Con Dao
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Con Dao is sixteen islands off the southern coast, about 230 km from Ho Chi Minh City, of which only Con Son is inhabited. It is a national park, a diving destination, and a former prison island, and it does not resolve those into one mood.
Everything on the site about the islands is collected here.
What is actually on the island?
A prison complex and a national park, a few kilometres apart. Under French rule and then through the war, the authorities held political prisoners here. Conditions earned the island the name Devil's Island. The sites open as museums now, with more than two thousand exhibits between them.
The tiger cages are the part people come away describing: open-topped stone cells overlooked from above. It is a heavy morning, closer to the War Remnants Museum in weight than to anything else on a beach holiday.
The park is the other half. Coral reefs, mangrove forest and seagrass beds, the last of which still support dugongs — an animal that has disappeared from most of its old range.
How far out is it?
About 230 km from the mainland, roughly 45 minutes by air from Saigon. The archipelago covers about 76 square kilometres of land across its 16 islands, and Con Dao National Park protects most of that plus around 14,000 hectares of sea.
The distance is why the island stayed a prison colony for so long, and why it is still quiet.
When do the turtles nest?
May to October, peaking between June and September. Bay Canh island inside the national park is the most important nesting site in Vietnam. The park runs the visits; nobody arranges them privately.
Nesting season overlaps the good sea months, which is convenient, and it also runs into the wet ones. The peak weeks sit inside the window where both work.
What is there to do besides the prison?
The water is the other answer. Con Dao has the clearest sea in the country and the fewest boats on it — see diving in Vietnam for seasons and prices.
Get in the water, or walk. Con Dao National Park covers most of the archipelago on land and a wide area of sea around it. Diving and snorkelling are why most people stay more than two nights.
16 islands make up the group and only Con Son carries a town. The rest is boat trips: reefs, empty beaches, and the nesting island in season. The park sells the permits and runs the guides.
On land the island is small enough to circle on a scooter in a morning: the cemetery, the lighthouse road, beaches with nobody on them. That emptiness is the whole appeal, and it is what puts Con Dao at the top of Vietnam's beaches for anyone willing to spend a flight on it. It also makes the island a poor choice for anyone who wants something to do after dark.
How long does it need?
Three nights. One is the prison and the museums, one is under the water, and the third is the one that stops the island feeling like a schedule.
How do you get there?
By air from Ho Chi Minh City in about an hour, from roughly 100 US dollars. There is no other quick route: the island has an airport and a ferry pier and nothing else.
Ferries are the slower alternative and cheaper. Tran De is the shortest crossing at two and a half hours; Vung Tau is four to five and costs around 60 dollars. Rough weather stops both, and between August and November that is common.
Which season are you booking?
March to September for the sea, November to July for dry weather, and the overlap is the answer. Con Dao runs two seasons rather than four: dry from November to July, wet from August to October.
March to September is when the water is calm and the visibility best. That matters here, because most of what the island offers is under it. Book inside that and the diving, the snorkelling and the boat transfers all work.
How does it compare with Phu Quoc?
Con Dao is quieter and much less served. Phu Quoc has several airlines running the route many times a day and forgives a change of plan. Con Dao has around ten departures, and the last goes in the afternoon.
Frequency is the whole practical difference. Our week in the south puts Con Dao at the end of the trip for that reason. A missed flight there costs a night, not an hour.
FAQ
How do you get to Con Dao?
By air from Ho Chi Minh City, about an hour, with fares from roughly 100 US dollars. Ferries also run — two and a half hours from Tran De, four to five from Vung Tau at around 60 dollars — but sailings are cancelled in rough weather between August and November.
What is Con Dao known for?
Two things that sit oddly together. It was a prison island under French rule and through the war, nicknamed Devil's Island, and the prison sites and their tiger cages are open as museums. It is also a national park with coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass beds.
When do the turtles nest on Con Dao?
May to October, with the peak between June and September. Bay Canh island, inside the national park, is the most important sea turtle nesting site in Vietnam, and visits run through the park rather than independently.
When is the best time to visit Con Dao?
March to September, when the sea is calm and visibility is best for snorkelling and diving. The island runs two seasons rather than four, dry from November to July and wet from August to October, and the wet months are also when boats stop running.
Is Con Dao worth it on a short trip?
Only at the end of one. It is served far less frequently than Phu Quoc, with roughly ten departures a day and none of them late, so a missed flight costs a night rather than an hour. Put it last in a trip and never in the middle.