Phu Quoc Island Travel Review

My guide book claimed that Phu Quoc island, right down south off the west coast, had some of the best beaches in Vietnam. Sounded pretty good to me and being something of a tropical beach connoisseur I wanted the chance to see how "some of the best beaches in Vietnam" measured up when compared to those I've seen in Thailand and The Philippines. I think I've seen some of the best and if Vietnam's going to stay in my good books it's got to deliver where it counts. I'm talking white sand, calm blue seas, coconut tree fringed bays etc. In short, I wanted paradise, the works, especially when it cost as much to fly there from Hanoi as it would have to Bangkok.

The first thing I noticed as we flew in (Its about $50 dollars from HCM and takes about 50 minutes. Hey, that's a dollar a minute!...didn't notice that till I saw it on screen) was how densely forested the island was and how apparently sparsely populated. Only around 53, 000 people in 1320 sq km of land (albeit mainly mountainous)- I didn't notice the figures flying in, I looked them up and everything.

Anyway as I think I touched on previously it was beaches I was interested in, preferably with the warm waters as shallow as my interests. We'd booked ahead and were soon strolling the sands of Long Beach, the most visitor orientated beach on the island. It's a pretty impressive stretch of sand, the real deal, matching all my criteria for a tropical retreat. Dominated by the Lavish (well it's 3 star) Phu Quoc Resort at one end it's about 3 k long and gets progressively less developed the further away from the Phu Quoc Resort and the island's main town you walk. When I say developed you have to take it relatively. I mean developed in contrast to the rest of the island where dirt tracks and bamboo huts are the norm, I think the entire beach had three or maybe four resorts on it and nowhere near enough to make even this- the most popular beach- crowded. Give it time and I suppose it'll become another Samui or Bali but for the time being it's very laid back. Walking away from town with your flip-flops spraying sand everywhere, you eventually come to a small rocky out post and behind that…..another gorgeous beach and so it continues pretty much round the whole island.

A motorbike trip round the island really confirmed more of the same only less developed. Mile upon mile of gorgeous unspoilt coast line. Paradoxically some of those beautiful stretches of golden sand may be too unspoilt as unless one is willing to pitch a tent and make like a bear (there's plenty of forest) there aren't a lot of places to stay. Unfortunately (?) this must surely change. It'll surely bring some wealth onto the island and increase some people's standards of living and then as I've seen in so many places, I won't want to go there any longer because it's too crowded. Suppose you've just got to catch these places at the right time, enjoy them while they stay nice and be happy for the people who make a bit of money out of it. Hopefully this will be the local Phu Quocians and not some evil blood sucking corporation! The nicest beach we saw on the island was Bai Sao which is in a lovely little cove. No hotels or guesthouses as yet but a couple of restaurants. It had a healthy splattering of couples and families enjoying the calm waters and cool breeze and makes for a nice day trip. Recommended.

Other than the beaches there's plenty of other things to do and see on the island. You can go scuba diving or snorkeling, which involves a boat trip out to the nearest spot of decent coral; play with the dogs (Phu Quoc's dogs are famed hunting beasts and, I believe, a unique breed); visit the pearl factory (not so impressive but has one of those battery operated fish that sing a song!), visit the factory where they make fish sauce (I didn't go but a colleague tells me "it's quite interesting actually") or take a trip to the natural springs in the middle of the island (again didn't go but I guess a spring's a spring, right?) Ok I'm reaching….there really isn't a whole lot to do on the island unless like me you like lazing around doing nothing in beautiful surroundings…..and to return to my premise of how good the beaches are. They're good, really good, maybe not the best I've ever seen in all my travels but in my 5 days I didn't see all the beaches Phu Quoc had to offer and those that I did, I challenge anyone to denigrate. They're just like the postcards.

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