Great immersive spaces that gives great insights of life as a prisoner. The area can be covered in under an hour but for audio tours which I would recommend might take much longer due to the variety of content. Highly recommended.

The historical dates. timelines and general accounts are valuable, especially since most people under age 60 don’t really know much about the Vietnam wars. I agree with so many previous reviews about making the treatment of the Americans seem like a resort and not a “hell on Earth” as it really was. Leave a couple of hours to go through it thoroughly. Howard S.

This museum gives an inside view of the life of the prisioners - where they lived, how they were treated etc. It has the orginal prision gate & the guillotene on display. It has nice pictures & other items thru which visitors can experience the prision life. NIce museum worth visiting once.

This was our number one half-day out in Vietnam (along with the water puppets). You had audio in several languages and easy to find your way around. It is not for the faint hearted though, the conditions that the Vietnamese and US prisoners experienced was horrific.

I visted the Hoa Lo Prison. First, the good. I learned so much about the French occupation and the following repression of the Vietnamese Rebles. Now the bad. The American Vietnam War section was not balanced. I would say the museum did not address the harsh treatment of American POWs, but nor did I expect it to shine a light on that dark history.

I visited this place because it was recommended in the guidebook. The exhibits are so painful and shocking that you can't help but look away when you enter. Facilities like this should be preserved for future generations. Many visitors stopped to look at the exhibits. They seem to have earphones for foreign languages, so why not use them? As an aside, I was surprised to see that the Ho Chi Minh sandals I had been looking for were on sale at the shop, and although they were the regular price, they were cheaper than I expected, so I bought them. Also, while there are many tourists from Western countries and Asia, such as France and the United States, in Vietnam, I saw many young Japanese tourists here. I went there as a set with a famous and popular Asian restaurant and chocolate shop nearby.

It was truly a meaningful place where I could learn a lot about Vietnamese history!!! If I have another opportunity in the future, I will definitely come with other friends and family to share what I felt and increase the value of the trip. Hanoi, the center of Vietnam, is the best!

Very informative visit. Individual headset to hear the commentary for each exhibit. The information in the rooms were well presented. It was busy, but we were able to get around easily and see everything. Some of the rooms had seats so we were not constantly standing. There was a shop on site although we didn't buy anything. Although not air conditioned, there were air fans in most of the rooms.

A visit not to be missed for its historical weight, but ALSO FOR THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT.. The entire exhibition is done with very impactful realism. There is no chance of not being affected. It is common to find former prisoners visiting with their families, which further reinforces the emotional nature that the visit imposes. The exhibition respects the temporal evolution of the prison and the most relevant events that took place there.

A must do in Hanoi. I got the audio tour (highly recommend) and my wife and daughters (18, 15), didn’t get the audio. The audio was great, adding prisoners’ stories to the tour and getting a true sense of what it was like. At time it was devastating and other times uplifting with the courage of the prisoners. American part showed well looked after prisoners, so take that how you want to due to the two different sides of the story. Whole family appreciated the information presented in this well set out tour.