Phu Quoc Island Hopping in the An Thoi Archipelago: Ports, Hours, Prices and What Is Charged On Top

1. How an An Thoi hopping day runs

An An Thoi hopping day starts with a hotel pickup between 07:00 and 09:00, boards a speedboat at Vinh Dam or An Thoi port, stops at three or four islands south of Phu Quoc, and returns to the port between 16:30 and 18:00. Half-day trips run five to seven hours and leave either in the morning or shortly after noon.

The islands lie between 1.9 km and 12.4 km from An Thoi port. A boat booked for Hon Gam Ghi and Hon Mong Tay covers about 11 km in each direction. A boat that turns around at Hon Dua or Hon Roi covers 2 to 4 km. That distance accounts for most of the difference between a five-hour trip and a nine-hour trip.

The table below is the published timetable of a join-in speedboat sold on the island at 649,000 VND for adults. Trips sold online run the same shape of day with different start times and a different port.

Online listings start at two prices. A speedboat day tour on Klook is US$33.75 and lasts 8 hours to 9 hours 30 minutes. A three-island trip on KKday that adds a buffet on Hon Thom and a one-way cable car ride back to the main island is US$63.10, with a child fare of US$41.69. The locally sold join-in trip is 649,000 VND for adults and 329,000 VND for children between 100 cm and 140 cm.

The islands that appear in most itineraries

Hon Thom, Hon Mong Tay, Hon Gam Ghi and Hon May Rut are in almost every three-island itinerary sold from An Thoi port📍Map. The archipelago has 18 islands, and the others are passed rather than visited. Sellers use different spellings for the same islands, which is why two products can list different names and stop at the same beach.

What changes between one product and the next is the departure port, the number of hours, how long you get on each island, and whether a cable car ticket is inside the price. Each of those is worked through below. For the rest of the island, see the Phu Quoc travel guide and things to do in Phu Quoc.

2. Boats leave from three different places

Hopping boats leave from An Thoi port at the southern tip of the island, from Vinh Dam port on the east coast, or from the Hon Thom pier out in the archipelago. The three are not interchangeable, because each one starts you at a different distance from the islands you booked.

An Thoi port sits at 10.0126, 104.0148. Hon Gam Ghi, the usual snorkelling stop, is 11.2 km away in a straight line. Vinh Dam port is on the east coast in Duong To, at Suoi Lon, and a boat from there has to round the southern cape, which is roughly 25 km of water before it reaches the same island. The Hon Thom pier is already inside the archipelago at 9.9517, 104.0224, and Hon Gam Ghi is 4.5 km from it.

Drive times come from routing on the real road network, measured from the Duong Dong night market. Vinh Dam gives the shorter drive and the longer boat ride, and An Thoi the reverse. If your booking says Vinh Dam and your hotel is on Long Beach, the pickup will be earlier than the boarding time suggests.

The pier you reach without a road

The Hon Thom pier📍Map is on Hon Thom itself, and the way to it is the cable car from An Duong station in Sunset Town. Trips that include the cable car use this pier for part of the day, which is why they can spend the afternoon in the archipelago and still be back on the main island without a long boat run.

Vinh Dam port📍Map is a general cargo port operated by TTC Phu Quoc and also serves as a shelter harbour when the weather turns. It was not built as a tourist terminal, and the number of boats that can get in is limited, which matters when a hundred speedboats need a berth on the same morning.

Sellers state that the port can change on the day according to the weather and the operator. Confirm the boarding point the evening before rather than assuming the one on the voucher. The where to stay in Phu Quoc guide sets out which parts of the island are close to which port.

3. Why the departure port moved

An Thoi port is being rebuilt, and sellers have moved hopping departures to Vinh Dam while the work goes on. A product page from one Korean seller states that the departure port for hopping has changed to Vinh Dam because of repair work at An Thoi, that Vinh Dam has a limited number of boats it can take, and that the port may still change according to the weather and the operator on the day.

The work is large. Phu Quoc is preparing An Thoi port to receive large cruise ships and yachts for APEC 2027, and the special zone lists 21 infrastructure projects running at the same time, including the start of construction on an urban railway between the airport and the APEC centre.

The Klook day tour at US$33.75 lists a Vinh Dam round trip in its own published itinerary, so the change is not limited to one seller. Locally sold join-in trips still print An Thoi port in their timetables, and private charters still depart from An Thoi. Two boats sold as the same three-island trip can therefore load 22 km apart on the same morning.

What to do with this before you book

Ask the operator which port the boat leaves from and put the answer next to your pickup time. A 07:00 pickup from a Long Beach hotel makes sense for Vinh Dam; the same pickup for An Thoi port📍Map leaves less room if traffic is slow through Duong To.

If you booked a transfer separately, give the driver the port name in Vietnamese rather than the tour name. Cang An Thoi and Cang Vinh Dam are 22 km apart by road, and a driver told only the name of the tour company has no way to know which one you mean.

Nothing in the port change affects which islands you visit. The islands on the itinerary stay the same; the water you cross to reach them does not.

4. How far each island is by sea

The table below gives the coordinates of all 18 islands in the An Thoi archipelago with their straight-line distance from An Thoi port and from the Hon Thom pier. The distances come from island coordinates read off the open map database and a straight-line calculation between points.

The method can be checked against a published figure. The two cable car stations, An Duong at 10.02704, 104.00724 and Hon Thom at 9.95670, 104.01762, come out at 7,904 m by the same calculation. The operator publishes the line as 7,899.9 m. The difference is 0.05 per cent.

The last two columns show what the starting point does to the running time. Hon Gam Ghi📍Map is 11.2 km from An Thoi port and 5.0 km from the Hon Thom pier. Hon Mong Tay📍Map is 10.6 km and 4.3 km. A trip that begins at Hon Thom spends less than half the running time on the same two islands.

Island names that sellers use inconsistently

Hon May Rut is two islands, an inner one called Trong and an outer one called Ngoai. The map database carries only Ngoai. Product descriptions frequently say May Rut Trong, and that is where several trips serve lunch, so a booking that says May Rut is not specific enough to tell you which of the two you land on.

Some sellers write Hon Mong Tay and Hon Buom as the same island. By coordinates they are separate: Hon Mong Tay is at 9.9181, 104.0237 and Hon Buom is at 9.9077, 104.0221, about 1.2 km apart. If a listing names both as one stop, it is describing one landing, not two.

Hon Xuong at 21.6 km is the outlier. It is nearly twice as far as the furthest island on a standard three-island run, and no day trip in the products checked here reaches it.

5. What you actually do differs by island

Each island on a hopping route is used for one part of the day. Hon Gam Ghi is where the snorkelling stop happens. Hon May Rut and Hon Mong Tay are where lunch and beach time happen. Hon Thom is where the buffet, the water park and the cable car station are. Hon Dua and Hon Roi are short snorkelling stops near the port.

The table sets out which islands the products checked here actually use and what they use them for. Distances are from An Thoi port.

Hon May Rut📍Map carries the most complaints about time. One review of a two-island trip records only 50 minutes ashore on May Rut. Island time is not standardised, and no seller commits to it in minutes, so a trip that lists four stops in eight hours is dividing that time four ways.

Snorkelling points that are not islands

The KKday itinerary lists Bai Nom as a snorkelling point alongside Hon Dua📍Map and Hon Roi📍Map, and which of the three is used depends on the day. Coral Park is a commercial facility rather than an island, and both the Klook and KKday itineraries call there.

The Klook listing states plainly that stops can be skipped because of capacity or weather. Read that before you choose a trip by its island list, because on a rough day a three-island itinerary can end up as a two-island one.

If the specific island matters to you, book a private charter, where the route is agreed in advance. The charter operator checked here runs Hon Gam Ghi, Hon Mong Tay, Hon May Rut Ngoai and Hon May Rut Trong on a fixed 08:00 to 16:30 day.

6. Choosing how many hours to be out

Hopping trips are sold from 5 hours to 12 hours, and the length decides which islands you reach. A five-hour trip stays near the port and often snorkels without landing. An eight to nine hour trip reaches Hon Gam Ghi and Hon Mong Tay at the far end of the archipelago. A twelve-hour trip adds Sunset Town and the cable car after the boat comes back.

The hours in that table include the road transfer at both ends. On the Klook trip the pickup window is 07:00 to 08:00 and the boat is back at 16:30, so the 8 to 9 hour 30 minute range is mostly a function of where your hotel is. Two people on the same boat can have day lengths that differ by an hour.

What the shortest trips leave out

A five-hour guided trip runs its first snorkelling stop near Hon Roi📍Map, which is 4.0 km from the port, and stays in the water for an hour without going ashore. That is a reasonable trip if you want to snorkel and get back, and it is not the same product as an eight-hour trip that lands on two beaches 11 km out.

The half-day trips also start late. One half-day timetable boards a vehicle at 11:20, boards the boat at 12:00 and gets back to the lounge at 18:30, which uses the whole afternoon. Another departure of the same trip leaves the Duong Dong lounge at 09:00.

If you only have one free day on the island, the eight to nine hour trips are the ones that cover the archipelago. If you have several days, a half-day boat leaves the rest of the day usable for the VinWonders Phu Quoc park or the Vinpearl Safari, both of which need most of a day on their own.

7. Two timetables: morning boats and afternoon boats

Hopping trips split into morning departures that board between 08:00 and 09:15 and afternoon departures that board around 12:00 or 13:00. The two produce different days, and the afternoon ones are easier on an arrival day or a departure day.

The morning pattern is the one most day tours use. Pickup runs from 07:00 to 09:00 depending on the operator, boarding is at the port, the snorkelling stop comes before lunch, and the beach stop fills the afternoon.

The afternoon column is the published timetable of a half-day trip that boards at An Thoi port📍Map at 12:00. It gives about two hours ashore, which is more island time than some full-day trips allow at a single stop, and it puts you back in Duong Dong in time for dinner.

The party boat uses a different schedule

One seven-hour trip picks up at the night market at 12:00 from ten different pickup points, boards at 13:00, snorkels, serves a boiling seafood lunch and then runs a party on board. It takes up to 125 passengers and needs at least 10 bookings to run, and it can be cancelled if fewer than 10 people have booked seven days out.

That minimum matters in the low season. A boat that needs 10 people can cancel a week before your trip, which is late enough to leave a hole in a short stay. Sellers of that product also note that the marine insurance included has narrow cover and suggest arranging your own.

The KKday trip runs a third pattern. It starts at 07:15, uses the morning for snorkelling, puts lunch on Hon Thom at the buffet, gives free time at the water park, and then returns by cable car in the afternoon with a photo stop at the Kiss Bridge. That is a morning boat with an afternoon that is not on a boat at all.

8. Speedboats and wooden boats

Hopping trips run on speedboats and on wooden boats. The speedboat, called ca no locally, is the faster and more expensive one, and it is what almost every online listing sells. The wooden boat, tau go, is slower and cheaper, and three-island wooden boat trips start from 530,000 VND.

Local operators say the wooden boats are cheaper, slower and more likely to make passengers seasick. The difference in running time is not small when the far islands are 11 km out and the return leg comes at the end of the day.

The certification figures are worth reading twice. Of roughly 100 tourist speedboats operating from Phu Quoc, about 70 carry the river-sea class certificate. Vessels that fail to meet the standard have been ordered to stop operating.

Private charter prices

A private charter is a speedboat taken for the day rather than a seat on one. The operator checked here charges 2,500,000 VND for one to four people, 2,740,000 VND for six, 2,980,000 VND for eight and 3,220,000 VND for ten, with 120,000 VND per head added above 21 passengers. Another charter source quotes 2,000,000 to 3,500,000 VND per day for boats seating 6 to 8 or 12 to 20.

Charter prices include passenger insurance as required by regulation, snorkel gear and fishing gear. Lunch is separate at 250,000 VND per person for an eight-dish seafood set, and hotel pickup is separate as well. The day runs 08:00 to 16:30 from An Thoi port.

At six people a charter works out near 457,000 VND each before lunch, which is under the 649,000 VND join-in fare. The charter also fixes the route, so the islands do not change because the boat filled up.

9. What each price includes

The four products below are the ones this article has checked in detail, and they include different things. Reading across the table shows where the price differences sit: lunch, the cable car ticket, hotel pickup and insurance.

The Klook trip excludes personal spending, tips, drinks with the meal and the paid activities at Coral Park. It also carries a holiday surcharge of 100,000 VND per person on named dates such as public holidays and the new year period, paid on the spot rather than at booking.

The KKday trip excludes the sea walker and every powered water sport, meaning parasailing, banana boat, jet ski and kayak. Its included list is longer because it is a combined boat and cable car product rather than a boat product.

Review numbers are small

The Klook listing shows 32 reviews at 3.8 out of 5 with more than 1,000 bookings. The KKday listing shows a rating of 4.0 from two reviews. Neither sample is large enough to tell you much about a specific boat, and the operator behind a listing can change between bookings.

The local join-in trip publishes a refund rule that the online listings do not: during the rainy season from May to October, if the port authority bans departure, you get a full refund or a change of date. That rule is worth looking for in whatever you book, because the weather stops boats several times a season.

10. The trips that include the cable car

The KKday three-island trip at US$63.10 includes a one-way cable car ride from Hon Thom back to the main island. The Klook trip at US$33.75 does not include the cable car. The difference between the two is about US$29.35, which is roughly 770,000 VND.

The cable car round trip is sold at 850,000 VND at list price. So the more expensive trip adds a buffet lunch on Hon Thom, water park and Exotica entry and a one-way cable car ride for less than the price of the cable car round trip alone. That comparison is the reason the two products are not simply a cheap version and an expensive version of the same thing.

A round trip ticket covers the crossing both ways, entry to the park on Hon Thom📍Map, the Exotica area and one same-day entry to the water park. The line is 7,899.9 m long and runs on a three-rope system across open water.

The line does not run all day

The published operating windows are 09:30 to 11:30, 13:30 to 14:00 and 15:30 to 17:30. Between 11:30 and 13:30, and again between 14:00 and 15:30, the cable car does not run. Those windows can change for weather or maintenance.

That is why the KKday itinerary puts the buffet on Hon Thom in the middle of the day and the crossing in the afternoon. If you plan your own combination of a boat out and a cable car back, check your return against the 15:30 to 17:30 window rather than assuming a service every hour.

The water park on Hon Thom is open 10:00 to 17:00. Its rides need a height of 106 cm, and children between 90 and 105 cm must be accompanied by an adult. Children under 100 cm ride the cable car and enter the water park free.

Everything else about the crossing, the park and the ticket types belongs in the Hon Thom cable car guide, which covers them properly. This article stops at the point where the cable car changes the shape of a hopping day.

11. The money that is not in the price

Several charges are collected on the day rather than at booking. None of them is large on its own, and together they can add several hundred thousand dong to a family day out. Carry dong in small notes, because the island stalls do not take cards.

The shower charge surprises people because of what it does not cover. Reviews record 10,000 VND per person for a rinse with no soap, no towel and nowhere to change. On the boats that charge 20,000 to 30,000 VND, the price is per use rather than per day.

The fee nobody lists as included

The marine protected area fee of 30,000 VND per visit is not written into the inclusion list of any product checked here. The islands the trips stop at are inside the protected area, so it can be collected separately from you on the day.

Powered water sports are excluded everywhere. Parasailing, banana boat, jet ski and kayak are outside the KKday price, and the paid activities at Coral Park are outside the Klook price. If someone offers you one of these at a stop, it is a separate purchase.

Children under 100 cm travel free on the local join-in trip and free on the cable car, so a family with a small child pays less than the headline arithmetic suggests. Children between 100 cm and 140 cm pay 329,000 VND on the local trip.

Waterproof phone cases are sold at the port. That is convenient, and it is also the most expensive place to buy one, so bring your own if you already have it.

12. The marine protected area and its rules

Every island a hopping trip stops at is inside the Phu Quoc marine protected area, which was designated in 2007 and covers 40,909 hectares of water surface. The strictly protected core is 7,087 hectares, made up of 6,658.5 hectares of seagrass and 428 hectares of coral.

The 428 hectares of strictly protected coral lie south of the island. Hon Vang, Hon Xuong, Hon Mong Tay, Hon Gam Ghi, Hon Vong, Hon Trang and the southern side of Hon May Rut Trong sit inside it, from 100 to 500 metres out from the shore of each island and about 800 metres on the west side of Hon Vang. Hon Roi and the northern side of Hon Thom fall in the ecological restoration zone just outside it. The snorkelling stops at Hon Gam Ghi and Hon Mong Tay are therefore in the most tightly protected water on the route.

Inside the service zone the authorities have marked a navigation channel 50 m wide, so that boats run along a set line instead of crossing coral. The marine research institute reports that about 20 per cent of the coral area has recovered over two years of monitoring.

The fee that was voted through

The An Giang provincial people’s council has resolved to charge 30,000 VND per visit to the marine protected area, with insurance included in that amount. The previous fee, in place since 2011, was 5,000 VND.

Children under six and people with severe disabilities are exempt. Children aged 6 to 16, people recognised for national service, elderly people, poor households and ethnic minority visitors pay half. The provincial marine protected area management board collects the fee and puts 90 per cent of it into conservation. The council worked from a figure of 84,000 visitors a year and about 1.8 billion VND in revenue.

The date the charge starts has not been published, so treat it as a decision that has been taken rather than a fee you can count on paying today. Carry 30,000 VND per person in case it is collected at the port.

The practical rules on the boats follow from the zoning. Do not touch or stand on coral, and several operators ban single-use plastic from the boat outright. Fins are excluded from many children’s rentals partly for the same reason.

13. Snorkelling: where and how it works

The snorkelling on a hopping trip happens at two or three fixed points, and you swim from the boat rather than from a beach. On the standard morning itinerary the main stop is Hon Gam Ghi📍Map, with 90 minutes in the water from 10:30 to 12:00.

Gear is included on all four products checked here. That means a mask and snorkel, and a life jacket. Fins are frequently not included, and children’s gear is not included on many trips, so check that before you count on a set being there for a small child.

Coral Park is the other in-water stop. It is a commercial facility rather than a natural site, and the operator states that it holds more than 200 species of hard and soft coral and more than 100 species of fish. Both the Klook and KKday itineraries call there, and the paid activities inside it are separate from the tour price.

Water temperature and visibility

Average water temperature around Phu Quoc runs 26 to 31 degrees through the year, so cold is not a factor. Visibility is another matter, and it changes with the season and the swell. The dry season is better for it, and no reliable figure exists for how many metres you will see on a given day, so treat a specific figure in a listing with caution.

Coral scrapes are the common injury. Water shoes are worth having, both for the coral and for the rock at the water’s edge on the smaller islands. The rule that you do not stand on coral is not only a conservation rule.

Trips run in the rainy season too, and the water at the snorkelling points is often calm even when the west coast of the main island is rough. What stops the day is not rain but wind and swell, which is covered further down.

If you want to compare this with the other big hopping ground in Vietnam, the Nha Trang island hopping guide covers a different set of islands and a different sea.

14. If you cannot swim

You do not need to swim to take a hopping trip. Life jackets are provided on all of the products checked here, and the safety enforcement introduced after the July accident requires passengers to wear a life jacket or carry a buoyancy aid and requires boats to carry jackets and life-saving gear for everyone aboard.

Sea walking at Coral Park is built for non-swimmers. The participant walks on the seabed under a helmet that keeps the head dry, and the operator accepts ages from 5 to under 80. Swimming ability is not required.

The price range covers different products rather than different quotes for the same thing. The cheaper end is a short walk without photography, the expensive end adds time in the water and photographs, and the combo bundles it with other activities.

Staying on the boat is a normal choice

On the standard itinerary a passenger who does not want to get in the water still gets the Coral Park stop, two island landings, lunch and several hours of beach time. The snorkelling is one block of the day, not the whole day.

The local join-in operator states that the trip is not recommended for pregnant passengers. Speedboats slam in a chop, and that is the reason rather than the swimming.

If a life jacket is not offered to you on boarding, ask for one. The instruction issued to operators is explicit that everyone aboard must have one, and it applies regardless of the weather on the day.

15. With children: every product uses a different rule

Child fares on Phu Quoc hopping trips are set by height on some products, by age on others, and by both on one. A four-year-old who is 141 cm tall pays an adult fare on the KKday trip. A ten-year-old who is 135 cm tall pays a child fare on the Klook trip. Measure the child before you book.

One trip can apply two rules at once. The guided half-day product sets its own child fare by year of birth, and then the cable car section of the same day applies the height rule, so a tall six-year-old can be a child on the boat and an adult on the cable car.

What is missing for children on the boat

Children’s snorkel gear and fins are excluded from many trips. Bring a mask that fits, because an adult mask leaks on a small face and a leaking mask ends the snorkelling for that child.

Towels are mostly not provided, boats often have no changing room, and the shower on the island is a rinse with cold fresh water. Put swimwear on under clothes before the pickup and pack a dry set for the ride home.

The marine park fee exempts children under six and halves the charge for children aged 6 to 16. That is the one charge on the day where the child rule is set by regulation rather than by the seller.

An eight to nine hour boat day is long for a small child. The half-day trips at 5 and 6 hours cover a snorkelling stop and one island, and the things to do in Phu Quoc guide has the land-based alternatives for the rest of the day.

16. Lunch

Lunch is included on every trip in this article except the private charter, where it is ordered separately at 250,000 VND per person for an eight-dish seafood set. What differs is where it is served and what it is.

Drinks with the meal are excluded on the Klook trip, and personal drinks and extra food are excluded on the local join-in trip. The included water is usually one bottle per person, which is not enough for a day in the sun on a boat.

Where lunch sits in the day

On the morning itinerary lunch is a two-hour block from 12:00 to 14:00 on Hon May Rut📍Map, and it doubles as the island free time. On the KKday itinerary lunch is the reason the boat goes to Hon Thom at all, since the buffet, the water park and the cable car station are in the same place.

A set menu and a buffet are different in one way that matters for a fussy eater. A buffet lets you choose; an eight-dish seafood set arrives as it arrives. If someone in the group does not eat seafood, say so at booking rather than at the table.

None of these trips includes dinner. A trip that gets back to the port at 16:30 puts you in Duong Dong around 17:30, and a 12-hour southern full-day trip that continues to Sunset Town leaves you to eat there.

The freshwater rinse on the local trip is included, but the shower on the island is a separate 10,000 to 30,000 VND. Budget for eating and rinsing as two separate small costs at the end of the day.

17. What to check before you get on a boat

On 11 July 2026 a tourist speedboat registered AG-26751 capsized roughly 400 m after leaving Hon May Rut Ngoai. Thirty-six people were aboard: 32 tourists from India, three crew and a Vietnamese guide. Fifteen people died and 21 were rescued. The boat was on its way back to An Thoi port. Local authorities described strong wind and rough waves at the time.

The An Thoi border guard put two vessels and 35 personnel into the search, and the navy, the coast guard and fishing boats joined it, under a directive from the prime minister. On 12 July 2026 a criminal case was opened and the captain, Nguyen Hong Hai, was taken into custody. The investigation is still running, so the cause has not been established.

Many operators suspended speedboat trips voluntarily in the days after, and reports a few days later described them preparing to resume. On 14 July 2026 the Phu Quoc special zone stepped up enforcement of water transport safety with the inland waterway port authority, the An Thoi and Duong Dong border guards and the traffic police working together.

• Ports and piers are to be inspected regularly for facilities, signals and safety equipment.
• Vessels must meet the required conditions and standards, must not exceed passenger capacity, and must not load past the load line.
• Boats are not to depart when the weather is bad or conditions are unsafe.
• Passengers are to wear a life jacket or carry a buoyancy aid, and vessels must carry life jackets and life-saving equipment for everyone aboard.

About 100 tourist speedboats operate from Phu Quoc, and about 70 of them hold river-sea class certification. Boats below the standard have been ordered to stop operating.

What the classes mean

Read those two wave-height numbers next to the sea conditions in the section below. A boat certified for 2.0 m is not the same boat as one certified for 2.5 m, and the class is the one specification you can ask an operator for by name.

At the pier, book through a licensed operator rather than a beach seller, put the life jacket on properly before the boat moves and keep it on, and stay seated instead of crowding to one side for a photograph. Vietnam’s emergency numbers are 113 for police, 114 for fire and 115 for an ambulance.

Trips are being sold and run normally. As of 21 August 2026, Klook, KKday, MyRealTrip, Viator and Trip.com were all selling next-day departures.

18. Days when boats do not sail

The port authority stops passenger boats and ferries from sailing when the sea is rough, and that decision is made on the morning, not at booking. In one recorded case, east and northeast winds at force 4 to 5 with gusts to force 6 to 7 and waves of 1.5 to 2.5 m shut the Rach Gia and Ha Tien routes to Phu Quoc completely. Ferries to Phu Quoc have been halted for bad weather again during the current rainy season.

The southwest monsoon runs from May to October and roughens the west coast of the island. The northeast monsoon can strand boats as well. In the days after the July accident, winds in the An Giang and Phu Quoc waters were recorded at force 2 to 4 with gusts to force 6.

The word cancellation covers two separate events. The authority stopping departures applies to every boat in the port. An operator dropping a stop and running a shorter route is a decision by that boat, and it normally comes with no refund.

How to book around it

Put the boat trip early in your stay rather than on the last day, so a cancelled trip can be moved to another day. This protects you better than any refund wording does.

Read the refund wording before you pay. The local operator publishes a full refund or a date change when the port authority bans departure during the rainy season, which is a clearer commitment than most listings make.

Expect the message early. Cancellation notices go out at dawn when heavy rain has set in overnight, so keep a data connection on your phone rather than relying on hotel wifi at 05:00.

If your trip is called off and the weather is only marginal, the things to do in Phu Quoc guide has the indoor and inland options, and the comparison of the two evening shows covers what runs after dark.

19. When to go

The dry season runs from November to April, and some sources give it as October to March. The rainy season runs from May to October. Water temperature stays between 26 and 31 degrees all year, so the season is about wind and swell rather than cold.

The dry period and the jellyfish period overlap in April, which is otherwise one of the better months for the sea. Trips run through April as normal, so look at the water before you get in and carry vinegar if you are travelling with children.

How busy it gets

Phu Quoc took 5.7 million visitors in the first half of 2026, about 30 per cent more than the same period a year earlier. Boats fill, and the party boat that takes 125 passengers exists because the demand is there.

Booking ahead matters more in the dry season, and the minimum-numbers rule matters more in the rainy season. The seven-hour party boat needs 10 bookings and can cancel a week out if it does not have them.

Public holidays carry a surcharge. The Klook trip adds 100,000 VND per person on named dates including the year-end period and Tet, collected on site rather than at booking.

For the month-by-month picture across the whole island, see the best time to visit Phu Quoc. This section covers only what changes for a boat day.

20. Jellyfish

Jellyfish are most common in the water around Phu Quoc from April to August. The marine protected area management has named Ganh Dau, Cua Can, Bai Thom, Ham Ninh and An Thoi as the areas where they turn up, which includes the water the hopping boats work in.

Most of what people meet in the water here is in the first two rows. The fire jelly stings, and the box jelly is the dangerous one and is uncommon locally. One foreign visitor was reported stung on the leg during a spell when jellyfish numbers were up.

What to do about a sting

Pour vinegar, which is diluted acetic acid, over the sting. Scrape any remaining stinging cells off with the edge of a firm card. Do not rub the area, and do not rinse it with fresh water. If there is difficulty breathing, dizziness or pain spreading beyond the sting, go to a hospital immediately.

Vinegar is worth carrying in a small bottle between April and August, particularly with children. Boats do not reliably carry it, and the shops on the islands are limited to what a beach stall stocks.

A rash vest gives more protection than sunscreen for the same amount of trouble, since most stings on a snorkelling trip land on arms and legs. It also removes most of the sunburn problem covered further down.

None of this is a reason to avoid the water from April to August. Trips run all the way through, and jellyfish numbers vary day to day rather than sitting at a constant level for five months.

21. What to bring

Pack for a day where you change out of wet clothes on a boat with no changing room. Wear the swimsuit under your clothes before the pickup, and bring a dry set for the ride back.

The one bottle of water included on the Klook trip will not last a day in the sun. Buy more before the boat leaves, since drinks bought on the islands cost more than drinks bought in Duong Dong and the choice is narrower.

What to leave behind

Leave anything that cannot get wet in the hotel safe. The boats have no lockable storage, and your bag sits on an open deck with everyone else’s while you are in the water.

Single-use plastic is banned on some boats outright, which includes plastic bags for wet clothes. A dry bag or a cloth bag does the same job and gets you past the rule.

Your phone will spend the day out of signal range in places. Sort out data before you leave the hotel; the Vietnam eSIM guide covers what works on the island and what does not.

22. Seasickness and sun

Motion sickness on the crossing and sunburn during the hours ashore ruin more hopping days than cancelled weather does. Neither is handled for you by the operator, and both are easy to prevent.

Bring your own motion sickness tablets. Nothing in the four products checked here includes them, and the pharmacies are in Duong Dong rather than at the port. Take them before boarding rather than when you start to feel it.

Wooden boats are the harder ride for a sensitive stomach. Local operators describe them as slower and more prone to causing seasickness than a speedboat, which is one of the reasons the wooden boat trip is cheaper.

When sunburn happens

The exposure is heaviest during the snorkelling block, because your back is in the sun and the water keeps you from noticing. A rash vest solves that better than sunscreen, which washes off.

Ashore the shade depends on the island. On the busier beaches the loungers come with umbrellas at 35,000 VND per person, and on a quieter island the tree line is the shade.

Pregnant passengers are not recommended to take the local join-in trip. A speedboat slams when it crosses a chop, and the operator says so directly rather than leaving it to the passenger.

If you know you get seasick and still want the archipelago, the shorter afternoon trips cut the time on the water roughly in half and land you on an island for about two hours.

23. Getting to the port

Almost every hopping product includes hotel pickup, so the drive is normally the operator’s problem. It becomes yours if you booked a boat without transfers, if you are staying outside the pickup zone, or if you missed the bus and have to catch the boat.

The times come from routing on the real road network rather than from a straight line. They are the driving time with no stops, so add a margin for the pickup route, which collects several hotels before it heads south.

Bai Sao📍Map is the shortest run to An Thoi port at 8.5 km, and staying in the south of the island cuts an hour off a boat day at both ends. Long Beach and Duong Dong are the longest runs, and they are also where the pickup routes start.

The drive differs by port

The drive to Vinh Dam port📍Map is 7.3 km shorter than the drive to An Thoi from the night market, and it takes about three minutes less. If your trip has moved to Vinh Dam, the pickup should be slightly later, not earlier.

The airport is 20.9 km and 24 minutes from An Thoi port. That is what makes the seven-hour trip that combines an arrival fast track with a hopping boat possible on the same day, and it is also why an afternoon boat works on an arrival day.

Give a taxi driver the port name in Vietnamese. Cang An Thoi and Cang Vinh Dam are different places on opposite sides of the southern part of the island, and the tour company name will not get you to either.

24. Who this suits and who it does not

An An Thoi hopping day suits people who want several hours in clear shallow water, do not mind a long day, and are happy to take the itinerary the boat gives them. It suits families with children over 100 cm, and it works for non-swimmers because life jackets are standard and the sea walking option needs no swimming.

It does not suit anyone who wants a guaranteed island or a guaranteed amount of time ashore. Sellers state that stops can be skipped for weather or capacity, and one review of a two-island trip records 50 minutes on the island. The published itinerary is what the boat intends to do, not what it guarantees.

It does not suit a tight schedule either. An eight to nine hour boat day plus transfers takes the whole day, and a cancelled trip in the rainy season can take a second one. Booking early in your stay is the only real protection.

Wooden boats cost less and take longer

The wooden boat trips from 530,000 VND are the cheapest way into the archipelago, and they take longer to cover the same water. You save money and you spend more hours on the crossing.

A private charter for six comes out near 457,000 VND a head before lunch, which is less than the 649,000 VND join-in fare, and it fixes the route. Groups of six or more should price a charter before booking six seats.

If you are choosing between Phu Quoc and another beach base in Vietnam, the comparison of Da Nang and Phu Quoc sets out what each one has. The southern Vietnam guide covers how Phu Quoc fits into a longer trip.

25. Other Phu Quoc guides

This article covers the boat day only. The guides below cover the rest of the island and the things a hopping day touches without explaining in full.

Planning the island

• Phu Quoc travel guide covers the island end to end, including how many days to give it.
• Things to do in Phu Quoc covers what fills the days around the boat trip.
• The best time to visit Phu Quoc covers the seasons month by month.
• Where to stay in Phu Quoc covers which area puts you closest to the ports.

Where you stay changes the boat day more than most people expect. Bai Sao is 8.5 km from An Thoi port and Long Beach is 22.4 km, which is roughly a quarter of an hour at each end of the day.

The attractions the boat passes

• The Hon Thom cable car guide covers the crossing, the tickets and the park on the island.
• VinWonders Phu Quoc covers the theme park on the north of the island.
• Vinpearl Safari covers the animal park next to it.
• The comparison of the two evening shows covers what runs at Sunset Town after dark.

Trips that end at Sunset Town put you within walking distance of the evening show, which is why the 12-hour southern full-day product exists. Check the show times before you commit to a long day.

Beyond the island

• Nha Trang island hopping covers the other main hopping ground in Vietnam.
• Da Nang and Phu Quoc compared covers which of the two suits which kind of trip.
• Southern Vietnam covers the region around the island.
• The Vietnam travel guide covers the country as a whole.
• The Vietnam eSIM guide covers data on the island and on the boat.

Phu Quoc has been a special zone of An Giang province since the provincial reorganisation, which is why official pages now carry An Giang in the address. Nothing about the boats or the islands changed with it.

Questions people ask before booking

Compare An Thoi island hopping trips

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