Côn Đảo is an archipelago off the southern coast of Vietnam. Con Dao is also an island of immense natural beauty with forested hills, deserted sandy beaches and extensive coral reefs making for some excellent diving.
Con Dao served as a prison island for political prisoners during the French colonial era, when it was known as Poulo Condore, and in later years the Saigon regime imprisoned opponents of the regime in the infamous cells known as the "tiger cages". The old prison buildings are still standing and are open to the public as is a small museum tracing the island's history. Con Dao is a shining example of good conservation. 80% of the land area of the archipelago is a national park offering primary jungle teeming with interesting life such as the endemic black squirrel and the crab eating macaque. Beautiful beaches and hidden lagoons are also to be found here, with very few tourists.
Con Son Village is small, flat and easily traversed on foot. Because of the intense sun and very little shade on the streets, walking is best left for the morning or evening. Motorbikes can be easily rented from main hotels and there is relatively little traffic. There has been an enormous increase in the number of motorbikes for rent. Better deals are often found outside of hotels, as the hotels mark up the same bikes you can hire locally. See also Vietnam by motorcycle. There is only one petrol station on the island and it is only open 07:00-10:30 and 14:00-16:00. Be sure to get a bike with a full tank of gas as there is none available for sale on the streets as in the rest of Vietnam.
Con Dao has great historical import and attracts Vietnamese and increasing numbers of tourists to the renovated prisons. Prisoners were kept in extremely overcrowded conditions on the island and as many as 20,000 are believed to have died here. A guide from the nearby Revolutionary Museum costs less than US$1 and includes an informative guided tour. The prison cemetery is a national shrine to more than 20,000 heroes. You will not score any points here by wearing short pants, or showing your shoulders in and around the cemetery. Do not even think about riding your motorbike over the graves! The Vietnamese come to this island for the sole purpose of visiting this cemetery.
Con Dao has the best diving in Vietnam. You can dive most times of the year as there are 16 islands to choose from and you can get good visibility pretty much most of the year. Having dive insurance is mandatory in Con Dao due to its remote location. Dive! Dive! Dive!, 4 Nguyen Hue St. Daily dive and snorkelling trips from a 15-m custom-built dive boat or 5-m speedboat. Opened in 2010 and affiliated with SSI, owned by an American. Having completed more than 1,000 dives on the islands, there is simply nobody who knows the diving better. They are the only full-time resident expats and the only fully Western-owned and operated business on the island. Turtle trips in season.
The town hotels all have restaurants open to the public. See Sleep. Noodle Shop (Nguyen Hue St and Vo Thi Sau St, when you drive east on the left side). For lunchtime, you can also find some local restaurants that serve good noodle soups for 15,000 dong. This is one of them. Phuong Han, 38C Nguyen Hue. Popular with the tourist crowd. Atmosphere needs some work, but the food is good and it is reasonably priced. Very popular for lunch. Tri Ky, Nguyen Duc Thuan St. Offers tasty, fresh seafood at reasonable prices, and has an English menu available, although offerings are relatively sparse. Bar200, Pham Van Dong.
Beer is available at hotels and restaurants. Cocktails and mixed drinks when offered on hotel menus will not always be available. There is a shop near the market which has a surprisingly excellent selection of wine and sells cold beer. Join the fishermen if you are in Con Dao during their few returns to dry land. They enjoy sitting on the street with a case of beer drinking and chatting. By and large they are very friendly, but don't be surprised if you attract a few stares as a foreigner. While a few drinks with the fishermen can be OK, in fact they are not supposed to be moored in this harbour.
Con Dao is remote. As in all of rural and most of developed Vietnam, medical care is rudimentary. Evacuation by helicopter to Saigon takes 5 hours, costs US$5,000 and must be prepaid in cash. Serious issues that need evacuation to Thailand will require 8 or more hours as a result of the government not allowing "Medical Wings" access to Con Dao without first stopping in Saigon adding four hours to the trip and costing US$30,000. So if you are considering travel here, consider getting good travel insurance.
Guide content from Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA) — abridged; the full article has much more.
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In Oct, Con Dao typically sees ~30°C daytime highs and 29 rainy days.
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