Phu Quoc is the favorite beach spot for almost all the travelers who are doing the big Vietnam tour. So it was the same for us, we decided to visit the island in the end of the tour, because in that way we could take a break and relax from our trip. The island is quite developed and here you will find everything you need: beaches, resorts, hotels, restaurants, markets and shops.
How to get there?
The island of Phu Quoc is well connected to the rest of Vietnam. You can catch a plane, there are really cheap flights from Saigon (about 30 euros one way) or catch a ferry. One advice for the ferry, there are several during the day, and the last one is around midday.
We decided to return with a slow ferry that transports also vehicles, and the price was quite cheap about 6-7 euros per person. We traveled for about 3 hours. And the flight from Saigon takes only an hour.
Where to stay?
On the island you will find a lots of different types of accommodation, low cost and fancy resorts. We have decided to stay in one nice resort – Paradiso Phu Quoc Resort, a small resort close to Ong Lang beach. Unfortunately, the only bad thing about this place was that we had to use transport to move around the island and to go to the central part of the island in the evenings.
What to do?
As I’ve said before, the island offers a plenty of activities. Every day you can visit a different beach around, and if you get tired of the beach then you can visit the Suoi Tranh waterfall.
At night go to the capital Duong Dong and spend some time in the night market. There you can taste all Vietnamese specialties and all kinds of food. You can also do some shopping of traditional products. After the shopping go for a beer and watch the sunset at Rory’s beach bar.
Beaches:
Since we were on the island for only 3 days, we were unable to visit many beaches. But I will tell you about the ones we have seen.
1.Ong Lang beach – sandy beach, beautiful and clean water. On the beach itself there was a resort and a restaurant where you can get some food. There you can also rent sunbeds and umbrellas. We chose this beach the first day because it was five minutes walking from our hotel. The most beautiful sunset is on this beach.
2.Bai Sao beach – definitely the most beautiful, most visited and most photographed beach on the island and in Vietnam. The beach is really beautiful, long with white sand. And it was definitely one of the most touristic places. Restaurants and shops, many tourists and several luxury resorts. The palm trees with the swings very the most photographed part of the beach.
The beach was a real paradise, perfect for meditation, just to get lost in the blue of the sea and the greenery around. But still this beach had one really bad part, too much rubbish around!
3.Starfish beach – thanks to Instagram we had too many expectations about this beach. Known because of the starfish along the beach. All the photos we saw online were magical, but when we got there it was another story. Because of the tide, many of the starfish were thrown to the shore and were dead, and the rest were in the sea, but the water was not very good for swimming. The beach is empty, there is absolutely nothing, except fishing cottages on a platform where you can try the best fish specialties. After few hours we decided to left the beach because there were no shadows and trees and the weather was super hot.
