Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi

Decided to be touristy and try this place out, thought it was going to be small trek and for us to be in and out in half an hour but I was pleasantly surprised at the interesting history and wealth of information and exhibits provided, we spent 2 hours here! 30,000 dong entrance fee and would recommend paying the extra 20,000 for the little info booklet (we just bought one between the two of us) as it puts a lot in context and is a good read in itself! The exhibits were well laid out and informative as well as quite emotive, not to be a sad sap but I had tears in my eyes at a couple of points! Felt this has been one of my favorite excursions in terms of learning about Vietnamese history and brilliant value for an afternoon out. Would definitely recommend a visit!

Really enjoyed this visit. It’s well set out with good exhibits and it wasn’t too crowded. Entry was 30000 dong. I did the audio tour which made it so much better. You get to hear the stories behind the pictures you see. Really good. Of course, there is the odd bit of communist distortion of the truth/events so be open minded about what you hear regarding the war because not everything told is historically accurate. There is no mention of the extreme torture the captured American pilots were subjected to. In fact according to the prison narrative the prisoners were treated like it was home away from home. It's the biggest, most obvious lie presented by Vietnam in all the museums I've been to. The audio tour costs 50000 dong plus the same as a deposit which you get back at the end.