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Phu Quoc
Phu Quoc is Vietnam's largest island and is located directly South of the country, actually a bit closer to Cambodia. Like most of the tropical islands in South East Asia it's extremely beautiful and is a great experience while you are visiting Vietnam. It has some of the best beaches I've seen in the country and has plenty of activities for solo travellers, couples and families. One other good thing about Phu Quoc for travellers from many countries is that it's visa free for 30 days while the mainland requires a visa for most non-ASEAN nationalities. If you plan to only travel to Phu Quoc you don't need a visa. However if you plan to visit Vietnam I'd highly recommend also visiting the mainland as it's one of the most fascinating countries on the planet.
In the North part of the island is Vinpearl wonderland, resort, golf course and safari. It's basically a massive area that is ran by Vingroup, Vietnam's largest conglomerate. There is a massive theme park/ waterpark with an aquarium and many exhibitions and games. Nearby is the Vinpearl Safari where you can see countless different animals including lions, tigers, hippos, giraffes, rhinos, flamingoes and more. There is also a golf course here if you are into golf and it's got a spectacular location. Aside from this they've build a little European looking town near the wonderland and the resort is one of the most popular places to stay on the island. You can finish off a day at Vinpearl by watching the coloured water show. It was a very cool experience.
The Phu Quoc Cable Car, with a length of 8 km, is the longest non-stop three-way cable car in the world recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records. It's a cable car that starts on the main big island and connects several islands before ending at an island with a large waterpark. Unfortunately, when we went we arrived a bit late and the waterpark was closing soon after so we didn't go in but it looked fun. We did however go to a beach near the waterpark which we arrived at by taking a free shuttle bus from near the waterpark. The tickets for the cable car were about 12 usd and then the waterpark was about 8 usd more if you wanted to enter. The view from the cable car itself however were the best part. The views of the light blue ocean, the boats, islands and the European style village are really worth seeing.
There are many nice beaches on Phu Quoc and it's certainly one of Vietnam's best beach destinations. I spent most of my time at the beach at my resort called Sunset Resort and Spa. It has a small private beach that was well maintained and was one of my favourite places to hang out. Just up the street was a beach bar/ club called OCSEN. This is a cool place to hang out both at day and night. At night they have fire performances. There are many many hotels and resorts in Phu Quoc that are beachfront and if going to the beach is your main priority it shouldn't be hard to find one.
One of my favourite experiences in Phu Quoc was going to the night market. There is a huge variety of seafood here and it's always lively full of people eating and gathering with friends. As is common in all of Vietnam people sit on little chairs on the side of the streets eating and drinking, and going from cart to cart trying different foods. Pictured below on the left in banh xeo. Banh xeo a is crispy, stuffed rice pancake. It usually has shrimp and various vegetables in it. There are also plenty of clams, oysters, shrimp, squid, skewers, spring rolls and more. I highly recommend coming here while you visit Phu Quoc. I came here most nights for food. Also it's very cheap compared to restaurants so that's another plus. Aside from the night market there are several restaurants on Tran Hung Dao street which is the main road leading to the town. There are some good Korean style BBQplaces where you choose a package and then have all you can eat cooked right at your table on a personal grill. This is also a cool experience in Vietnam and is a very popular style of eatery in the country.
I would recommend to stay at a resort somewhere near the main Phu Quoc town. This is for a few reasons. The first reason is that the night market is awesome and the town has the most options for food and nightlife. Secondly, it's location on the island is most convenient for travelling to different regions. For example from the central town area you can arrive at the North of the island where Vinpearl land is within an hour or so. You can also arrive at the cable car on the Southern part of the island within an hour. This will save lots of driving time as a trip from the North to South and back could be 4 hours or more. However, for families with young children perhaps there would be good reason to stay at Vinpearl land as many of the attractions are more family friendly and designed largely for children.
A resort I'd recommend to stay at in the area is the Sunset Beach Resort and Spa. We had an excellent experience here. The staff was friendly, the resort was beautiful and there was a breakfast buffet included. The beachfront resort featured a restaurant, nightclub, an outdoor pool, an indoor infinity pool and a gym. At the time we paid roughly 250 usd for 3 nights which is a spectacular deal for a resort of this caliber. I don't think it's regularly that price but there are plenty of resorts in this area and you can shop around for deals. Most of them are beach front and have great facilities.
