Hi Peeps, I am going to Vietnam in April and here is my itinerary. Can you offer any advice such as, am I a complete moron. Can't stand those posts! Any hoo what's the best way to get to Phu Quoc? Best airline, most reliable etc. Any recommendations on where to stay there? Plus it's been a few years since I was in Vietnam so is it still the same procedure to obtain a visa i.e via an embassy? Is this the same for a multi entry as I want to go to Cambodia and then re-enter Vietnam.
All posts gratefully received.
All posts gratefully received.
3
I did a 2 day tour from HCMC to the Mekong Delta and then at the end of the tour in Can Tho, caught a share taxi to Rach Gia. The following morning I caught the fast hydrofoil ferry to Phu Quoc, which took about 3 hours.If you have less time, you could just fly both ways from HCMC. I think Vietnam Airlines does the vast majority of flights - I don't think theres much choice really.
4
I live in Hanoi and fly down to Phu Quoc via Saigon with my girlfriend in August this year.We took Air Asia to Saigon (~$70/person - return) and then Vietnam Airlines to Phu Quoc (~$80/person - return).
We chose a quaint beach side resort (Mai Phuong Phu Quoc Resort) w our private bungalow (fan only) for $25/night. I'm glad we chose this one since it was located on the NW side of the island about 40mins ride by bike to town on very decent roads. Staying far from town at first seemed inconvenient, but we were there to hang out on the beach and see the scenery, not wander around the town (which is slightly boring). The road to and from the resort into town is 1/3 dirt (very usable even when it rained) and then 20 minutes on the main highway south to town. The scenery is ideal on the dirt road as it follows along the ocean side and you'll get a great view of the rolling waves and the contour of the coast as you travel along.
A plus is on our last night we decided to travel past our resort Northward and a few turns later, we found a completely deserted beach stretching for a km at least. Tall trees lined the road and we rode onto the beach and hung out while the sun set. If only we'd checked out that spot earlier, we would have spent our time lounging on the sand there instead of the resort, which has a rocky beach front that's pretty narrow, but very scenic.
Anyhow, we also tried visiting the beaches south of the town (on Long Beach) but found the road to be extremely bad, with large potholes that forced you to weave criss cross along the road to find narrow gaps to avoid bottoming out our scooter. This was due to the extensive construction ongoing south of town where there's many resort buildings popping up along the seabord. So if you prefer a less crowded, relaxed and scenic commute to town for dinner's seafood extravaganza at the night market, then I'd consider staying north of town. Plus, a couple times we had to come back to our resort at night and travelling smoother roads in the dark was much safer than if we'd have to cover 1km of potholes on a scooter.
We also missed our connecting flight out of Phu Quoc to Saigon, so had to grab a taxi to the NE corner of the island to take the last ferry of the day (~1pm) out of the island to Ha Tien, where we found a local bus travelling to Rach Gia where we were able to catch a sleeper bus to Saigon. It was a race to get back to Saigon in order to catch our flight back to Hanoi as we were the very last people onto the ferry (the taxi driver called ahead to tell them to wait for us) and the sleeper bus made it to Saigon at 4am where we grabbed a xe om (moto taxi) to a guesthouse walking distance from the airport where we slept for 2hrs then hoofed it to the airport. Anyhow, it was an adventure.
Side note, a new carrier in town is Vietjetair.com they fly out of Saigon to Phu Quoc as well and will probably be cheaper than Vietnam Air.
Have fun with your trip! Phu Quoc is great and the seafood is very good!
