Phu Quoc

Beaches are the reason most people come. Long Beach runs for some 20km down the west coast from Duong Dong, with resorts, beach bars and sunsets over the Gulf of Thailand. The softer, whiter sand is on the southeast coast at Sao Beach and Khem Beach, where the water turns pale turquoise, and the north has quieter stretches at Ong Lang and Bai Dai. The sea sits around 28°C to 30°C all year.

The best time is the dry season from November to April, when the west coast is calm and clear. From May to October the southwest monsoon brings waves, rain and washed-up debris to the west side, and the sheltered east coast becomes the better choice. Away from the main resort fronts some beaches are less tidy than the postcards suggest.

Eating here means seafood. Grilled squid, scallops with spring onion oil, crab and fish chosen live from tanks are cooked at simple restaurants along the coast and in the evening market in Duong Dong, which has the most choice but also the most tourist pricing. Look for the island's own dishes: raw herring salad wrapped in rice paper with herbs, and noodle soups made with fresh fish.

The island is known across Vietnam for its fish sauce, aged in wooden vats, and for black pepper, and you can visit both the fish sauce houses and the pepper farms. Fishing villages such as Ham Ninh have stilted seafood restaurants over the water. Beyond Vietnamese cooking and resort buffets there is not much range.

There is not much to see in the way of heritage. The most moving site is the old prison near An Thoi, where Vietnamese and Viet Cong prisoners were held during the French and American wars. It is now a sober museum with reconstructions of the camp. Dinh Cau, a small shrine and lighthouse on the rocks at the mouth of the river in Duong Dong, is the island's best-known landmark. Ho Quoc Pagoda, built on a hillside above the east coast, has broad views over the sea.

Besides these there are large purpose-built resort districts in the north and south, with copies of European and Venetian streets. They are fun to wander but have no history.

Evenings are easygoing. Most of the bars are along Long Beach and in the streets of Duong Dong, with sundowners on the sand, a few backpacker bars and the odd venue playing music late. The purpose-built entertainment districts in the north and at the southern tip light up after dark and draw crowds for walking and evening shows, and the north has a casino. Outside the peak dry-season months the scene is thin, and most people are back in their resort well before midnight.

About half the island, mostly in the north, is protected as a national park of low forested hills, with a few trails and streams. The waterfalls such as Suoi Tranh are worth visiting only in the rainy months. Most of the outdoor life is on the water. Boats from An Thoi take snorkellers and divers out to the reefs among the small islands to the south. The reefs are pleasant but not outstanding, and visibility is best in the dry season. Kayaking, squid fishing at night and sunset cruises are the other usual outings.

The long cable car out to Hon Thom gives the best views of the archipelago. The interior is otherwise flat farmland and pepper fields, and nobody comes here for serious hiking.

There are very few places to go for a day out. The island-hopping boats to the An Thoi archipelago stop at beaches and snorkelling spots, and the few small settlements on the islands are not much of a destination in themselves. The only realistic trip to the mainland is to Ha Tien, a quiet border town with a fine temple hill and river views, reached by a ferry of a little over an hour. Most visitors spend their days on the island itself.

This is one of the easier places in the region for a beach vacation with children. The north of the island has a large open-range safari park, where buses drive through the enclosures, and a big theme park with rides and an aquarium. The cable car out to Hon Thom ends at a water park. Large resorts with pools, kids' clubs and family rooms line the west and north coasts. In the dry season the sea along the shore is shallow and calm.

The drawbacks are heat and humidity all year, rough west-coast seas from May to October, and the fact that every outing means a taxi ride. The main attractions are spread across the island.

Phu Quoc is about 50km from north to south, with good roads and the airport in the middle of the west coast, close to Long Beach and Duong Dong. Electric public buses run along the main spine of the island, linking the airport, Long Beach, Duong Dong and the large resort and entertainment district in the north, and other lines reach the ferry pier on the east coast and the An Thoi area in the south. They are clean and simple to use and cover the busiest stretch well.

Away from that spine, most visitors use ride-hailing apps, metered taxis or hotel shuttles, which are easy to find and make the whole island manageable. Hiring a scooter is common but only sensible for confident riders. Only Duong Dong and short stretches of Long Beach are pleasant on foot. The safari park in the north, Sao and Khem beaches in the southeast and the cable car at An Thoi are each half an hour or more by road from the middle of the west coast, so expect a ride for almost every outing.

Shopping is mostly souvenirs. The evening market in Duong Dong sells dried seafood, pepper, local wine and trinkets, and showrooms on the west coast sell cultured pearls from the island's farms. Black pepper and fish sauce are the local specialities to take home, but fish sauce is strong-smelling and airlines may not allow it in luggage. The purpose-built resort districts have rows of shops, but there is no fashion, design or craft shopping worth a trip.

Phu Quoc is a resort island, so it costs more than mainland Vietnam, but it is still good value by international standards. Simple guesthouses near Duong Dong, market seafood, local eating and taxis cost little. The large resorts on the beaches, the theme parks, the cable car and organised boat trips are much more expensive, and prices are highest in the dry-season peak around the turn of the year. Budget travellers can still eat and sleep cheaply here.

There is little live culture. The evening entertainment is staged spectacle in the purpose-built resort districts: large shows with water, fireworks, lights and drones by the sea in the south, and multimedia shows in the north. They are well produced but made for tourists. The island has no theatre, concert hall or local music scene, and the live music is resort bands and the occasional beach-bar act.

The island has a slow pace that suits doing very little. Vietnamese massage is cheap and widely available, from simple shops in Duong Dong to the spas of the large resorts, which offer herbal baths and treatments. Yoga is on offer at some of the beach resorts. For the quietest stay, choose the north coast around Ong Lang and Ganh Dau or the southeast near Khem Beach, away from the busier strip of Long Beach.

There is no thermal spring or traditional bathing culture. Relaxation here means massage, a resort pool and a hammock in the shade.