Phu Quoc Prison
The camp where forty thousand prisoners were held, reconstructed on site.
Duration
45 min – 1 hr 15 min
Best time
Mid-morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The camp was opened by the French in 1949, then taken over and enlarged by South Vietnam with American backing: up to forty thousand prisoners were held here during the war, on four hundred hectares in the south of the island.
What you visit today is partly original and partly reconstructed: the barbed-wire tiger cages left out in full sun, the barracks, and life-size figures staging the treatments inflicted. It is direct and documented, with no distance taken.
Getting there
At An Thoi, in the south of the island, on the main road. Thirty-five minutes by scooter from Duong Dong.
Rules on site
The reconstructions are explicit and hard going for young children. The cages are outdoors, with no shade.