Dien Bien Phu Museum

Although a fairly lacklustre tribute to one of the great moments of Vietnamese and twentieth century history, the Dien Bien Phu Museum is where the story of the battle is told. The formula will be familiar if you've visited other Vietnamese museums: lots of photos, various objects from the battle and minimal contextual information. The story goes largely untold but you will get a sense of the heroic effort of the Viet Minh in positioning huge guns in the mountains that first shocked, and then overwhelmed the French forces in the valley. There's also a large diorama of the battle field and the battle's progress.

Outside there's a collection of French and US military junk. The US was already deeply involved in Vietnam by 1954, financing much of the French campaign and providing weapons and materiel.


Travel tips
The museum is close by both Eliane - A1 Hill and the Dien Bien Phu cemetery.