Phnom Penh’s S21 & Killing Fields Tour
The S21 Prison and Killing Fields tours are among the second most popular tourist attractions in Phnom Penh.
Both sites feature unsettling images.
Get Your Guide provides a guided tour for this experience. Here’s their description of the tour:
At 8:00 am, leave your hotel to drive 16 kilometers south of Phnom Penh, the Killing Fields. You will have a powerful and challenging experience. Between 1975 and 1978, the Killing Fields served as the final resting places for more than 17,000 men and women, infants and children. Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge Regime is believed to have killed between 2 million and 4 millions Cambodians. You will be given a tour that is detailed by your guide.
Continue on to Tuol Sleng Museum. Security Prison 21 was established in 1975 when Pol Pot took over the Tuol Svay Prey high school. The prison quickly became the biggest centre for detention and torturing in the entire country. The prisoners were tortured repeatedly and forced to name family and friends, which were then arrested and brought to S21 where they were tortured, and finally killed. Discover the shocking truths about the prison. Your tour ends at 11:00 AM and you will be transferred back to the hotel by your guide.
Travel Tip : We recommend you to take advantage of our audio at S21 (USD 8.00 per person).
S21 – Tuol Sleng Museum Phnom Penh
During Pol Pot’s regime, over four million people perished. The victims were either killed by execution or starved.
Polpot killed Buddhist monks. Polpot was the only one who practiced religion. The Catholic Church of Phnom Penh was torn down by Polpot. Even members of his family were killed by him.
The site was taken by Pol Pot’s security forces in April 1975 and turned into a jail. The old high school, including its original classrooms, was turned into a torture chamber. You can still see today the torture instruments and photos of victims. Only 12 of the 12,000 to 20,000 prisoners were confirmed as survivors.
Open from: 8.00 to 17.30
We recommend you purchase the audio when you visit the Killing Fields. The Killing Fields are originally Chinese cemeteries that were reclaimed by S21 because there wasn’t enough room to bury all the bodies.
DDT, which was stored in the Killing Fields’ storage area, was used to cover the bodies of those executed and those buried alive.
Executors used the Killing Tree shown in the photo above to beat children to death. Nine of the 9000 Westerners were amongst those 9000.
There are 17 different levels in the Stupa of the Killing Fields.
The destructiveness of a single man is difficult to comprehend.
Open daily between 8.00 am and 17.00 pm
The audio guide is a must – it has 19 different stops that provide information on the Killing fields.
Travel Tip : It is a graveyard, so be respectful and keep your voice down.