Christmas in Vietnam – Phu Quoc island

Hi!

So today I’m writing about a destination you have been asking me a lot because it has the most controversial views. Everyone knows how fantastic the Northern Vietnam is but that doesn’t apply to the South, so I’m here to to share my opinion.

Phu Quoc is an island that belongs to Vietnam, but it is very close to Cambodia. It can be reached by plane from anywhere in Vietnam for about 50 USD, or ferries from Rach Gia or Ha Tien. The island is considered to be a place with the most beautiful beaches in Vietnam. I can confirm this statement but… There indeed are beautiful sandy beaches that have a huge potential and look like the ones in the Caribbean. On the other hand, it’s still Vietnam, so there is trash and dust pretty much everywhere unless you’re staying in a five-star resort.

We were so exhausted from the north so we decided to stay in one of those five-star resorts. Fortunately, they are not as expensive as in other destinations. We chose the Dusit Princess Moorise Resort Hotel on Long Beach, which was really great. I have no comparison with the other hotels, but I always pay attention to the reviews and this one had the highest. There was absolutely nothing to complain about. Only the typhoon made us a bit uncomfortable, but of course that’s not the hotel’s fault. The beach was clean, the service was fantastic and the rooms were nice & new.

But since neither one of us is the beach kind of a person, we only spent two hours by our hotelpool. I would like to say that I went to the sea just once and only with the water up to my waist, because I have a phobia from sea creatures which I only don’t mind on my plate. Plus, after the typhoon, the sea was muddy all day long , so you can imagine how high I jumped when something touched me.

Well, so it didn’t take us long to rent a scooter and hit the road in order to explore the island. 

I got recommendations for Kiki Coconut Beach, which was clearly the best one because we were the only ones there. Then we went to Sao Beach, which has much whiter sand than all the other beaches, but on the other hand it was super-crowded. It was great for taking pictures on the swing but definitely not for swimming & chilling. Finally, we wanted to take a look at the sculptures inspired by Gaudí, but unfortunately there was a festival on the beach at that time and we didn’t feel like buying a ticket for more than 100EUR, so we skipped that one. On the way back, we stopped at a pearl farm where I bought a pearl bracelet for a fraction of the price. 

We finished the day at the night market in the capital Duong Dang, which is definitely worth seeing. You can find all the possible kinds of fish, octopus, shells, crabs and others. You just point at what you want to eat and they get them out of the aquarium and grill it for you. Oh and don’t forget about the fruits and various sweet treats!

If I had to summarize the whole two days, I’m glad we stopped here after the exhausting experience in the North because it was a real rest, on the other hand there are plenty of prettier beaches in the world.

The next day, we took the ferry to the land, so next article is from the Delta Mekong 🙂
E.


All pictures taken with a Nikon Z6 + Nikkor 35 mm f1.4 + Nikkor 24-70 mm f4.0 + Dji Mavic Air