Visiting Phu Quoc Island (Koh Tral)

I traveled to Phu Quoc Island with my family during year-end 2018. We bought round trip ticket, Phnom Penh-Phu Quoc, from Champa Mekong Express and it cost USD 52 for a person. It took around 3 hours and 30 minutes to travel from Phnom Penh to Prek Chak International Border Check Point and Ha Tien Border Crossing (Cambodian-Vietnamese border). The express company had a guide to assist us to get our passport stamped for both Cambodian and Vietnamese border crossing authorities. It took us around 2 hours to wait for passport crossing border permission and walk from Cambodia to Vietnamese territory. When we received our passports from the guide, a van picked us up and brought us to Ha Tien Ferry Terminal, around 15 minutes from Ha Tien crossing border. We then took the boat to Ham Ninh Ferry Terminal, Phu Quoc (around 1 hour 20 minutes).

Ho Quoc Pagoda

We booked a guesthouse online via booking.com and our booking place was very convenient. We had only one full day for exploring in Phu Quoc Island; therefore, we decided to see the selected features such as Ong Long Beach, Phu Quoc Prison, Ho Quoc Pagoda, Vinpearl Land Phu Quoc, Night Market and Dinh Cau Rock as recommend by tripadvisor. There was free entrance to visit the prison and pagodas. The ticket to entry Vinpearl Land is VND 500,000 (around USD 21.40) and to Vinpearl Safari is VND 600,000 (around USD 25.70). 

Phu Quoc Island is very close to Cambodia, 13 km from Cambodia and 40 km from Ha Tien, Vietnam. There is no boat to go direct from Cambodia to Phu Quoc Island. The visitors need to cross Cambodian-Vietnamese border in Ha Tien first. Generally, the visitors can take a flight from Ho Chi Minh to Phu Quoc Airport or boat from Ha Tien Ferry Terminal to Ham Ninh Ferry Terminal (ticket price is around USD 12) or to Thanh Thoi Ferry Terminal. They can hire a motorbike or bicycle or take taxi from one place to another place around the Island. They can also take a public bus but they need to find the schedules. We actually took several taxis, the drivers could not speak English nor Khmer but they could read and use the map so they could bring us to where we wanted. Sometimes, they tried to be friendly and introduce good places to visit in Island, but we could not understand Vietnamese and used only verbal languages. Phu Quoc has good quality of pearls and the visitors can also visit the pearl farms. The beaches and the views are beautiful but I noticed that some places are polluted.

Phu Quoc Prison