Dong Ha is a city in Quang Tri Province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. It was the capital of Quang Tri until Quang Tri was merged with Quang Binh Province in July 2025. Quang Binh lost its name in the merger, but Dong Hoi (the capital of Quang Binh) became the capital of the newly-merged province.
Dong Ha is not a touristy town, though you might pass through here if you are doing a DMZ tour. It was the northernmost city in South Vietnam, and the city was in ruins by the time the war ended. There is not much to see in the city.
My main reason to visit was to see an old train station as part of my Rail Vietnam project. I was also in the process of visiting every provincial capital in Vietnam. My list has been shortened now that the provincial mergers have demoted Dong Ha and other cities as capitals. I haven’t decided what to do with this list, though I will probably still visit the cities that are no longer capitals.
I was here in October 2025, and during my trip Dong Ha was on the edge of a tropical storm that was barrelling towards the coast further south. I wasn’t lashing rain, but it was a persistent sideways drizzle with a wind that destroys umbrellas.
It also didn’t help that the main thoroughfare was being renovated, so the site of grey and wet construction material wasn’t leaving a great first impression.
Despite the rain hampering my exploration hours, I was able to visit the main sites. These are my notes on Dong Ha.
Old Dong Ha Station
I have been through Dong Ha before on the train, and I noticed some military trophies near the railway in the city centre.
This was the location of the old Dong Ha Station. Most of Dong Ha was obliterated during the war, so there isn’t any obvious architectural sign that this was a station. It is marked on Google Maps as the old station, and the site is now a memorial to the war.
Here is my article about old Dong Ha Station.
Central Market
As I have mentioned before, if you are in a new provincial city of Vietnam and don’t know where to start exploring, start with the central market. Dong Ha Market is in a distinctive building that stands out from the surrounding modern buildings.
Another thing to consider when visiting a new province in Vietnam is to see if there are any regional food specialties.
Vietnam is hit-or-miss when it comes to providing useful information on their official tourism portals, so I was surprised to find a useful article about food in Quang Tri on the Quang Tri government tourism website.
With this list I went to the amazing food hall at the market, which is a round building with a covered dome.
It was enjoyable walking around looking at what the vendors had to offer, and everyone was enthusiastically saying hello to me as I was the only foreigner in the market.
I found what I was looking for (Quang Tri jackfruit noodles), but even if I didn’t know what I was looking for I would have been stopped in my tracks by the presentation.
Another lady came over and sold me on the banh loc (cassava cake). I recognised these from the Quang Tri food list, so I bought a plate (well done Quang Tri tourism board, your blog post helped make a sale). The caphe lady then found me, which was an easy sale. Everyone was so nice so it was hard to say no to the other vendors.
I was on my way out and then I met the juice lady. She grabbed my arm in the way that Vietnamese grandmas do that make it impossible to say no.
I ordered an orange juice with no sugar, and she was so incredulous that I didn’t want sugar that she brought the jug of sugar to me in case I changed my mind.
Provincial musuem
Every provincial capital has a provincial museum, and they usually have some war remnants on the property.
I don’t know what will happen to the provincial museums in the demoted capitals, as the Quang Tri capital is now Dong Hoi. For now, there is still a Quang Tri provincial museum in Dong Ha.
[Missile at Quang Tri Museum.]
Le Duan
A giant figure in 20th century Vietnamese history is Le Duan. I mentioned in my notes on Buon Ma Thuot that streets named Le Duan in Vietnam are usually one of the most prominent streets in the city (such as Le Duan in HCMC, which leads to the gates of the Independence Palace).
Le Duan was from Quang Tri, and he became the leader of North Vietnam after Ho Chi Minh died. It was seen as symbolic that someone from the south (just) was the leader of the north.
Fidel Memorial Park
I saw a park on the map named Fidel Memorial Park and I thought, “like Fidel Castro?”
Yes, there is a Fidel Castro Park in Dong Ha, named in honour of Castro for his visit to the liberated region in southern Vietnam in 1973.
Mine Action Visitor Center
Dong Ha is the base for Project RENEW, which is an organisation that is removing unexploded ordnance (UXO) and providing risk education and victim assistance.
Project RENEW has information about their work and the war in Quang Tri at the Mine Action Visitor Center.
The Mine Action Visitor Center is a small museum that has photos and war remnants on display.
This museum is a reminder of why there are no historic old buildings in Dong Ha.
This map shows why they will be still be clearing the land of UXO for decades to come.
I was in Dong Ha a few months after the provincial mergers had taken place. It occurred to me while looking at this old DMZ map that the merging of Quang Binh and Quang Tri has erased the old border between north and south.
Quang Tri province is now where north and south was divided, so it seems fitting that this former divide no longer exists on a provincial level.
If you are visiting Quang Tri then visiting the sites of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) is a must. I had been to Quang Tri province in 2005 when I did a DMZ day trip from Hue. DMZ tours have changed over the last 20 years as it is now more feasible to do a one-way trip from Hue to the DMZ to Dong Hoi, instead of backtracking to Hue. From Dong Hoi you can go to Phong Nha.
I was glad to visit Dong Ha this time as well. I like to visit unassuming provincial cities after I have been somewhere overly touristy (such as Da Nang and Hue), and my experience at the market showed how welcoming the people of Dong Ha are.
The government tourism board describes Quang Tri as the heroic land. The writer of this articles describes Quang Tri’s main tourism specialties:
“What are the specialties of that land? I keep joking, Quang Tri has a specialty called “bomb”, a specialty that few places have as much as Quang Tri.”
Dong Ha to Vinh
From Dong Ha Station I got the train to Vinh. Stay tuned for my notes on Vinh.
I like those little towns especially when they are not “famous” in any country. Thank you for another tour.