Phú Quốc

Phú Quốc is Vietnam's largest island, lying in the Gulf of Thailand off the country's southwestern tip and closer to Cambodia than to the Vietnamese mainland. Long a quiet place of fishing villages, pepper plantations and forest, it is known for two traditional products, the black pepper grown on its red-earth farms and the fish sauce fermented in its distilleries, the country's most prized. For visitors, the draw is the coast: long white-sand beaches down the west and south, the calm, clear water and coral of the An Thoi archipelago off the southern tip, and a large protected national park of forest across the north. In recent years the island has developed fast, with resorts, a cable car and a theme park at the southern end, so it now spans undeveloped beaches and glossy resort strips. Sunsets over the western sea are a nightly ritual.

What you actually see

• The west-coast beaches - long stretches of white sand and calm water for sunset.
• The An Thoi islands - snorkelling and island-hopping off the southern tip, reached by boat or cable car.
• Pepper farms and fish-sauce distilleries - the island's traditional products.
• Phu Quoc National Park - the protected forest covering the north of the island.

When to go

November to April is the dry season with the calmest, clearest sea and the best beach weather; the wet season, roughly May to October, brings rougher water and rain, especially on the west coast. The island is warm year-round. Book ahead around Vietnamese holidays when it fills.

Honest expectations

Development has been rapid and uneven, so parts of the island are now dominated by large resorts and construction that jar with its former quiet, while other stretches remain undeveloped; where you stay shapes the experience enormously. The wet season genuinely limits swimming and boat trips. It is a long way from anywhere else in Vietnam, essentially a fly-in beach destination rather than part of an overland route.

Nearby

The island is self-contained; the mainland towns of Ha Tien and Rach Gia are the ferry gateways, near the Mekong Delta.