PHU QUOC ISLAND BEACH – ONE OF BEST UNESCO WORLDWIDE BIOSPHERES
Being with the long coastline and many smaller islands, it deserves to become one of the top destinations for Asian Tropical Beach Vacation. If Bali is famous for luxury resorts, Phu Quoc famous for various attractions such as historical sites, religious sites, fishing villages, dynamic experience of hiking, trekking, biking, camping, wildlife, pepper plantation, photography tour, and bird-watching, etc, for deep insight, read on our some secret notes of where to play around on Phu Quoc island.
Phu Quoc Destination
From Phu Quoc, it is very convenient to access to other places with a variety of public transportation as well as private transfer. Super comfortable to approach to Phu Quoc from the mainland via Rach Gia, Ha Tien wharf, Can Tho airport and Ho Chi Minh City airport also. To explore whole this island, the minimum time you should spend is 4 days or should be more if travelling with family for a dreaming tropical beach vacation.
Phu Quoc island is not just an island but extends to an archipelago of 22 islands which is as vast as Singapore nation.
How to go to Phu Quoc island
To approach this island, we can travel by air or waterway depending on your style and time.
- By air – direct flight: From Hanoi, Vietnam Airlines has three flights per day while Vietjet is up to 5 flights per day with a half price of Vietnam airlines. This flight route is not over 2 hours. From Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Airlines have six flights per day while Vietjet is five flights only. From Can Tho, just Vietnam airlines have one trip per day which last 55 minutes to get there.
- By waterway: From Ho Chi Minh city, it takes us 6 hours to get to Rach Gia where embark the 2-hour speed boat to Phu Quoc island. With this traveling route, you can combine 2-3 day Mekong Delta tour of the floating-life insight before moving southward to Rach Gia boat station. Not far from Rach Gia, it is available Ha Tien wharf – another boat station to Phu Quoc island.
Best time to visit Phu Quoc island
As most of Vietnam country, its climate is mainly two distinct seasons: rainy and dry season.
The best time to visit is from October to March next year because of cold and dry weather. The highest temperature is about 28 degree only.
From April to the beginning of September, the weather is heavy rain and cloudy. The highest temperature is 35 degrees Celsius in April and May. Some days, the humidity is up to 85 – 90%.
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1. Outdoor activities on Phu Quoc island
Diving excursions / Snorkeling in Phu Quoc island
Phu Quoc island is the place where coral reefs are considered to be the most beautiful in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, which is also called “coral paradise” with a diverse marine ecosystem, including 17 different coral types belong to Hon Mong Tay and Doi Moi in ‘’Bac Dao’’ (North of island) or An Thoi in Nam Dao (South of island). It is no doubt that the coral reef diving is one of the most attractive activities in Phu Quoc in recent years.
Night squid fishing in Phu Quoc island
Go fishing, especially squid fishing, is a very special hobby. The experienced crew in Phu Quoc will show us the place to catch more fishes such as cajuput, snakehead fish, grouper…
The fishes we caught will be served on board which is an unforgettable experience of the fishermen lives in these remote islands. The taste of very fresh fishes is fantastic when compared with the fishes in the supermarket.
Phu Quoc Island boat trip journey
Not only have golden white sand and a beautiful beach, but Phu Quoc also owns many unspoiled islands, not much ‘’touch’’from human beings such as May Thu island, Mong Tay and Gam island,…Exploring the islands in a unique way of a canoe trip with snorkeling and sightseeing coral reefs.
Climbing, trekking and exploring primeval forests
Phu Quoc national park offers the beautiful Suoi Tranh waterfall, ancient woodland, unusual trekking route…By visiting these streams, the visitors have the opportunity to immerse our bodies in cold water and explore the unique ecological system of Phu Quoc primeval forest. If you are adventure lovers, you should not miss these fascinating activitíe in Phu Quoc
Discover Phu Quoc island night market
Coming to Phu Quoc Night Market is to go to another world of fantastic Vietnamese cuisines. At this place, you can enjoy almost Phu Quoc’s specialties in one area, the only limit is your stomach’s capacity. Phu Quoc Night Market is right at Bach Dang intersection – Nguyen Dinh Chieu and opens very early from 17:00 to 2:00 the next morning. The peak-time is from 19:00 – 23:00.
2. Historical relics on Phu Quoc island
One of the biggest prisons in Vietnam is on Phu Quoc island for Political prisoner. It is in An Thoi town – the south of Phu Quoc island. During the Indochina War, people called this prison Dua Dua Prison. This is the central prison prisoner of all the Republic of Vietnam, each detained more than 32,000 political prisoners (40,000 prisoners if including political prisoners of many periods).
At present, Phu Quoc Prison relic consists of the fist-shaped monument – the symbol of Phu Quoc prisoners’ heroic spirit to break the chains, martyrs cemetery, a house of artifacts and outdoor display area. To Phu Quoc Prison Relic, visitors can watch documentary films on the prison, and observe various models, remnants and artifacts which stimulate brutal torture sceneries of Vietnamese Communist prisoners.
3. Entertaining places in Phu Quoc island
Vinpearl land amusement park and Safari in Phu Quoc island
Vinpearl Land Phu Quoc is the most modern and attractive entertainment area in Phu Quoc today and is also one of the most popular tourist destinations in Phu Quoc. Coming to Vinpearl Land, you will be able to participate in unlimited outdoor games with some thrilling games such as cable-stayed Ferris, super-speed spinning, swings,… Some other amusement parks at Vinpearl Land Phu Quoc are Aquarium, indoor play area, outdoor play area, water park, performance area, shopping district.
Without a visit to Vinpearl Safari, it means your Phu Quoc trip is meaningless. This is the first semi-wild zoo in Vietnam, consisting of 2 main areas, zoo and safari area. We can get opportunities to watch these wild animals such as the black moon lemur, the red-winged blue parrot, the land dragon, the Bengal tiger,…
Swimming and playing under Suoi Tranh waterfall
People say it is a famous sightseeing site for both domestic and foreign tourists when flying to Phu Quoc Island. A long time ago, Suoi Tranh was a forgotten place; just a few tourists came there after the hard working days or at the festival time. However, nowadays, this place is a favorite site with a vast number of foreign tourists, not only the local.
From the gate to the center part, we take a 30-minute walk through the trail paved with small stones. The waterfall is about 2 meters in height and offers the natural lake with 1 – 1.5 meter in depth. Under the fierce heat during summer, we can jump on the cold water, swim for a whole day or walking under the shade of big trees inside the jungle.
Visiting Dinh Cau night market in Phu Quoc island
It is on Vo Thi Sau street, near Dinh Cau temple and right the heart of Duong Dong town and we call it night market due to its opening hours from 19:00 to 23:00 every day. No word can describe the bustle of this market at night; the atmosphere is so fantastic with many different sounds, lights, thousands of seafood and other stuff.
Surrounding Dinh Cau night market, there are many affordable hotels and homestay. However, it is quite noisy if staying nearby hotels. The best advice is to stay in the little bit further resort right on the beach that can take a short walk or taxi to the night market.