Trip: November 2017
Below is our Top 5 Things To Do in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, part of the Just Carrying On – Top 5 Things To Do series. These lists are favorite activities, eats, and drinks from our travels around the world—in no particular order.
We spent the first of our three weeks in Vietnam on the island of Phu Quoc; spending five nights in the northwest of the island at Bamboo Cottages and the last three nights on Long Beach.
1. Yoga at Bamboo Cottages
We found Bamboo Cottages after searching for a yoga studio on Phu Quoc. And with two yoga classes per day included in the price of our stay, we were sold. Our yoga teacher was named Lola, a great teacher from the Czech Republic who was staying on site for at least eight months. She led us in a 8am vinyasa style class every morning and a 3pm yin yoga class. Most mornings we rolled out of bed and enjoyed some coffee on the beach before yoga and a delicious breakfast on the beach afterwards (breakfasts are also included). In the afternoon we would practice breathing and stretching and massage in yin yoga before taking an afternoon dip in the ocean, then cleaning up for a cold Vietnamese beer on the veranda. It was as lovely as it sounds and even if you’re not into yoga, we can’t recommend the Bamboo Cottage experience enough.
2. Sunset and Beach day on Long Beach at Sunset Bar
Long Beach is a popular stretch of beach on Phu Quoc and for good reason. The beaches are white with fine, soft sand and the water is turquoise and calm. Perfect for rotating through to lay on loungers and soak up the sun, dip in the tranquil ocean and back to the beach to repeat. We discovered this favorite stretch of beach when we first arrived in Long Beach and exited our bungalow to search for dinner. The sky was lit up in bright magenta and blood orange and we followed the light until we saw the sunset and a bar aptly named ‘Sunset Bar.’ One of the most spectacular sunsets we’ve seen in SE Asia.
3. Street Food at ’30K’ in Long Beach
We are suckers for delicious street food, tiny plastic chairs to go with tiny plastic tables and ice cold beer. We were looking for a different place but kept walking by 30K, which was overflowing with mostly Vietnamese customers and a few westerners. When a place is that popular, the best advice is always to follow the crowd. We enjoyed some of the best sautéed morning glory, crispy noodle seafood dishes and fried tofu. It wasn’t the easiest place to eat vegetarian so we settled for pescatarian. The staff was warm and inviting and ordering in English was no problem. An average meal here, including a beer or two each, cost us between $6-8 USD total.
Google Maps / Hasn’t made it on Trip Advisor yet 🙂
4. Ride motorbikes to Suoi Tranh Waterfall
After our adventures in Kampot, we were eager to explore again by motorbike. Our hostel rented us motorbikes for $6 and for $3 more we had all the gas we needed for the day to explore the southern parts of the island. We stopped first at Suoi Tranh Waterfall, which was a simple yet delightful excursion to a chintzy park and a refreshing dip in the waterfall after the 20 minute walk up to it. We bought tofu bahn mi for $0.50 each just outside the park from a guy with a cart on a scooter. Afterwards we continued down to the southern most part of the island, checking out the fishing boats and island life. We stopped at Sao Paulo beach, which wasn’t much to write home about except for the delicious ice cream (see below).
5. Coconut ice cream at Sao Beach
While we were underwhelmed by Sao Beach itself because of the density of tourists and trash on the beach, the ice cream makes the beach worth a quick visit. The place is called Banh Ong Khoi and the ‘cone’ was dough roasted over a charcoal pit on a genius-designed rotisserie type system. It was covered in cinnamon and sugar then filled with coconut ice cream. I still regret we shared a cone. Why?
Honorable mentions
As far as beaches are concerned we actually enjoyed the Long Beach strip the most. We found street food like 30K (above) and others more enjoyable than the night market, but there are many formal restaurants should you prefer. Most of all, we loved Bamboo Cottages and the yoga there. If we go back, we’ll spend most of our time there again.
Top 5 Things To Do in Phu Quoc, Vietnam is part of Just Carrying On – Top 5 Things To Do series, which offers our best travel recommendations from around the world.