Khe Sanh is a name that carries weight: for eleven weeks in the spring of 1968, a US Marine combat base on this plateau was besieged by North Vietnamese forces in one of the most closely watched battles of the war, and the red-earth hills around the town still bear the scars. A small museum on the site of the old base displays aircraft, bunkers and artefacts, and the overgrown airstrip is still visible. The place is quiet now, a market town of the Hướng Hóa district in Quảng Trị province, and the war is remembered with solemnity rather than spectacle.
Today the plateau is better known for coffee. The red basaltic soil and cool highland climate suit Arabica, and the hills around Khe Sanh are planted with coffee, pepper and cassava, with local cooperatives roasting and selling the beans. The town sits on Highway 9, the old road to Laos, which climbs from the coast through Đông Hà and reaches the border at Lao Bảo about thirty kilometres to the west. The Ho Chi Minh Road, a modern highway built on the line of the wartime supply trail, runs north and south through the mountains nearby.
For a rider on the route from Phong Nha toward A Lưới, Khe Sanh is a natural pause. The roads here are long and winding, through hills clothed in forest, with sudden valleys and waterfalls, and the surface is generally good on the main route, though patchy in places. Heavy rain, especially from September to December, can bring landslides, and mist often hangs on the heights. Dry-season months, from about February to May, are easier, though hot at lower altitudes.
Fuel is available in town, and it is wise to fill the tank, since stretches between stations can be long. Eat at a local café, with strong Vietnamese coffee and a bowl of noodles or rice and grilled pork, and the people are friendly. Respect the sites and the unexploded ordnance warnings: never stray off marked paths, as bombs and mines from the war still lie in the soil. Nearby, the old Lang Vei and Rockpile sites tell more of the story.