Best Islands in Vietnam: Phu Quoc, Con Dao and Cat Ba

01VIETNAM

No Month Suits All of Vietnam’s Islands

They sit in three different weather systems, so sequence rather than combine.

On Phú Quốc the bowl comes with homework. At Quán Kiến Xây, which VnExpress describes as probably the first shop on the island to sell bún quậy, staff set out about twenty bowls at a time and leave you with the sauce: fish-sauce seasoning, sugar, calamansi and ground chilli, stirred for around five minutes until it thickens. The dish is named for the stirring. The shop is busiest between 8 and 10am.

The island has become the one everybody is booking. Of the best islands in Vietnam, Phú Quốc drew more than 5.7 million visitors in the first half of 2026, and on 1 October the Michelin Guide confirmed it will rate the island's restaurants in 2027. The others have no such momentum, which is mostly to their credit. Côn Đảo, a prison island south of Ho Chi Minh City, and Cát Bà, off Hải Phòng, ask more of you. Here is how I'd choose, and when.

Vietnam's islands sit in three different weather systems, so the calendar decides more than the ranking does. VisitPhuQuoc puts Phú Quốc's best period at November to April, with rain from May to October. Vietnam Coracle says almost the reverse for Côn Đảo: calm, clear seas from March to August, and a windy December to February when boats often cancel. Cát Bà in the north is drier from October to April, and busiest on summer weekends and public holidays. The UK Foreign Office places the tropical storm season between May and November, and its page was still current on 11 October 2026.

The practical answer is to sequence rather than combine. Phú Quốc suits the winter you are planning for, Côn Đảo opens up from spring, and Cát Bà works either side of summer. Fitting two islands into one short trip means a flight or long boat between them, so the table below shows where the seasons cross and which island to drop first. I'd drop Lý Sơn first, then Cát Bà, and pair Phú Quốc with Côn Đảo only if you have ten days. For the wider picture, our month-by-month guide to Southeast Asia covers the neighbours, and the best islands in Southeast Asia shows where Vietnam ranks against Thailand and Indonesia.

Three weather systems, three different islands

The karst north, where the bay is the point

The flat south, where the beach is

And the crossing between them

02VIETNAM

Phú Quốc Is the Easiest, If You Pick the Month

Vietnam’s largest island, and the one everybody is booking.

Phú Quốc is Vietnam's largest island, in the Gulf of Thailand off the Cambodian coast, and it now falls under An Giang Province. VisitPhuQuoc describes a quieter north of Bãi Dài beach, Gành Dầu cape and the national park, and a southern end where Sun Group's cable car and Sunset Town sit.

The numbers are what stand out. Phú Quốc recorded more than 1.3 million international arrivals in the first half of 2026, up 50.3%, and in January the head of An Giang's travel association said more than 95% of rooms were booked for Tết, while authorities warned that unusually cheap offers could be scams. Skyscanner puts the island on its list of ten destinations with the sharpest rise in 2027 search interest, last on the list and with no figure attached.

Michelin will reveal a Phú Quốc selection at a mid-2027 ceremony, and its destination partner is Sun Group, the developer behind the biggest attractions. APEC's leaders' week arrives later in 2027. No published figure yet shows how either will move prices, so this is my reading: the squeeze lands over Tết, which begins on 6 February 2027, and around APEC. I'd go between November and March, outside both, and book rooms now.

The headline attraction belongs to that same developer. The Hon Thom cable car runs 7,899 metres across the sea, and its 750,000₫ ticket (about $29) bundles a water park and the Kiss Bridge. Fine for a wet afternoon. I'd skip it before skipping a beach.

03VIETNAM

Where to Eat: A Morning Bún Quậy, Then the Night Market

The island eats from the sea, and the bowl comes with homework.

Phú Quốc eats from the sea: fish sauce, squid, ghẹ (blue swimming crab) and bún quậy, a noodle dish built on a self-mixed sauce. Michelin's announcement points to Dương Đông town and the fishing village of Hàm Ninh. For how this bowl sits against the rest of the country, see our Vietnam food guide.

VnExpress reports that diners stir their own sauce into a plain seafood broth, and the bowl holds squid, fish cake and shrimp cake. At the Bạch Đằng night market, the writer Vance Derek of VietAdvisor lists grilled skewers and bánh tráng nướng at 30,000 to 50,000₫ a portion, and steamed ghẹ sold by weight from tanks. He puts the cheaper crab at Rạch Hàm, at roughly half the tank prices on Bạch Đằng.

Eat the bún quậy before 10am. A full bowl was 55,000₫ (about $2.10) when VnExpress priced it, and extra mackerel or beef adds 20,000₫. Go to the market after 6pm and agree the price per kilo and the cooking charge before the crab is weighed; VietAdvisor budgets 150,000 to 250,000₫ ($6 to $10) a head. Save Hàm Ninh for a crab dinner, and compare its prices with the market's before you sit.

The hours do not agree. VnExpress calls the morning the rush, VietAdvisor sends you at 5.30pm, and the market's own operator gives both 5pm and 6pm as opening time. Tank seafood is where visitors overpay, and the one thing here I would not order without a price.

Park before you browse: VietAdvisor lists scooter parking at the night market at 10,000 to 20,000₫ and cars at 30,000 to 50,000₫. Order small portions and share, so you taste more stalls than one big plate allows.

04VIETNAM

Côn Đảo Is the Island for History

A hundred kilometres offshore, and a place of mourning before it is a beach.

Côn Đảo lies about 100km offshore and 230km south of Ho Chi Minh City, and its reputation is as a prison island. Vietnam Coracle lists four prison sites, including Phú Tường and Phú Bình, which held the tiger cages. A day ticket covers them and the Côn Đảo Museum.

The Hàng Dương Cemetery is where the history becomes personal. The memorial's own page counts 1,922 graves, 714 of them identified, and Uncover Vietnam's writer Patricia K describes late-evening visits when locals bring offerings and burn incense under small lanterns. Võ Thị Sáu, shot at 19 and regarded as a national heroine, is buried here. Another source counts 1,913 graves and 793 names, so the totals vary by publisher.

Do the museum and prisons in the morning: Coracle gives hours of 7.30 to 11am and 1.30 to 5pm and a 50,000₫ ticket (about $1.90), while Vietnam With Me, updated this week, says 40,000₫. Take the cemetery afterwards or at dusk; the memorial asks for respectful clothing, silence, no plastic bags and fresh flowers if you bring an offering, and says the route takes about 45 minutes.

This is a place of mourning, so treat it as one. The official page asks visitors not to burn votive paper, which sits oddly beside the incense described by other writers. Follow the staff on the day, and do not turn it into a photo stop between beaches.

Côn Đảo, which is quiet for a reason

A lane of old buildings at the end of the day

The water you cross to reach it

And a boat on flat water beside the village

05VIETNAM

Turtle Season on Hòn Bảy Cạnh

Green turtles nest from April, and the places are capped.

Green turtles nest on the park's outer islands from April to October, and Hòn Bảy Cạnh is where more come ashore than anywhere else in Vietnam. Dân Trí's English edition counts 600 to 900 mothers a season. Watching is regulated, and only rangers lead it.

Under the park's limits, reported by VietnamPlus, nesting can be watched between 6pm and 6am, with no more than 50 visitors a night in groups of about ten. Hatchling releases run from 5.30 to 7.30am for up to 100 people at a site. Dân Trí adds that observation uses red light, and that about one hatchling in a thousand reaches adulthood.

Book through the Côn Đảo National Park office on the seafront road, not an informal boat. Dân Trí gives roughly 50,000₫ for a release session. Coracle rates the diving the best in Vietnam, from March to August, and names Con Dao Dive Center on Nguyễn An Ninh street as the main operator. It also warns that rooms cost at least 20% more than on the mainland.

The season fills the quota, so ask for dates before you fly. Turtle months overlap the heavy rain of June to August, and the park offers no guarantee of a nesting turtle on any night. If you want certainty, the dawn release is the surer bet.

Fuel is thin. Coracle counts only two petrol stations on the island, so fill the scooter before you ride the new west-coast road, which now makes a full circuit possible.

06VIETNAM

Cát Bà Is the Island for Hiking

The main island of the Hạ Long Bay archipelago, and the langur is the reason for the park.

Cát Bà is the main island of the Hạ Long Bay–Cát Bà Archipelago, which UNESCO inscribed on 16 September 2023 across more than 360 islands. Vietnam's tourism board calls it the country's first inter-provincial World Heritage site. Much of the island is national park.

The park is open daily from 7am to 5pm, and a cruise operator, Bhaya, lists about 60,000₫ for foreign visitors. Its Kim Giao trail is 1.5km and easy. The Viet Hai route is 14km, rated difficult, five to eight hours, and ends near Lan Ha Bay where a boat returns you. Dân Trí reports over 80 golden-headed langurs left, down 98% in fifty years, and says poaching rose as tourism arrived.

Enter the park by 8am for Viet Hai, photograph the trailhead map because there are no printed ones, and carry at least 1.5 litres of water. A speedboat from Hải Phòng takes about 45 minutes at 200,000₫ (roughly $7.70) according to VisitHaLongBay, and from Hà Nội, Novo Monde lists combined bus-boat-bus tickets from 276,000₫ taking about four hours. November to April is the best walking weather.

Do not expect a langur. Dân Trí notes that tourists rarely see them, and rangers watch them daily for good reason. Cannon Fort viewpoint was reported closed for erosion and safety, and Cát Cò 1 and 2 beaches are crowded or fenced in places, so check locally.

The north, on foot and on the water

Limestone peaks behind the forest

The boats moored along the bank

And what comes to the table afterwards

07VIETNAM

Lan Ha Bay Is the Better Cruise From Cát Bà

The water south-east of the island, reached directly rather than from Hanoi.

Lan Ha Bay is the water south-east of Cát Bà, reached directly from the island, with limestone islets, caves and fishing villages. Cái Bèo and Bến Bèo, its working harbour, appear on most routes. Hạ Long Bay itself starts from Hạ Long city, which makes the two cruises different starts, not interchangeable trips.

Novo Monde prices a two-day Lan Ha junk cruise from Hanoi at about €170, against €200 for Hạ Long, and warns that much cheaper offers are likely scams. On 20 April 2026 a new overnight route from Tuần Châu began linking the two bays, run by Bhaya and Asia Premium Travel. VisitHaLongBay says overnight Lan Ha cruises typically dock at Trà Bàu fishing village.

Pick Lan Ha from Cát Bà and book it there or direct, not through the cheapest Hanoi offer. Visit Bến Bèo fish market early, when the boats unload squid and clams, according to a Hải Phòng-based travel agency's 2026 guide. The agency adds that kayak routes now come with safety briefings, and that access is stricter in protected marine areas. Swimmers should be out of the water by 6.30pm because of tides.

The catch is the floating restaurants, which now serve tour groups from big noisy boats, and the new Hạ Long link only runs overnight. Bioluminescent plankton is conditions-dependent and cannot be promised. Skip any itinerary that tries to fit Hạ Long and Lan Ha into one day.

08VIETNAM

Lý Sơn Is the Volcanic One to Add

Quảng Ngãi’s only island, and a short stay rather than a week.

Lý Sơn is the only island of Quảng Ngãi Province, about 30km offshore. Viet Nam News reports traces of ten volcanic craters, three of them on the seabed, and the Lý Sơn–Sa Huỳnh geopark was set up in 2015. A speedboat from Sa Kỳ takes 30 to 60 minutes, and a ferry from Đà Nẵng around two hours.

Vietnam's tourism board lists Thới Lới mountain, the To Vo arch and Hang Cau fishing cave beneath a cliff about 120 metres high, with garlic salad as the signature dish and a night market for local food. Viet Nam News describes Thới Lới's dual crater, with a lake on its summit. Coracle's older guide advises sightseeing between 10am and 3pm, with Thới Lới best at about 4pm.

Go from March to September and on a weekday, since Coracle says weekends and holidays are packed with domestic visitors. Rent a scooter for 100,000 to 150,000₫ ($4 to $6) a day from your guesthouse, and stay two nights, not more. Order the garlic salad and the seafood, and treat any room rate in that old guide as out of date.

Coracle's guide is about seven years old and already flagged litter, incinerator smoke, sand erosion and a large new port under construction. Those trends will not have reversed. If you are not already on the central coast, the extra travel does not justify Lý Sơn over Côn Đảo.

09VIETNAM

Every Island, Side by Side

What to do, what it costs, and the months that work.

₫ means under about 100,000₫ ($3.85) per person for the item; ₫₫ means 150,000 to 400,000₫ ($6 to $15) a head, from the night-market budget in VietAdvisor. Months follow the sources named in each section, and they disagree in places.

10VIETNAM

Seasons, Scooters, Money and Booking

Pair the island with the month, and book the turtles through the park.

When to go: Pair the island with the month. Phú Quốc from November to April, Côn Đảo from March, Cát Bà in spring or early autumn, Lý Sơn from March to September. Tết falls on 6 February 2027, and the biggest island rooms go early, so book those weeks first.

Getting around: Scooters are the island default: about 150,000₫ a day on Côn Đảo, from 200,000₫ on Cát Bà, 100,000 to 150,000₫ on Lý Sơn. The US State Department says driving needs a Vietnamese licence and that US licences and International Driving Permits are not valid. Check your own country's rules, and use taxis or hotel transfers if you are unsure.

Money: Use about 26,000₫ to the US dollar, the mid-market rate in early October 2026. Carry small notes for night markets, parking and ferries, and expect island rooms to cost more: Coracle puts Côn Đảo at least 20% above the mainland.

Booking: Book turtle watching through the Côn Đảo National Park office, Cát Bà cruises directly on the island, and flights to Côn Đảo early in turtle season. Treat cut-price cruise or ferry offers from Hanoi as warning signs. Our guide to tourist traps in Southeast Asia lists the usual tricks.

How long: Three nights covers Phú Quốc, two the Côn Đảo sites and a turtle night, and two or three Cát Bà with one cruise day. Lý Sơn needs two nights at most.

Safety: The UK does not advise against travel to Vietnam and warns about tropical storms from May to November. The US sets Level 1, normal precautions, and warns of petty theft, illegal drones and the risk of unmarked ordnance on construction sites. Check forecasts before sailing, since boats often cancel in rough weather.

11VIETNAM

The Bottom Line

Pick the island by the month, then book early.

Go to Phú Quốc this winter, before Tết and APEC thin out the rooms, and eat at the night market rather than the resort. Plan Côn Đảo for April onwards and let the cemetery come before the beach. Choose Cát Bà when you want to walk, and book Lan Ha Bay there rather than from Hanoi. Lý Sơn is for people already on the central coast.

Whichever you pick, check the sea forecast before you pay for a boat.

Pick the island by the month, then book early.