Vietnam Travel & Tourism

So you’ve got your motorbike, and you’re ready to explore Phú Quốc. While few travelers to Vietnam run into any problems on the island, keep in mind that much of the land is still undeveloped. Here are a few tips:

1. Bring at least 2 liters of water. It gets quite hot during the day, and snack stands are sometimes hard to find. Dehydration can be a serious issue, so come prepared.

2. Keep off military property. The Vietnamese government is very protective of Phú Quốc, and there are military bases (marked by signs) around the island. Although some travelers to Vietnam claim they’ve slipped through unnoticed, it is unwise to intrude upon military property. Irate officers can make your life unpleasant. [...Read more]

Phu Quoc island in Vietnam offers chances to relax on the beach, explore fragrant countryside, marvel at wildlife – and enjoy sumptuous seafood. Just get there before mass tourism, says Sam Llewellyn.

The plane crawls high above the Mekong delta – flooded paddy, intestinal loops of river, roads crammed with Honda 50s and lined with shops selling rice and Marlboros. Then suddenly there is sea, muddy at first, then a cheerful turquoise. The propellers change pitch. The nose drops. A green mountain flicks past the wing, then a white beach. We bank steeply, lining up with a runway on which two people seem to be riding bicycles. And down slams the plane on the pockmarked concrete of Duong Dong airport, gateway to the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc.

Phu Quoc beach, Vietnam – Photo by Getty

Outside the terminal a little group of drivers are whisking red dust off Japanese four-wheel-drive taxis. In Duong Dong high street, our driver carefully skirts a cow and calf, who regard us with soulful Jersey eyes. “Manchester United,” says the driver, using the universal language of south-east Asia. He grins. His English gives out. So does the tarmac. Towing a lofty plume of red dust, we pass a memorial bearing a star and the likeness of Uncle Ho, and jounce into the interior. [...Read more]

Mango plantations, sandy beaches – perfect after 10 days of cycling

Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam — my outdated Vietnam guidebook devoted a scant two columns on its last page to obscure Phu Quoc Island, but it was enough to assure me that it was the perfect place to put up my feet and do nothing after 10 days of cycling around the country.

Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam

Phu Quoc, less than an hour’s flight from Ho Chi Minh City – formerly Saigon – is just 15 miles off the coast of Cambodia. A teardrop-shaped island roughly the size of Singapore, it was a surprisingly untrammeled gem that reminded me of Thailand’s Phuket and Koh Samui in the 1970s, before they were besieged by development. [...Read more]