Phu Quoc Island Travel Guide: What to prepare for going to Phu Quoc Island in 2018

It is still a guide about Phu Quoc Island. The following is basically about many aspects. Most of them are about air tickets, visas, climate and currency exchange. You can see if you need to go to Phu Quoc Island. Yes, here is the guide.

Air tickets

There are usually two ways to fly to Phu Quoc Island domestically. One is to choose a charter flight with Vietnam Airlines. This is the most convenient and quickest. The direct charter flight from Shanghai to Phu Quoc Island was just opened at the end of July. ,

It takes five hours to reach Phu Quoc Island. However, charter flights are only available during the winter and summer vacations. Usually, if you want to take Vietnam Airlines to Phu Quoc Island, you need to transfer to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.

The second is to choose China Southern Airlines and transfer in Guangzhou. The advantage is that if you choose a connecting flight with China Southern Airlines with a long connecting flight, you can go to Guangzhou city, eat some delicious food, and stay one night. If the transfer time is more than 8 hours but less than 48 hours, China Southern Airlines will give you a free hotel night. For a foodie, this is very exciting.

Visa

The entry and exit policies of Phu Quoc Island are different from those in Vietnam. After landing in Phu Quoc Island, you need to take two two-inch photos with your new passport starting with the letter "E". You only need to apply for a visa paper for a visa on arrival at the customs to enter the country. The old passport can enter the customs directly without a visa. In a true sense, just leave.

Oh, by the way, Phu Quoc Island customs is very friendly and does not have the habit of charging tips.

Climate

Phu Quoc Island has a sub-equatorial monsoon climate. There are only two seasons in a year, the rainy season in October and the dry season from November to September. The average annual rainfall is 2879 mm and the average annual temperature is 27°, making it suitable for tourism all year round. Local people said that this year's rainy season is earlier than in previous years, so August is already the transition between the dry season and the rainy season, with both sunshine and rain. But the temperature of 30 degrees is very suitable for traveling, especially after we have experienced the 40 degree temperature in Shanghai, it is a perfect escape from the heat.

Currency exchange rate

The Vietnamese Dong is a relatively worthless currency, even more so than the Indonesian Rupiah that I was exposed to before. Every day when I spend money, I have to go through a particularly painful process of counting zeros, just to avoid not spending one hundred thousand as ten thousand. How to convert? The easiest way is to remove the last four zeros and multiply by three. The menu prices in local restaurants are the price minus the three zeros at the end.

Phu Quoc Island is relatively primitive and there are not many places where you can exchange money. Money is basically exchanged in U.S. dollars, and locals basically don’t accept RMB. There are a few ATMs around the airport and night markets, but sometimes ATMs run out of money. We basically exchange U.S. dollars for money at the hotel front desk, and we can use credit cards if we can. Although the hotel's exchange rate is definitely not as good as the real-time exchange rate at the ATM, it is not much different.

There is an ATM on the right side of the elevator on the right side of the exit gate at the airport arrivals level. However, when we arrived, there was no cash inside. You can try your luck; for others, check it out on the way to and from the night market. I've been to 1 or 2 of them; if you're staying at Novotel, there's one in front of the hotel.

Local transportation

Phu Quoc Island is very small and there is almost no public transportation. Phu Quoc Island currently does not support chartered cars and self-driving. Renting a car or chartering a car will bring a driver. You can choose to take a taxi or rent a motorcycle (motorcycles can be rented directly without a driver's license, but local motorcycles are very fast, and any accidents are the tourists' full responsibility, so it is not recommended to travel by motorcycle).

Public Security

Compared with the speedster gangs in Vietnam, the undeveloped Phu Quoc Island has relatively simple folk customs, and there is basically no phenomenon of robbing customers. Girls should not go out alone at night. It is best to be accompanied by someone when going out. Other times, you can basically play with confidence.

Communication and Internet access

Basically, hotel rooms and public areas on Phu Quoc Island have free Wi-Fi coverage. In addition, we rented a Wi-Fi that roams around the world. Handle Internet needs outside the hotel. It is very convenient to pick up and return it at the airport. If you need to find restaurants, navigation, etc. at the night market, you can rely on this Wi-Fi.

Airport

It is about 12 kilometers to the center of Dongdong Town. This road is called TranHung

Dao (when you enter the gathering area, this road is full of seafood blocked). Many hotels offer free airport pick-up. Which website you booked on, ask the staff of that website to call them to confirm your flight time. If there is no free pick-up, there is no need to book in advance. Booking in advance will definitely be expensive. There are many taxis on site, and there are many girls from taxi companies soliciting customers at the gate exit (but it is said that they are not from the taxi company, but from the local government) , for the convenience of tourists), use a meter throughout the journey, so you don’t have to worry about detours. There is only one road on the island. The prices of taxis of different colors are still different. Although the starting price is 6K, 8K, and 9K, the prices within 1.5 kilometers are all the same. Almost the same, but the price of different taxis differs by 20,000 for 5 kilometers (don’t ask me why I know this). The cheapest one is the white vinsun

The yellow one is about the same, the green one and the most expensive silver gray one. (Belonging to the same company, the table jumps very fast). But the price of a 7-seater taxi is different from that of a 4-seater taxi.

Every town has beaches and fishing villages, but they are not primitive fishing villages. Although the high temperature on the island is only 32 or 33 degrees, the direct sun is even more severe than the 37-degree sun in Zhejiang. The sky was really blue.

Although November to May is the dry season, rainfall is heavy throughout the year, with thundershowers occurring almost every day, and they come and go quickly. During the dry season, the sea water is clear and the waves are calm, making it the best time to travel; in the rainy season from June to October, the rainfall is heavier and lasts longer, the sea water is turbid, and the wind and waves are strong. There is a huge difference between the dry and rainy seasons. Generally speaking, the sea water in the north is clearer than in the south, and in the west is clearer than in the east. Of course, the sea water in the offshore islands is better; but the waves in the southeast seem to be relatively flat only in January.