Choeung Ek Killing Fields

A Former Orchard Where The Khmer Rouge Executed And Buried About 17,000 People, Many Of Them Held At Tuol Sleng, Between 1975 And 1979. Mass Graves, A Memorial Stupa Of Skulls And A Museum. Visited With An Audio Guide In Silence. Distressing, And A Place Of Remembrance For Cambodians · Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh

Choeung Ek is a former orchard and Chinese cemetery about 15 km south of Phnom Penh, where the Khmer Rouge executed and buried people between 1975 and 1979. Many of the victims had been held and tortured at Tuol Sleng prison in the city and were brought here by truck at night. Today the site is a memorial. Shallow pits mark the excavated mass graves, and fragments of bone and cloth still surface after heavy rain. The Memorial Stupa, a tall glass-sided tower, holds thousands of skulls arranged by age and sex. A free audio guide in many languages, included with the ticket, leads you around the paths and tells the story in the voices of survivors. The visit is quiet, sober and distressing, and for Cambodians it is a place of remembrance, not only a sight. Most visitors spend about ninety minutes. It is usually combined with the Tuol Sleng museum, which is a separate site in the city and has its own listing.

Choeung Ek, about 15 km south of the centre of Phnom Penh, on the road to Takeo, Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The site is open daily, usually from early morning to late afternoon, with a break around midday on some days, so confirm the current hours with your driver or at the gate before you go. There is no FREE entry for foreign visitors and the ticket includes the audio guide. The grounds can be CLOSED for ceremonies, national holidays or remembrance days such as 20 May, and the stupa interior is sometimes CLOSED to visitors while it is cleaned. Staff may close the paths after very heavy rain. Cambodian citizens are admitted at a different rate. Arrive within the first hour after opening for the cooler air and the smallest groups.

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