Take A Walking Tour Of Ba Keo Beach And Beyond

In Vietnam’s big cities, you might justify taking your motorbike just to cross the street, such is the reliance on two wheels here. But, on Phu Quoc Island the pace is different. It’s a place where the slow life still exists.

So, as you settle into your Phu Quoc Island resort, dispense with the roads completely, and walk down the beach. You won’t regret it. That’s especially true on the west coast, on a beach like Ba Keo, where the sound of the waves gently lapping the sand mixes with the thump of a volleyball being returned over the net, the splash of a canoe oar breaking the surface of the sea, and the music drifting from a nearby beach bar as the sun sets.

Start Out During Late Afternoon When The Temperature Has Cooled

Start out in the late afternoon as temperatures cool, but when you’re still warmed by the afternoon sun – which is the case all year round as the tropical temperature on Phu Quoc Island usually hovers between 29 and 32 degrees. And because the sun sets off this west coast of Phu Quoc — a rarity in a country with around 3,000km of east-facing coastline. As you amble down the sand, break up the beach walk with some drinks and snacks along the way – and remember to plead daytime dehydration if anyone disputes the number of beers you’ve had.

Cassia Cottage’s The Malabar, one of the most blissed out Phu Quoc beach bars, makes the perfect rendezvous point before a walk down Ba Keo Beach. Order a cold beer and enjoy it on the beachfront stools or lazing in the garden cabanas behind.

Begin At Phu Quoc’s Most Blissed Out Beach Bar Then Head South

From Cassia Cottage’s The Malabar, head left down Ba Keo Beach – stopping for a selfie on Cassia Cottage’s beachfront swing – past Thanh Kieu Beach Resort to OCSEN Beach Bar & Club that’s open daily from 4pm – 2am.

It’s still early, and the staff are starting to put back the bean bags and tables they gathered back in last night. Grab one quickly, as OCSEN Beach Bar & Club fills up fast at sunset. The place becomes packed by a diverse array of guests – curious couples taking a break from La Veranda Resort Phu Quoc and Coral Bay Resort Phu Quoc on either side of the road that leads down to OCSEN, and revelers from all across the island making a trip over to one of the best places to catch the sunset on Phu Quoc, all lounging on bean bags as bright orange as the setting sun.

Later, There’s A Fireshow And Campfire

Later, there’ll be a fireshow and a campfire on the beach. And a DJ, in the DJ booth set right on the beach, will start a set. OCSEN invites over some of the country’s best DJs from Ling:CHI to Ouissam with some special line ups and events during holidays.

At this point, with sand between your toes, the glow of late-afternoon-sun kissed skin, and the buzz from a couple of boldly local Phu Quoc Fish Sauce signature cocktails, which, as the name suggests, contains fish sauce along with vodka, tamarind, Cointreau, and some lime and coriander, you might want to seek respite in La Veranda’s push environs. At Le Bar, their chic, Indochine lounge, continue with the local flavor infusions like their ruou sim cocktail built on a base of rose myrtle wine, and rejuvenate to the soft jazz soundtrack.

Continue on, and around the headland beyond Free Beach Resort Phu Quoc, and be rewarded with another stop at Little Paradise Beach Bar & Restaurant – the kind of fun, no-frills Phu Quoc beachfront bar that draws a nightly congregation of sun-kissed tourist whiling away the evening over crisp Sapporos beneath the open fronted, palm-roofed bar, or at tables set right on the beach.

Back Up On The Main Road

From here you can put the beach behind you completely. Back up on the main road, and a little further south along Tran Hung Dao, neighboring each other are Hien Charcoal Grill, with lots of fun touches like skewers grilled at your table on a mini-brazier, Bittersweet Hidden Cocktail Bar, the island’s original speakeasy that focuses on bespoke cocktails in a darkened backroom bar, and Anna’s Nhà Cuốn Restaurant, run by the same seasoned team as Crab House Phu Quoc.

Or decline to let the beach stray too far out of view, and get a table at the award-winning ingredient-driven iL Muro Italiano Restaurant – part of the Salinda Resort – or at Pakka Indian at the same location.

From here, it’s easy to hail a taxi home, or run the journey back in reverse up the beach.

Or Turn Back Along The Beach

But if you didn’t even make it this far, and you turned back some time ago, dinner at Cassia Cottage’s The Spice House, beneath whirring ceiling fans and surrounded by lush greenery, makes the perfect end to an evening – the beach, after all, will still be there tomorrow.