Phu Quoc & Con Dao: 20 routes

Two very different islands in Vietnam’s far south: Phu Quoc of pepper vines, fish-sauce barrels and long sunsets, and quiet Con Dao of turtles, forest and memory.

I came to Phu Quoc expecting a resort island and found a fishing island that happens to have resorts. Before the sun is up, the boats are still unloading squid at the mouth of the Duong Dong river; the air behind the town smells of drying fish and wet pepper vines; and the north of the island is still mostly forest. The new hotels are real and growing, but so is the old island underneath them, and with a bit of patience you can spend whole days in it.

Con Dao, a short flight away, is another world: one small town, empty beaches, a national park and a heavy history that people there treat with great seriousness. These twenty routes cover both islands. Prices, schedules and access rules change quickly here, so take the details as a starting point and check locally.

Practical tips first

Dawn at Dinh Cau and the Duong Dong river mouth

Duong Dong & west coasthalf a dayEasy

Watch the night boats come home past a tiny shrine on a rock, then follow the catch into Duong Dong’s morning market before the island wakes up.

The Duong Dong night market, one plate at a time

Duong Dong & west coastone eveningEasy

A long street of grills, tanks and pepper stalls where you can eat your way from sea urchin to coconut ice cream, if you go slowly and keep an eye on prices.

Inside the fish-sauce barrel houses

Duong Dong & west coasthalf a dayEasy

Giant wooden vats, salt, anchovies and patience: visit the long sheds where Phu Quoc’s most famous product ferments for a year or more.

Long Beach at golden hour

Duong Dong & west coasthalf a dayEasy

A slow barefoot walk along the island’s longest beach as the sun drops into the Gulf of Thailand, with grilled corn and cold coconut at the end.

Sao Beach and the quiet southeast

South & An Thoi islands1 dayEasy

The island’s most famous stretch of white sand, best in the early morning, with clear shallow water, swaying palms and fishing villages along the way.

A boat day in the An Thoi islands

South & An Thoi islands1 dayEasy

Snorkel over coral gardens, eat fish grilled on deck and land on tiny palm-fringed islands scattered off the southern tip of Phu Quoc.

Over the sea on the Hon Thom cable car

South & An Thoi islandshalf a day to 1 dayEasy

Ride one of the world’s longest sea-crossing cable cars from the tip of Phu Quoc to Hon Thom, floating above fishing boats and green islands.

The Coconut Tree Prison museum

South & An Thoi islands1–2 hoursEasy

A sober, quiet museum on the site of a former wartime prison camp, where the island’s twentieth-century history is told through barracks, wire and simple displays.

Crabs and stilt houses in Ham Ninh

East coast & interiorhalf a dayEasy

An old fishing village on the east coast where a long jetty runs out over the shallows, crabs are sold by the basket and the light at dusk turns everything silver.

Sunrise at Ho Quoc pagoda

East coast & interiorhalf a dayEasy

A large modern Buddhist monastery on a hillside facing the morning sun, with sea views, temple bells and very few people at dawn.

Pepper gardens and the Suoi Tranh stream

East coast & interiorhalf a dayEasy

Walk between rows of pepper vines climbing tall wooden poles, taste the berries fresh off the plant, then cool off by a forest stream in the hills.

Into the forest of Phu Quoc National Park

North & national park1 dayModerate

Walk under tall dipterocarp trees and along clear streams in the protected forest that still covers most of northern Phu Quoc.

Ganh Dau cape and the Cambodian horizon

North & national parkhalf a day to 1 dayEasy

Drive to the island’s northwestern tip for a quiet fishing village, empty beaches and sunsets with the hills of Cambodia floating on the horizon.

Kayaking the Cua Can river and Ong Lang beach

North & national parkhalf a dayModerate

Paddle a slow, mangrove-lined river past stilt houses and fishing boats, then swim off the rocky little coves of Ong Lang on the northwest coast.

Rach Vem and the starfish shallows

North & national parkhalf a dayEasy

A little fishing village on the north coast where orange starfish dot the sandy shallows and floating restaurants bob above the fish pens.

A rainy day in Duong Dong: pagodas, a museum and slow coffee

Duong Dong & west coast1 dayEasy

When the monsoon sets in, swap the beach for an old pagoda, a colourful Cao Dai temple, a collector’s museum of island life and a long coffee watching the rain.

Con Son town and the island’s prison history

Con Dao1 dayEasy

Walk the quiet seafront of Con Dao’s only town, then visit former colonial prisons and the Hang Duong cemetery, where the island’s heavy past is remembered every night.

A night with the turtles on Bay Canh

Con DaoovernightModerate

Sleep at a ranger station on a forested island, wait on the dark beach for a green turtle to come ashore, and help release hatchlings into the sea at dawn.

Planes and quiet sand: Dam Trau and Nhat beaches

Con Dao1 dayEasy

Swim at a sheltered crescent of sand right beside the runway, then catch the sunset at a long empty beach that only appears at low tide.

Forest trails to So Ray and Ong Dung bay

Con Dao1 dayModerate

Climb through the jungle to an abandoned prison-era plantation above the town, then walk down to a hidden bay where the reef starts a few strokes from the stones.

Prices, opening hours and rules change. Treat these notes as a starting point and check current information before you go.