Things to Do in Con Dao: History, Diving, and National Park Trails
Con Dao’s must-see list splits into three groups: the preserved prison complex and Hang Duong Cemetery, diving and snorkeling around Bay Canh and Cau Islands, and Con Dao National Park’s hiking trails and beaches, including Dam Trau, famous for planes appearing to land just above the sand. Most visitors need at least three days to cover a meaningful cross-section of all three without rushing.
What Are the Must-See Historic Sites?
Phu Hai Prison and the French-built “tiger cages” are the most visited historic sites in Con Dao, showing the cramped, narrow cells used to hold political prisoners under French colonial and later South Vietnamese and American-backed rule. Hang Duong Cemetery, a short distance away, holds more than 20,000 graves from across the prison era, though only around 2,000 are individually marked and identified. The most visited grave belongs to Vo Thi Sau, a resistance fighter executed on Con Son at nineteen years old in 1952, whose grave has become a genuine pilgrimage site. Visitors, many of them Vietnamese, arrive throughout the night and especially around midnight to leave incense, flowers, and fruit, a tradition worth witnessing even briefly if your schedule allows an evening visit rather than only a daytime one. The Con Dao Museum, in town, adds context to both sites with exhibits on the prison system and the island’s wartime history.
| Activity | Best For | Time Needed |
|---|---|---|
| Phu Hai Prison & tiger cages | History and understanding the island’s past | 1.5–2 hours |
| Hang Duong Cemetery & Vo Thi Sau’s grave | A quieter, reflective visit, ideally at dusk or later | 45 minutes–1 hour |
| Diving or snorkeling at Bay Canh / Cau Island | Vietnam’s best reef diving and coral snorkeling | Full day (boat trip) |
| Sea turtle tour (May–October) | Watching nesting and hatchling releases | Evening + early morning |
| Ong Dung Trail, Con Dao National Park | A forest hike ending at a quiet beach and coral reef | 2–3 hours round trip |
| Dam Trau Beach | Swimming, and watching planes land overhead | 2–3 hours |
TTC Verdict: See the prison sites and Hang Duong Cemetery on the same day, ideally finishing at the cemetery around dusk. Save a full separate day for diving or snorkeling, since combining a boat trip with anything else on the same day rarely works logistically.
Vo Thi Sau Grave: Karel Bilek / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Con Dao Airport: Patrick Farrelly / CC BY 3.0
What Should You Do in Con Dao National Park?
Con Dao National Park protects both the forested interior of the main island and a large surrounding marine area, and its trail system is the best way to see the forest side of that protection up close. The Ong Dung Trail, roughly four kilometers round trip, cuts through coastal forest to a quiet beach with a fringing coral reef good for snorkeling directly from shore. Rangers at the park’s visitor center can also arrange the seasonal sea turtle tours and advise on which trails are open, since some routes close periodically for conservation reasons. If you’d rather book ahead, a small-group island-hopping and snorkeling trip to Bay Canh like this one on Klook covers the same reef and, in season, the turtle-release experience.
Diving or snorkeling around Bay Canh and Cau Islands is generally considered the top activity in Con Dao, since the surrounding reefs are regarded as some of the best in Vietnam, though the prison historic sites are an equally essential, very different kind of must-see.
Vo Thi Sau was a resistance fighter executed on Con Son at nineteen years old in 1952, and her grave at Hang Duong Cemetery has become a genuine pilgrimage site, with visitors arriving throughout the night, especially around midnight, to leave incense and offerings.
Sea turtle nesting and hatchling tours only run from roughly May through October, so travelers visiting outside that window will not be able to join a turtle-watching tour, though diving trips may still encounter turtles in the water year-round.
