Hỏa Lò Prison Relic

Why go

The Hỏa Lò Prison Relic is the preserved south-eastern part of the prison built by the French colonial authorities in 1896, which its management board says held many Vietnamese patriots and revolutionaries and, from 1964 to 1973, captured American pilots who called it the 'Hanoi Hilton'. In 1993 the government changed the use of the prison site; the remaining part was restored and classified as a historical relic of Hanoi, with a memorial to those who died there. The site is run by the Hỏa Lò Prison Relic Management Board, a cultural public-service unit that reports to the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism that preserves and displays its documents and artefacts. Its visitor rules say visitors may come in groups or individually and groups can contact the board directly or by phone, bags go to the designated place, smoking and moving exhibits are forbidden, and incense and flowers are placed only in the memorial area.