Hoa Lo Prison

The infamous Hanoi Hilton is a must for history buffs. Americans know it mostly from John McCain’s biography, but the prison was, in fact, built by the French in the late 1880s and used for political prisoners; one room still holds a guillotine. The displays have an interesting bias; the rooms dedicated to the French occupation list in detail the atrocities committed by the colonists against the Vietnamese prisoners, while those dedicated to the Vietnam war do their utmost to counter the tales of McCain and other internees, portraying American soldiers as well-treated and even displaying photos of prisoners playing football in Hoa Lo’s courtyard. But the dreary halls and granite cells speak for themselves, making this a sobering sightseeing stop.