Phu Quoc

It was pouring down again when we took our pre-arranged Grab taxi to the Chu Lai airport south of Hoi An. But after a short flight to the very south of Vietnam we arrived in Phu Quoc which enjoys much better weather than central Vietnam around that time. Our plan was to relax a bit after the very packed itinerary we had during the weeks prior in northern and central Vietnam. We stayed a total of seven nights in the Maison D’Rose hotel close to the Khem beach in the south of the island. While the hotel was in a quiet area and in a great location for spending some relaxing days at the beach, our bed made us feel absolutely whacked when we got up in the morning. On top of that, we got a little surprised by the hotel’s breakfast which seemed to be whatever the owner’s grandmother put together. On our first morning that was lettuce with mayonnaise and Pho with beef - not exactly our favorite but OK ;) They were open to adapt for us a little bit and leave out what we don’t like so things were fine for us. And we could also change rooms after four nights and ended up with two single beds with better mattresses than we had before so things definitely improved over our stay.

The area was very quiet as besides a giant resort, there were mostly unoccupied buildings as we have seen them e.g. in Ha Long. And close by was the beautiful Khem Beach, which was perfect for relaxing and having drinks and snacks in one of its beach clubs. And that’s exactly what we did for several days. One day we went to do the same routine at the Sao Beach, which is located a bit north of Khem Beach. There, we found mainly one beach club besides some smaller operators that also rented out sunbeds. Unfortunately, we found the beach and shore to be littered with trash as soon as we walked outside of the beach club’s property. It was still a nice beach with fewer people than on Khem Beach but it was not as clean and did not offer as many options for food and drinks so Khem Beach still remained our favorite in the area.

To compensate for all the lying around on beach days, we usually went jogging in the evening. Additionally, we spent one day exploring the nearby Sunset Town and the related park on Hon Thom Paradise Island, which, you probably guess it already, is another enormous tourist attraction created by Sun World (see our Sapa - Fansipan and Da Nang - Ba Na Hills footprints). Sun Town is built in a Mediterranean style and it almost feels like being in an Italian village when walking through its streets. The main difference was that most of the buildings seemed to be unoccupied and unused. From there, we took a cable car to a small island south of Phu Quoc, which contains a waterpark and fun park among other attractions. But for us, the main attraction was probably the cable car ride over the ocean that gave a great view of the beautiful surroundings. Included in the ticket were vouchers for free beers at the brewery in Sun Town, which we redeemed to enjoy a couple of beers after a hot day. While we were at the brewery, we could even watch a Jetski and Flyboard show in the adjacent bay. Our sightseeing day then ended with a stroll over the Kissing Bridge, which surrounds the bay, during sunset.

For our last day we booked a snorkeling tour which brought us to some of the small islands in the south of Phu Quoc. On our way there, the sea was quite choppy for our taste but in hindsight we were probably just not used to riding small boats on the ocean yet ;) The water at the snorkeling spots was rather deep with poor visibility, which is why Marina decided to stay on the boat. The only acceptable ocean water to go into is where she can stand and see the sea floor. Keep that in mind when reading some of our footprints in the not so distant future! But compared to some of our future snorkeling trips, this was not at all a spectacular one so we anyway didn’t miss much ;)
We ended our last day relaxing at Khem Beach and some video calls with family members back home. The next day it was already time again to board a plane back to the mainland to get to our next destination.

Restaurants in the south:
- Istanbul Beach Club (Good for breakfast! Try the coconut caramel smoothie.)
- The Deck Phu Quoc - Kitchen & Beach Bar (Lovely restaurant at the beach.)
- Thai Papaya Restaurant (Delicious Thai food, especially the red thai curry. We have been here about three times.)
- Jo’s Cucina - Italian Restaurant (Homemade pasta - nothing more to say ;-)Læs mere