Ho Chi Minh Road Central Highlands: Khe Sanh to Kon Tum

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Khe Sanh

   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.

   Read the complete Khe Sanh write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Khe Sanh is where the day begins. Next is A Luoi.

2. 2. A Lưới

   A Lưới lies in a long, narrow valley in the mountains of Thừa Thiên Huế province, close to the border with Laos, in country of steep forested ridges that catch the clouds. The valley is known by an older name, the A Shau, and it is remembered for the heavy fighting that took place here during the Vietnam War, when it served as a major corridor for the Ho Chi Minh trail. In May 1969, a battle for a hill nearby, known to American troops as Hamburger Hill, became a symbol of the war's costs. Today, A Lưới is a quiet district town with a market, fields of rice and a few memorial sites.

   Read the complete A Luoi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   A Lưới comes up about 106 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kon Tum.

3. 3. Kon Tum

   Kon Tum is a small, quiet city in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, at about five hundred metres above sea level, where the Dak Bla River winds through a plateau of red earth, coffee, rubber and pepper. It is a place where the Vietnamese world meets the world of the highland peoples, the Bahnar, Sedang and Jarai among them, whose villages, longhouses and traditions still survive in the surrounding hills. The city is often overlooked in favour of busier places, which is part of its appeal.

   Read the complete Kon Tum write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 491 km.