We visited this hotel back when it was brand new and had just opened. Here is our short hotel review of Pho Quoc Dragon Resort & Spa:
What’s special about the Phu Quoc Dragon Resort & Spa Hotel?
Walk into the resort and you’ll be standing in a lush, colourful garden surrounded by wooden bungalows. Continue walking through the garden and you’ll come to the pool, lined by padded wooden sun loungers and umbrellas.
The beautiful hotel gardens
Phu Quoc, especially in the main town, has plenty of ugly hotels that seem to have been built to make a quick buck without worrying much about aesthetics. The Dragon is different. Here, someone really seems to have put thought into designing the place. From the wooden bungalows, which have all-wooden furniture inside, to the design of the lush gardens, everything looks natural and blends into the native surroundings. It’s this balance with nature that creates a soothing environment.
Gigantic larger-than-king-size beds, some of the comfiest hotel beds I’ve slept in
Everything you could need in a hotel room was readily available
The hotel is well taken care of. The pool is fairly big for a small resort, with a deeper area for swimming and a knee-deep area which is perfect to just lounge around and enjoy the sun without getting too hot!
Little details were still being added while we were there, and the spa was still in construction, but it is also set in a very nice garden area.
They offer free shuttle services to the nearby beach with a swanky little golf cart, as well as twice-daily minibus shuttle service to the nearest town, Duong Dong.
What to eat:
Breakfast at the Phu Quoc Dragon Hotel was great: In the restaurant overlooking the pool, right by the water, a buffet was set up with both western and Asian food options, including some sort of different soup every day and ingredients to make Vietnamese style Banh Mi (see my Saigon Food Guide for details). There was also a pancake station and eggs any style cooked to order. The omelettes were delicious!
Vietnamese style breakfast from the buffet
There’s a happy hour in the early evening which was great for a pre-dinner drink. Offers seem to change over time, we had a few days of two for one cocktails!
Piña Coladas by the pool!
After the great breakfast, we were a bit disappointed with dinner. There were not a lot of options, and the few things we tried were small portions and lacking a bit of flavour, which is unusual in Vietnam. The hotel had just opened though when we went and my impression was that they’re still working on this, so things may definitely improve. Until then though, if you’re looking for something different, here are some dinner options within walking distance from the hotel:
Sakura, a family style restaurant, offering a range of basic but good Vietnamese staples and sea food dishes. We quite enjoyed their fish curry and chicken with lemongrass. This place caters to tourists, so you’ll have to ask them to spice it up if you’re looking for Vietnamese flavours.
Midori, a fairly new lounge style bar & restaurant, is just up the road from the Dragon. They offer table-side barbecue as well as a few traditional Vietnamese dishes. I asked for a local island dish recommendation and ended up with shrimps in an incredibly tasty sweet & sour tamarind sauce. Bonus: this place makes amazing juices, cocktails and mocktails (alcohol free cocktails).
Freshly caught local scallops
Seaside Homestay: This little homestay is just around the corner from the Dragon (a few meters up the road from the hotel, towards the main road, look for the sign pointing down a small side lane). The owner introduced herself to us while we were shopping at a mini mart and invited us to stop by for dinner one night. They served us a beautiful dinner of various local Phu Quoc specialties, including locally caught scallops and pork in fish sauce. Highly recommended, you’ll need to book a day in advance, it’s easiest to just stop by in person to do so.
What to do around the hotel:
The Phu Quoc Dragon Hotel is close to Ong Lang beach on the West coast of the island and about 10km north of its main town Duong Dong. The area around the hotel is seeing a lot of new construction at the moment, mainly hotels. The construction is nowhere nearly as noisy and visible as in other areas of the island though, and inside the hotel and by the beach it was practically unnoticeable.
Sunset at Ong Lang beach
Ong Lang beach is beautiful and fairly quiet compared to the island’s main beaches near Duong Dong. Sunsets are stunning, especially on the beach to the right if you follow the road down from the hotel. There’s a bar there right on the beach where you can grab a drink and lie in a hammock or sit on the rocks and let your feet dangle in the water as you watch the sun going down.
The hotel also provides a free shuttle into town. Once you get there, I recommend skipping the touristy night market and instead heading towards the local markets around the bridge over the river, where you can pick up fresh spring rolls and freshly baked goods from a local bakery (amazing pineapple pastries!) or have an authentic Vietnamese drip coffee.
The verdict
Comfy beds by the pool… what more could you want?
We loved our week at the Phu Quoc Dragon Resort & Spa Hotel. It was going to be our lazy week as we were recovering from jet lag and illness, and this was the perfect place for what we were looking for. A big breakfast by the pool, a couple of hours on the comfy sun loungers, a dip in the pool, followed by beach walks or excursions to Duong Dong… relaxation set in pretty quickly. My main recommendation for improvement? Play less Celine Dion by the pool… nobody wants to hear My Heart Will Go On five times a day. 😉
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This is quite possibly one of the nicest all round hotels I have seen in a long time – Love the interior, but love the surroundings even more, so lush!
I’m actually heading to Vietnam in a few weeks time (Chiang mai at the moment), so will definitely be keeping this one in mind…thanks for posting about it!
Thanks for your comment Derek! It was really nice both inside and outside, we sat in the gardens a lot, just drinking tea or cocktails and relaxing.
If you need any advice for Vietnam please let me know! I’ve traveled through about 20 different places in Vietnam now and loving it so happy to help in any way I can.
Sounds like a quiet, relaxing vacation! The hotel and area around it looks beautiful! And I could really go for those happy hour drinks by the pool haha. I would like to get to Vietnam in the next couple of years, so I may have to make a stop here for a lazy vacation!
You should definitely plan a trip to Vietnam, it’s a beautiful country! And we basically used this place as our “lazy vacation” break during the trip 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
It looks pretty nice to stay. Of course because they just opened they are stil trying out different options for dinner. The pictures do look great!
We have booked a trip in February with our 18yr old daughter. I stumbled across this resort during my internet research and booked it. Very happy to read your positive review. Any other info you can offer about what to do in Phu Quoc Island would be appreciated – night markets? Tours? Special places to eat? Thanks in advance. Julie
Hi Julie,
Glad to hear you’re going to Phu Quoc, I’m sure you’ll have a great time!
I really need to write a blog post about Phu Quoc in general at some point. But, a few ideas:
– Food: Seaside Homestay, which I mention in the article above, was probably the best meal we had in Phu Quoc. You should also try the smoothies and the tableside barbecue at Midori. Everywhere else wasn’t bad, but just not amazing compared to places like Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We found a few great lunch/afternoon snack items like fresh spring rolls and dips at the local market near the hotel’s shuttle drop-off point in Duong Dong, and an awesome bakery between the drop-off point and the market. I don’t remember the exact address of the bakery, but it shouldn’t be hard to find on that short walk. Here’s an attempt at directions with Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/1YGLpaCZeB22 (you’ll see that Google makes you backtrack to get on the bridge, in reality you can take stairs to get up to the bridge so the distance is much shorter). This market is really local, and sells its fair share of live and dead animals so nothing for the squeamish, but it’s authentic and incredibly cheap for nice food.
– Night markets: There is a night market in Duong Dong. I personally didn’t like it – it was a tourist trap with expensive (for local prices, anyway) seafood stalls and souvenir stalls. Much more exciting night markets elsewhere in Asia.
– Other places to go: there’s a place on the East side of the island called Kiki Coconut Beach Resort. It’s run by a lovely family and has an incredible little secluded beach. You can stay in their bungalows for a couple of nights if you still have flexibility in your schedule, or just go for a day trip. They serve food all day long and have a nice little selection of wines, and of course fresh coconut to sip on!
We didn’t do any organised tours, so I can’t give any personal recommendations there. I’ve heard there are some great boat and snorkeling tours though.
Hope that helps! And would love to hear your impressions after your trip.