Killing Fields and S21 Genocide Museum Tour from Phnom Penh

Overview

This half day tour visits two sites central to understanding Cambodia's recent history: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, known as S-21, and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. Tuol Sleng was once a high school before the Khmer Rouge converted it into a detention and interrogation centre. The museum preserves its cells, photographs and exhibits, documenting the fate of the thousands held here. From Tuol Sleng, continue to Choeung Ek, one of the country's best known killing fields, where a memorial stupa holds the remains of victims exhumed from the surrounding mass graves. In July 2025, UNESCO inscribed Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek, together with the former M-13 prison, as a World Heritage Site recognising these places of repression turned sites of peace and reflection. This is a sobering, reflective visit, guided throughout to provide context and historical understanding.

Itinerary

1. Musée du génocide de Tuol Sleng

   Pick up from your Phnom Penh hotel by your guide and driver and transfer to the Tuol Sleng Museum (Prison S21). During the Pol Pot regime, Tuol Sleng, formerly a high school (Tuol Svay Pre School) was converted to a detention centre known as S21. After interrogation and often torture, prisoners were transferred to The Killing Fields, where they were tortured again and brutally killed. Today the building houses exhibit paintings and photographs of many of the victims. Visitors can see the crude cells built in the classrooms and the torture devices used to extract confessions in Stalinesque purges of the regime in the late 1970s. Do expect a sobering visit, where the building houses exhibits, paintings and photographs of many of the victims indicating its harrowing past.

   · 2 h· Admission included

2. We end the morning/afternoon at the Killing Fields at Cheung Ek, located just outside the city centre, seen as a depressing experience of the harsh reality of this part of Khmer history. It was a Chinese Cemetery before it became the Khmer Rouge’s best known Killing Field. The remains of almost 9,000 bodies have been excavated from mass graves in this area. A memorial stupa has been erected and displays over 5,000 human skulls, bones and clothes of the victims. During the Khmer Rouge years, thousands of Cambodians were tortured and imprisoned in detention centres around the country. A visit to this sobering site reveals the photos documenting its checkered past, and the pagoda that was converted into a prison during the regime that is now a monastery. We return you to your hotel either at around noon (in case you have chosen the morning tour) or at around 6 pm if you decide to book this tour in the afternoon. The total duration of this tour is approximately 4 hours.

   · 2 h· Admission included

Pickup

Pickup included.

We pick up from downtown Phnom Penh Hotel. (Transfers outside these areas, conditions apply)

How to use your ticket

- Please contact Asian Trails at least 72 hours before your activity date to confirm your reservation and arrange transportation. Changes within 24 hours may be on request. - Pick-up times for excursions will be reconfirmed one day prior to commencement of your booked excursion. As an indication, the pick-up time from your accommodation is scheduled 30-60 minutes prior to the confirmed starting time. - Please be ready and waiting in your hotel lobby 15 minute prior to your scheduled pick up time. - Upon pickup, please present your confirmation/voucher or photo ID in exchange for your activity. In the event of no-show or change of accommodation without prior consent and confirmation from us within 24 hours may result in the applicable cancellation charges as outlined in the terms and conditions.

What to know before you go

• Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• This tour is operated on full private basis with English-speaking guide. Other languages are on request subject to availability and supplementary charges may apply.
• Return transfers for this excursion apply only are inclusive for customers staying in and inside Phnom Penh.
• Transfers outside these areas, including any accommodation outside this area such as Koh Dach, Tonle Bati, and Oudong, any of the river and cruise ferry terminals and Phnom Penh International Airport are excluded. Supplements apply for customers who want to join this excursion outside one of these regions.
• This excursion includes obstacles of various kinds that may not make this excursion suitable for wheelchair users. The obstacles comprise of unpaved roads, small boats and cruise embarkation and disembarkation and insufficient facilities to provide a comfortable sightseeing tour.
• To avoid any issues pertaining obtaining an arrival visa at the airport, please ensure that your passport contains at least two empty pages. Failure to do so may result in not gaining entrance into the Kingdom of Cambodia.
• To allow entrance into the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) in Phnom Penh, visitors are obliged to uphold a very strict dress code to respect the premises and the victims who lost their lives here. It is essential that you dress modestly and appropriately during this excursion by wearing clothes that cover shoulders and fall below the knees. Customers wearing shirts with obscene and disrespectful prints and pictures and brightly-coloured clothing may be refused entrance.
• We always will make efforts to confirm the exact pick-up time upon reservation. For any operational issues in which are not able to confirm the exact pick-up time in advance, we reserve the right to inform you the day before the departure of the tour.
• Please note pickup and drop-off services may not be confirmed for customers staying at private residences, apartment complexes, or other non-registered tourism accommodations. Customers may be asked to meet at a nearby hotel for pick-up and drop off.
• Natural elements of any kind have a destructive effect on electronic equipment.
• It the customer’s own responsibility to ensure that any camera, mobile telephone or other device is properly wrapped and protected against these elements. We cannot be held responsible in any way for negligence and/or not following suggestions for any damage related to this.
• It is the responsibility of the customer to provide us with the correct hotel information, should pick-up and drop-off services be included in the package. Any changes in accommodation outside 24 hours will be handled accordingly: changes within 24 hours may be on request.
• In the event of no-show or change of accommodation without prior consent and confirmation from us within 24 hours may result in the applicable cancellation charges as outlined in the terms and conditions.
• This tour is not recommended for families with children under the age of 12 years old.

Travelers

Cancellation policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

• From 1 days before : 100% refunded
• From 0 days before : 0% refunded

Reviews

Product code: 8084P209

Activity offered by Asian Trails LTD via Viator.