Phnom Penh: Killing Fields & S21 Museum Tour with Pickup

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.92 (2,227 reviews) 94% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/37

Duration4h

GroupUp to 50

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Two Sites, One Day: Cambodia's Genocide History with a Local Guide

You're picked up from your hotel and driven to Choeung Ek Genocide Center, 9 miles south, where you walk the killing fields with your guide. After that, you return to Phnom Penh to tour Tuol Sleng S21 Museum, the former prison and interrogation center. Your guide is English-speaking and answers questions throughout. Hotel return is included at the end.

Step-by-step itinerary

Visit Killing Fields and Genocide Museum

Pick up from hotel
Drive to Choeung Ek Killing Fields
Explore Choeung Ek Genocidal Center
Return to Phnom Penh
Visit Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Tour ends, return to hotel

The Experience

The Choeung Ek Genocide Center sits 9 miles south of Phnom Penh on what was once an orchard and Chinese cemetery. Your guide picks you up from your hotel and drives you there first—the killing fields where the Khmer Rouge executed around 20,000 people over three years, part of a larger massacre that claimed 2.5 million lives between 1975 and 1979. Walking the grounds, you'll see the memorial stupa and hear the specific history of what happened in this place, not a generalized account. The guide answers questions as you move through, and the visit sets the context for what you'll see next.

After the killing fields, you return to Phnom Penh to visit Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum—S21, the high school that Pol Pot converted into a high-security prison. Twenty thousand people were imprisoned there, many tortured for information before execution. The classrooms are preserved as they were found: interrogation rooms, cells, photographs, and documentation that make the scale of the atrocity concrete and difficult to look away from. Your guide walks you through the layout and explains what each section represents, so you're not reading placards alone.

The tour is structured around understanding Cambodia's recent history through two physical sites rather than a lecture. You're moving between locations, seeing the actual places, and having a professional English-speaking guide there to answer what you want to know. Hotel pickup means you don't navigate transport yourself, and the driver handles the logistics while you focus on what you're learning. The day is heavy—this isn't a sightseeing tour—but it's the most direct way to understand what happened and why it matters to Cambodia today.

What’s included

Your day includes hotel pickup and return, professional English-speaking guide and driver, air-conditioned transportation, cool water, and entry to both Choeung Ek Genocide Center and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21). The guide is available to answer questions throughout the tour.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleAccessible transportStroller friendlyInfant seats availablePets welcomePublic transport nearbyNot for heart conditionsNot for back problemsInfants must sit on laps

Operated by The Killing field and Toul Sleng genocide museum S21 Tour

Is this one for you?This tour is for anyone wanting to understand Cambodia's recent history through the actual sites where it happened, with a guide who can explain context and answer questions—the structure and transport remove the logistics so you can focus on learning.