are a list of recommended places to visit in Dien Bien

1. The Museum of Dien Bien Phu victorious battle: The museum houses a great deal of documents and objects relating to the 55-day arduous battle of Vietnamese soldiers and people to make the glorious victory of the whole nation in spring 1954. The museum exhibits its objects both indoors and outdoors.

2. The cemeteries in Hill A1 (644 tombs) and Doc Lap Hill (2432 tombs): This is the resting place of Vietnamese soldiers who sacrificed heroically in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. In Hill A1 lie the tombs of heroic martyrs such as To Vinh Dien, Be Van Dan, Phan Dinh Giot and Tran Can.

3. Hill A1: This height stands block the way to the northeast sub-section. It has a significant role, controlling the whole battle of Dien Bien Phu. During 36 nights and days, the fierce battle claimed the lives of 2516 Vietnamese soldiers. Only until the night of May 6th, 1954 did Vietnamese soldiers win this decisive battle.

4. Muong Thanh Airfield: This was the stronghold 206 and the central airport of the entrenched camp of Dien Bien Phu. Currently this airport is renamed Dien Bien Phu and becomes one of the destinations in the flight system of the Vietnam Civil Aviation.

5. The Command bunker of the Dien Bien Phu entrenched camp: De Castries worked inside the bunker. The original shape and size, structure and arrangement of the bunker are kept intact.

6. Him Lam Hill: On March 13th, 1954, Vietnamese troops fought the first battle in Him Lam Hill, which is situated to the northwest of the valley.

7. Doc Lap Hill: Vietnamese troops liberated the hill on March 15th, 1954.

8. Hills C, D and E are well preserved. From afar, one can easily recognize the name of these hills. Atop D1 Hill stands the newly-erected Statue of Dien Bien Phu Victory.

9. The Command post of the Vietnamese soldiers from January 21st to May 8th, 1954: It is situated in a primitive forest in Muong Phang Commune. Here one will find the hut where General Vo Nguyen Giap worked and other huts for information and military operation discussion.

5.    Museum of Dien Bien Phu Victory

Museum of Dien Bien Phu Victory lies opposite the cemetery of Vietnamese martyrs in Hill A1, the center of Dien Bien Phu City. The museum was built in 1984 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory.

By the end of 2003, the museum was upgraded and its exhibition sections reorganized. To date, the museum has five exhibition sections, featuring 274 items and 122 pictures, many of which are newly added, about the 8-year resistance against the French colonialists. The five sections have the following contents:

- The strategic location of Dien Bien Phu.
- The enemy�s scheme at Dien Bien Phu.
- The Party’s guideline regarding preparations for the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.
- Impacts of Dien Bien Phu domestically and internationally.
- Present-day Dien Bien Phu.

The museum opens for tourists inside and outside Vietnam. The outdoor sections of the museum were finished in service of the Year for Tourism in Dien Bien - 2004.

6.    Statue of Dien Bien Phu Victory

The statue of Dien Bien Phu Victory represents the images of three Dien Bien soldiers, standing atop De Castries’s bunker, looking at three directions. One of them holds a rifle, one a flag and one holding a child with a bunch of flower. The words “Resolutely fight to win” are put in the flag under the suggestion of General Vo Nguyen Giap.

The statue is made out of bronze by the Doan Ket Bronze Casting Company (Y Yen District, Nam Dinh Province). Nguyen Trong Hanh is the direct supervisor. The casting process of the 12 parts of the statue lasted 153 days until February 19th, 2004. The statue is 12.6m high (excluding the concrete pedestal, which is 3.6m high, 8m wide and 10m long). Its biggest part weighs 40 tons, the lightest 6 tons. The flag itself weighs 12 tons. The weight of bronze is 180 tons, which is equivalent to 220 tons of raw bronze material. All together, the statue weighs 360 tons.

In the morning of February 23rd, 2004, the convoy including 12 trucks of the Transport Service Company No. 2, the Heroic Unit of the Ministry of Transport, took the statue to Dien Bien Phu City. The transport faced numerous difficulties through the 600km road from Nam Dinh to Dien Bien. At noon of March 12th, 2004, the statue safely reached Dien Bien Phu. In the afternoon of April 12th, 2004, the staff of the Central Fine Arts Company finished the installation of the statue after 45 days of hard working.

7.    The Command post of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign

The Command post of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign is located in Muong Phang Commune, Dien Bien District, about 35km, 10km as the crow flies, from the centre of Dien Bien Phu City. Here visitors will find the hut where General Vo Nguyen Giap worked and other huts for information and military operation discussion.

Major General, Deputy Chief of Staff Hoang Van Thai, deputy head of the Chinese consultants’ group and chief of staff Mei Jiasheng and other officers left Viet Bac for Tay Bac on December 6th, 1953 to make preparations for the Tay Bac Campaign in winter-spring 1953-1954.

On January 5th, 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Commander-in-Chief of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign and head of the Chinese consultants’ group Wei Quojing left for Tay Bac. The General’s first stop was at Tham Pua Cave (Km 15, Tuan Giao-Dien Bien Phu road). This command post had been set up as early as December 7th, 1953. In this cave, on January 14th, 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap assigned the tactical tasks for different divisions, following the guideline of “sweep attack, sweep victory” under which the battle would last 2 days and 3 nights with the D-Day set on January 20th, 1954. On January 17th, 1954, the Command post was moved to the area beside Huoi He Stream in Na Tau Commune (Km 56+200, Tuan Giao-Dien Bien Phu road). Due to some reasons, the D-Day was changed to the 25th then the 26th of January 1954. At 11:00 hours in the morning of January 26th, 1954, General Vo Nguyen Giap decided to swift from the strategy to “strike swiftly, win swiftly” to “strike surely, win surely”. This military order was sent to all units in Dien Bien. The Command post was situated in Na Tau from January 18th, 1954 to January 30th, 1954.

At night of the 30th and early of the 31st day of January 1954, the Command post was moved again to Muong Phang Commune. It stayed there until May 15th, 1954. This was the third and the last command post of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Atop the Phu Ca Mountain, General Vo Nguyen Giap had a watchtower built to get a panoramic view of Muong Thanh Field through binoculars. In this Command post one can visit:

-  Sentry box No. 1
-  Information Center
-  Hut of Reconnaissance Operation
-  Hut of General Vo Nguyen Giap, Commander-in-Chief of the Dien Bien Phu
-  The 96m tunnel through the mountain, connecting General Giap’s hut with that of Chief of Staff Hoang Van Thai
-  Area for Chinese consultants
-  Hut of Chief of Staff Hoang Van Thai
-  Meeting hall
-  Political sector

The Muong Phang Command post successfully bore the historical task of liberating Dien Bien entrusted by the Party Central Committee and Uncle Ho.

8.    Hoang Cong Chat Temple Festival

The festival is held from 24th to 25th day of the second lunar month. In Noong Nhai Hamlet, Noong Het Commune, Dien Bien District, Dien Bien Province. It worships  Hoang Cong Chat - leader of a peasant’s movement in the 18th century. Palanquin procession, incense offering; Folk games: Pick up the fairy peaches, co phat (a kind of board games) playing, pole pushing, crossbow contest...