The facts
| Figure | |
|---|---|
| Islands | 16 mountainous islands and islets |
| Land area | 75.15 km² |
| Population | 8,827 at the 2019 census |
| Distance | 185 km from Vung Tau, 230 km from Ho Chi Minh City |
| Administration | Ho Chi Minh City’s only special zone |
| Protected | 1984, enlarged 1998 |
| Wildlife | Hawksbill and green sea turtles, dolphins, dugong |
| Airport | Capacity of 400,000 passengers a year |
Disclosure: VietSIM sells prepaid eSIMs for Vietnam. We sell no tours, book no boats and have no relationship with any operator on the islands.
Two reasons to come, and they do not match
Con Dao is a group of 16 mountainous islands and islets covering 75.15 square kilometres, about 185 kilometres off Vung Tau, with 8,827 residents at the 2019 census. It is administered as Ho Chi Minh City’s only special zone, which is worth knowing when a booking form asks for a province.
The first reason people come is the sea. The second is Con Dao Prison, on Con Son Island, which became notorious during the French colonial era, the tiger cages among the reasons. France took control of the islands in 1861.
Those two reasons sit awkwardly together, and pretending otherwise produces a bad trip. The prison sites are memorials. Visit them first, on a day you have set aside for them, rather than between swims.
What protection means here
Protected status was granted in 1984 and enlarged in 1998, over land and sea. The species that status exists for include the hawksbill turtle, the green sea turtle, dolphins and the dugong.
That is the practical basis for rules you will meet on boats and beaches: where you may land, when you may be on a nesting beach, how close a boat may go. They are not local colour. Treat instructions from guides and rangers as the reason they are present.
Older than the prison
The islands were a remote outpost long before the colonial prison. The East India Company established an English settlement here in 1702, and it was abandoned after a mutiny by Bugis mercenaries on 2 March 1705. Isolation is the constant in this archipelago’s history, and everything built here follows from it.
Getting there
By air, Con Dao Airport has a capacity of 400,000 passengers a year. By sea, a hydrofoil from Vung Tau began in February 2019 and takes four to five hours, an overnight ferry runs daily from Vung Tau, and a passenger ferry from Soc Trang opened in 2016 with a three hour crossing.
Getting to the ports in the first place is road travel from the south, covered in sleeper buses in Vietnam, usually starting from Ho Chi Minh City. Southern seasons are in when to go to Vietnam, and since coverage offshore is not the mainland’s, size your plan before you sail: how much mobile data for Vietnam with the plans in the Vietnam eSIM store.