Extremely mountainous, Dien Bien is one of the newest provinces in Vietnam, having been split off from Lai Chau further to the north. The province features some of the most exhilarating mountainous terrain in all of Vietnam. Winding along the rugged road that is Highway 6, one deep valley is followed by another, often with rice paddies dug in steps along the sides of the hills, reaching up to incredible, and seemingly inaccessible heights. But look close, and you may spy a lone figure climbing up a 70-degree slop with a full load of firewood on their back. It's easy to see why the Montagnards were such a critical asset in transporting supplies and equipment during both Indochinese wars — they'd been training for it since birth.
North Vietnam packages
Much of the province remains undeveloped and seldom-visited, perhaps because so much of it shares a border with Laos, and decent through-roads linking the two countries have been a long time in coming. The border crossing at Tay Trung (Sop Hun on the Laos side) is open for business and foreigners can pass through here.
The provincial capital, Dien Bien Phu, is mostly a mix of ethnic Viet Kinh (the majority ethnic group of the country) and White Thai, with other minorities inhabiting the outlying areas, but is best know for the battle of the same name which pretty much marked the beginning of the end — or more like the end of the beginning of the end — for the French involvement in Vietnam.
 |
| Dien Bien Phu Travel Guide |
The long, wide valley that encloses the town was the scene of a fierce, 57-day siege on French positions that decisively ended French rule in Indochina, and, in doing so, inspired anti-colonialist, revolutionary movements around the world and set the stage for some of the most pivotal events of the second half of the 20th century.
MEKONG EYES
Now little remains of the battlefield itself — the trenches, barbed wire, encampments, and battlelines that once criss-crossed the terrain have long since been erased to make room for development and agriculture. But a handful of war vestiges have been carefully preserved, constituting a series of exhibits that tourists can view and learn from, with or without a guide, in the course of a day.
This is, by far, the chief reason any tourist ever visits Dien Bien Phu at all, and for French travellers looking to get in touch with that important, decidedly chequered, chapter of their history, a stop here is de rigeur. But for most other travellers, a trip to A1 Hill and the museum will offer all the coverage of the event that they need.
Aside from the history on display, Dien Bien Phu presents little more that a sprawling, dusty, nondescript border town
The Tay Trung Border
You may also need to pass through Dien Bien Phu if you are coming or going through Tay Trung/Sop Hun, the border crossing with Laos, 34 km to the southwest. This provides and interesting new route for travelling from northern Laos directly to Hanoi without having to dip down to Luang Prabang or Vientiane
It's still sparsely-used by foreigners, but you can get a Laotian visa-on-arrival when crossing into Laos, and, as ever, most nationalities must already have obtained a valid Vietnamese visa when crossing the other way.
The best option for crossing into Laos is to take the bus direct from Dien Bien Phu to Muang Khua in Phongsali province. The bus leaves at 05:30 and costs 88,000 VND. There's little reason to just arrange travel to the border but if you want to your best bet is to take a xe om which will cost around 130,000.
