Vietnam museums
A rundown on some of the best-known, as well as a few of our favourite, Vietnam museums, plus a couple we’d personally probably skip over. The choice of adjectives is particularly subjective when it applies to museums and while there’s likely to be more of a consensus when faced with a picturesque waterfall or spectacular ancient temple, when it comes to museums, what is fascinating to one person is mind-numbingly boring to another. Certainly, some exhibitions and displays are better presented or laid out than others, but at the end of the day, it mainly depends upon how interested you are in the theme or subject matter in question.
Vietnam obviously houses a lot of museums, from prestigious national establishments to lesser-known regional or provincial efforts, as well as displays of a wide variety of private collections. We’ve only visited a small proportion and we’ve probably missed some excellent ones, so our Vietnam museums post covers just a small selection of those we’re familiar with.
Note that we have extended our definition of Vietnam museums to include several outdoor sites: Cu Chi, Vinh Moc and Xe Quit, for example, which, while strictly speaking historical sites rather than classic museums, do include exhibitions, artefacts and displays of models, dioramas and so on.
Hanoi Museums
As the capital, Hanoi is obviously home to more than its fair share of museums and certainly provides a few shoo-ins on any Vietnam’s best museum list. Several of these, such as the Vietnam Military History Museum, the B-52 Victory Museum and the Air Force Museum not surprisingly concentrate on the Vietnam or ‘American’ War. They’re all worthwhile, given the time and inclination to visit every museum in Hanoi, but since we’re including Saigon’s famous War Remnants Museum later on, we’ll keep to some of the city’s more unique offerings.
Museum of Ethnology
An extensive collection of costumes, handicrafts, religious paraphernalia, etcetera, belonging to some of the country’s myriad ethnic groups and minorities. The museum’s garden and grounds also include recreations of some of their typical dwellings. It’s a very good introduction to Vietnam and its peoples and certainly seems to keep the majority of visitors interested.
Vietnamese Women’s Museum
This well-laid-out museum in Vietnam covers the role of women in the country’s history, including the military field as well as commerce and politics. It also covers the evolution of fashion and women’s roles in Vietnamese family life, as well as highlighting certain contemporary women’s issues, such as problems faced by single mothers for example. An excellent and unusual spot and well deserving of a place on our recommended Vietnam museums list.
Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum Hanoi, The Ho Chi Minh Museum
At the risk of offending our Vietnamese friends, we’d say this one is a bit more niche, housing as it does an extensive collection of papers, letters and photos of the man himself. When combined with the nearby Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and presidential palace, it’s definitely worth including on a Hanoi tour, although this particular section of the complex might not be one that a lot of visitors would linger long over.
Hoa Lo Museum
Hoa Lo Prison is, of course, better-known as the Hanoi Hilton from the period when it functioned as a prison for US POWs (mainly downed airmen) during the Vietnam War. Firstly, the infamous prison was actually constructed by the French to house prisoners during the colonial era and secondly, the original buildings were largely demolished in 1993. So not only will visitors be surprised to see that the dummy prisoners in the dioramas are actually Vietnamese rather than American, but the building is a reconstructed dummy as well.
The National Museum of History
Since the vast majority of visitors to the country’s knowledge of Vietnamese history doesn’t extend further than the relatively recent Vietnam War (American War to the locals), this museum ought to be essential viewing. A few visitors may be aware of the French colonial period, culminating in the famous battle of Dien Bien Phu, but what about the thousands of years of history pre-dating the 20th century? As the history museum shows, the region’s complex history dates back millennia and this elegant colonial-period building houses collections from the Stone Age and Bronze Age as well as the little-known Cham and Funan civilisations.
Cham sculpture in the Hanoi National Museum of History Fine Arts Museum
Another spectacular French-period structure, conveniently located close to the Ho Chi Minh complex, is home to the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum. While you may rack your brain to come up with famous Vietnamese impressionists or surrealists, these galleries are more than a fine arts collection and include a fascinating history of Vietnamese painting and sculpture covering several centuries.
Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City Museums
Predictably, there is a certain amount of overlap with Hanoi in Saigon’s museum offerings and you’ll also find a Fine Arts Museum, another Women’s Museum and Ho Chi Minh and History Museums, albeit, of course, with slightly varying contents. (Note, we’re referring to the city as Saigon as many of the locals do, plus it’s easier than typing Ho Chi Minh City every time.)
War Remnants Museum
Probably pips Hanoi’s various Vietnam War exhibitions in terms of popularity and content and comes with a convenient location close to the Presidential Palace and Notre Dame Cathedral. The displays cover the war with the French as well as the Americans and include an extensive collection of artefacts, photos, maps and film clips. Commentary is, of course, very much from a Vietnamese point of view, although there wasn’t really any coherent US point of view, was there? Displays can be rather harrowing at times, but if you’ve survived Phnom Penh’s Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, you’ll be fine here.
Museum of Vietnamese History
Inevitably overlaps with the National Museum of History in Hanoi, but there are some excellent displays – particularly of the early Funan culture of the Mekong Delta – and it’s certainly worth a visit if you have an hour or two to spare. As with several others on our Vietnam museums list, it’s housed in a beautiful French-period building.
Funan-style, probably 6th-century Shiva image in the Saigon History Museum Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine
A more unusual collection, also going under the name of the Fito Museum, is this exhibition of all things relating to traditional medicine in Vietnam from the Stone Age to the present day. We confess to not having time to take it in on our recent visit, but it receives great feedback and certainly ought to be worth a visit if you have some time to spare in Saigon.
Cu Chi
The Cu Chi Tunnels vie with the War Remnants Museum as Saigon’s most popular site. The famous Vietnam War-period secret Vietcong tunnels are actually some distance out of town, but Cu Chi District is still included in the HCM City metropolitan area. It’s also an outdoor (well, underground), historic site but comes with an exhibition centre, collection of artefacts and the inevitable mock-up dioramas, so, as with the Vinh Moc Tunnels below, we’re classifying it as an outdoor museum. It can get very busy, which, with its low and narrow tunnels, is not ideal. Only small sections of the extensive complex are open to the public and frankly, most of the sections you see have been considerably altered and enlarged for tourists. Personally, we could also do without the rather absurd (but not surprisingly popular) adjacent shooting range, which allows visitors to grab selfies of themselves shooting AK47s!
If you’ve visited the Vietcong tunnel complex at Vinh Moc (see below), which is far less crowded and more authentic, then we see little point in heading through the congested suburbs to Cu Chi.
Provincial Museums
Most larger towns and provincial capitals will have some kind of city museum, but we’re just going to include a few of the better-known ones on our Vietnam museums list, as well as those relevant to our tour itineraries below.
Cham Museum, Danang
Small but spectacular display of ancient Cham sculptures and statuary originating mainly at the nearby ancient city and UNESCO World Heritage Site of My Son. The predominantly Hindu, Cham culture flourished along the central coast in earlier times and at its peak rivalled Angkor as the principal power in Southeast Asia. A fascinating and little-known period of Vietnamese history.
Can Tho Museum, or the Mekong Delta Museum
Not worth going out of your way for, but if you’ve a spare hour or so in Can Tho, this centrally located provincial museum is worth checking out. Exhibitions cover the peoples and traditional livelihoods of the Delta region, including those of its significant Cham and Khmer minorities. Excellent background for any Mekong Delta tour.
Vinh Moc Tunnels
The Vinh Moc Vietnam War tunnel system is to our minds, far superior to the aforementioned, albeit much better known, tunnels at Cu Chi. With a coastal location in the former DMZ (demilitarised zone), approximately halfway between Dong Hoi and Quang Tri in central Vietnam, the site is rather off the main tourist routes and correspondingly sees far fewer visitors. No less than three levels of the labyrinth are open to visitors and include a hospital, lecture hall, living accommodation and so on as well as a secret opening directly onto the beach, which allowed for supplies to be brought in by boat under cover of darkness. The tunnels have been cleared and enlarged where necessary, but are not over-manicured and retain a very authentic feel.
There are the inevitable dioramas with life-sized dummies, as well as period artefacts and a small exhibition centre (justifying our museum status). Highly recommended.
Xe (Xeo) Quit
As with Vinh Moc, Xe or Xeo Quit is strictly speaking more of a historic site than a classic-style museum. The secret base continues the Vietcong theme, although, as it was constructed in a swamp, the ‘tunnels’ are vegetation-covered streams rather than underground constructions. The dense jungle setting is picturesque but importantly served to hide the base from the US forces for the entirety of the conflict. The fascinating visit is partly by canoe along the streams and partly by foot along wooden walkways. A series of dugouts, a lookout tower and bamboo structures which served as living quarters, a lecture room, cooking area etc, are preserved.
The site is located in the Delta, close to Vinh Long Town and while popular with local visitors, sees very few foreigners. Also strongly recommended.
Xe Quit – former secret Vietcong base in the Delta Vietnam Museums on our tours
As we said earlier, museums can be a tricky inclusion so our strategy is to feature what we’d consider essential Vietnam museums – and those that offer a wider appeal – and keep the others as suggestions for visits during free periods. As with all our Southeast Asian small groups tours, we deliberately avoid cramming too much into itineraries, so for stays in Hanoi and Saigon, for instance, there is always some built-in downtime. Both our Hanoi and Saigon accommodation choices are central and many of the above Vietnam museums not specifically part of our tours, are within short walks of our hotels.
Hanoi to Saigon
Our 17-day Hanoi to Saigon tour includes Hanoi’s Ho Chi Minh Museum and Museum of Ethnology as well as the Vinh Moc tunnels. The Danang Cham Museum is also included along with the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. Finally, the Delta section covers Xe Quit.
World Heritage Sites of Vietnam
Since this 13-day tour ends in Danang, the Vietnam World Heritage itinerary includes all of the above with the exception of the Saigon Museum and Xe Quit.
Vietnam and Cambodia Overland
Both the shorter, 12-day Saigon to Angkor and Vietnam and Cambodia Overland feature the Saigon War Remnants Museum and Xe Quit while some free time in Can Tho affords an optional visit to the Can Tho Museum should you so desire.
