Con Dao is sixteen islands about 230 kilometres off the southern coast of Vietnam, and for 113 years it was a prison. The French opened the penal colony in 1862 and used it for the anticolonial movement; the South Vietnamese government and its American advisers continued it, and the tiger cages, small stone pits with bars across the top where prisoners were held and lime was thrown down on them, were exposed to the world by American journalists in 1970 and caused a scandal that reached Congress.
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Around twenty thousand people are believed to have died here. The Hang Duong cemetery holds many of them, and Vietnamese visitors come at midnight to the grave of Vo Thi Sau, a teenage resistance fighter executed in 1952 and now a national heroine and, unofficially, something close to a saint. That is the primary reason Vietnamese people visit. Foreign visitors mostly come for the other thing Con Dao has, which is a national park covering most of the land and sea, turtles that nest in the thousands, and beaches with nobody on them.
What Makes Con Dao Different to Pack For
Getting there is the hard part
Flights go from Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho on small turboprops with strict and low baggage allowances, and they are cancelled in bad weather. The ferry from Vung Tau or Soc Trang takes several hours and is genuinely rough from October to February, when the northeast monsoon hits this coast side on.
Two seasons that change everything
March to September is the dry season with calm seas, the best diving and snorkelling, and turtle nesting from roughly June to September. October to February brings wind, rough crossings, cancelled boats and rain, though the island is at its greenest.
Temperatures run 26°C to 32°C year round. A merino wool base layer for women covers the flight, the boat and the air conditioning, and it is the right fibre for several days of humidity without laundry, which Con Dao's limited services make likely.
Cash, and the absence of it
ATMs exist in Con Son town and they run out, particularly at weekends and around Vietnamese holidays. Card acceptance outside the resorts is patchy. Bring cash from the mainland.
A memorial site and a beach island at the same time
You will visit prison museums and a cemetery, and swim the same afternoon. The clothing for the first is not the clothing for the second, and turning up at Hang Duong in beachwear is the mistake to avoid.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Con Dao Packing List
Footwear
Sandals or flip flops for the town and the beaches, plus closed shoes for the prison sites, where the floors are broken stone and gravel, and for the national park.
For the walk over the ridge to Dam Trau, the trail to Ong Dung beach or the climb to the So Ray plantation viewpoint, waterproof hiking shoes are the right tool. The trails are steep, rooty and slippery, and the forest is wet.
Clothing
Light and quick drying for the heat, with one set that is unambiguously respectful: covered shoulders and knees, nothing bright or revealing, for the cemetery and the prison museums. Many Vietnamese visitors dress formally for Hang Duong and arrive with offerings.
Long sleeves for the sun and the mosquitoes. A cover up between beach and town, since Con Dao is a small conservative place rather than a resort strip.
For sun
A wide brim sun hat with a strap, high factor reef safe sunscreen and sunglasses. The island is close to the equator, the beaches have little shade, and boat days are fully exposed.
For rain
A packable rain jacket, particularly from October to February. Rain here comes with wind, which is why the crossings are cancelled.
For the water
Snorkel and mask if you have them, since rental quality is variable and the reefs are the reason to be here. Reef shoes for the rockier entries. A dry bag for boat trips.
Health and practicalities
A proper first aid kit, because the island's medical facilities are limited and the pharmacy stock is thin. Repellent with DEET or picaridin for dengue, which bites in daylight. Rehydration salts. Seasickness tablets if you are taking the ferry, taken before boarding.
Cash in dong from the mainland. A power bank. A torch, useful for the Hang Duong cemetery at night, which is when Vietnamese visitors go and when the atmosphere is extraordinary.
What to Wear at Key Sites
Phu Hai prison and the tiger cages
The oldest and largest of the prison compounds, with long communal cells, shackle bars along the floor, and the French tiger cages in a separate walled area, roofless pits with grilles above them from which guards could look down.
Practically: this is not a light morning and the displays do not soften anything. Mannequins are used to show shackling and torture positions and the effect is blunt. Covered clothing, quiet voices, and ask before photographing other visitors, many of whom are descendants of prisoners. The American era tiger cages at Trai Phu Binh are a separate site.
Hang Duong cemetery
Where roughly two thousand of the dead are buried under identified headstones and many thousands more are not. Vo Thi Sau's grave is the focus, and Vietnamese visitors come between about eleven at night and one in the morning with incense, mirrors, combs and white flowers.
Practically: if you go at midnight, and it is worth doing, dress as you would for a funeral, stay at the edge, do not photograph people at prayer, and follow what everyone else does. This is a place of active religious observance, not a tourist site with night opening.
The beaches
Dam Trau in the north near the airport, An Hai and Lo Voi by the town, Nhat beach which is rocky and only sandy at certain tides, and Ong Dung reached by a forest path.
Practically: Dam Trau is the famous one, directly under the flight path, and is now developed and charged for at some entrances. There are no lifeguards anywhere on Con Dao. Currents around the headlands are strong and the sea is open ocean. Jellyfish appear seasonally.
Turtle nesting
Green turtles nest on Bay Canh and other islets from roughly June to September, and the national park runs overnight trips where rangers take small groups to watch nesting and, at the right time, hatchling releases.
Practically: booked through the national park office, limited places, and it means sleeping in a basic ranger station. No white light and no flash, which disorients turtles; a red filtered torch is the correct kit. Follow the ranger exactly. Do not touch anything.
The national park and diving
Most of the archipelago is protected, with coral reefs in reasonable condition by Vietnamese standards, and dugongs present though very rarely seen.
Practically: dive operators are few and seasonal, running mainly March to September. Check certification and equipment carefully, since oversight here is lighter than in Thailand, and remember that the nearest recompression chamber is a flight away on the mainland.
Con Son town
A small French colonial town of tamarind lined streets, the former governor's residence now a museum, and a quiet seafront.
Practically: walkable, pleasant in the evening, and the museum is a good orientation before the prison sites rather than after.
What Not to Bring
Leave the assumption that you can get cash on arrival. Leave beachwear for the memorial sites and the cemetery.
Leave a tight onward schedule, because flights and ferries are cancelled often enough that a same day connection to an international departure is a bad gamble. Leave flash photography anywhere near nesting turtles. Leave illegal drugs entirely out of your thinking, given that Vietnam applies the death penalty for trafficking.
Essential Resources for Women in Con Dao
Emergency numbers in Vietnam: 113 for police, 115 for ambulance, 114 for fire. English is rarely available. On Con Dao, be realistic: the island has limited emergency capacity, and your accommodation, the national park rangers and the district hospital are the practical first calls.
Tourist support: Vietnam has no dedicated tourist police. Report a theft at the district police station in Con Son town, where you will need a Vietnamese speaker, and your hotel is the route to one. The report is needed for insurance and for passport replacement.
US Consulate: the US Consulate General for southern Vietnam is in Ho Chi Minh City at 4 Le Duan Boulevard, telephone +84 28 3520 4200, at vn.usembassy.gov, which is a flight away. There is nothing consular on the island. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel, which matters considerably more on an offshore island than on the mainland.
Main hospital or clinic: Con Dao District Medical Centre handles routine care and stabilisation only. Anything serious means a flight or boat to Ho Chi Minh City, where FV Hospital and Vinmec are the facilities used by foreign visitors, and weather can delay that. There is no recompression chamber on the island, which divers should factor in. Travel insurance with medical evacuation cover is essential rather than advisable here, and check that it covers diving to your intended depth.
Official health authority: the Vietnamese Ministry of Health at moh.gov.vn, with the US Centers for Disease Control destination page for Vietnam the more practical source on dengue and vaccinations.
US State Department travel advisory for Vietnam: current advisory level and detail. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for Vietnam: entry requirements, safety and health guidance, including the advice on sea travel and on the typhoon season, which affects this coast between roughly June and November.
Official tourism authority: the Vietnam national tourism board at vietnam.travel, with the Con Dao National Park office as the essential local contact for turtle watching permits, island boat trips and trail conditions.
Solo women safety assessment: Con Dao is one of the safest places in Vietnam for a woman travelling alone. It is a small island community with almost no crime, essentially no street harassment, and a population used to Vietnamese pilgrims rather than to backpackers, which makes the atmosphere respectful and quiet. Walking alone at night in Con Son town is unremarkable, and going to Hang Duong cemetery at midnight, which sounds alarming written down, is done by hundreds of families and is entirely safe. The risks here are about isolation and the sea, not about people. Medical care is genuinely limited and everything serious requires leaving the island, which weather can prevent for days; that alone argues for caution in everything else you do. There are no lifeguards on any beach, the currents around the headlands are strong, the water is open ocean, and swimming alone at a deserted beach is the single riskiest ordinary activity available here. Snorkel and dive with an operator rather than by yourself. Renting a motorbike is the usual way to get around and the island roads are quiet and scenic, but they are also steep, sandy in places and unlit at night, and the same insurance problem applies as everywhere in Vietnam: without the correct licence you are uninsured. Take a helmet that fits. The coast road to Dam Trau and the Ben Dam pass are the sections where accidents happen. Trails in the national park are poorly marked and phone coverage drops out, so tell someone where you are walking. Finally, plan a buffer day before any onward international flight, because cancelled boats and grounded turboprops are routine here rather than exceptional.
Reading On
Con Dao is the least visited place in Vietnam that is genuinely worth three or four days, and it is the only one where a prison museum and an empty beach sit ten minutes apart. The Vietnam travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the Vietnam packing list for women covers a trip from end to end. On the mainland opposite, the Ho Chi Minh City travel guide for women covers the city the flights leave from, and the Can Tho packing list for women covers the Mekong Delta. Inland and up, the Da Lat packing list for women covers the cool highlands. North, the Hoi An travel guide for women, the Hanoi travel guide for women and the Ha Long Bay travel guide for women cover the rest of the country. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why merino belongs on an island where laundry is difficult and everything is humid, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
