Book Phu Quoc attraction tickets

Phu Quoc sits off the southwestern tip of Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand, separated from the Cambodian coast by a narrow stretch of warm, shallow water. The largest island in the country, it belongs administratively to Kien Giang province, though its character owes as much to the sea around it as to the Vietnamese mainland. For most of its modern history it was known chiefly for two things: a fish sauce industry that supplies much of Southeast Asia, and pepper plantations that still thread across the island's interior. Over the past decade, however, large-scale resort development has transformed the southern and western coastlines into something altogether different, while the north remains largely forested under the protection of Phu Quoc National Park.

Long Beach, running along the western shore near Duong Dong town, is where most first-time visitors find their footing. The town itself holds the island's main market, the Dinh Cau night market along the estuary, and the Rock Temple perched at the mouth of the river. Duong Dong is compact enough to navigate on foot or by motorbike, and the fish sauce factories on its outskirts are among the few places in the world where you can watch nuoc mam produced at industrial scale in traditional wooden barrels. Further south, the Ong Lang and Cua Can areas retain a quieter pace, while the far south has been reshaped almost entirely by the integrated resort complexes that now define Phu Quoc's international profile.