Thailand is an extremely popular tourist destination that is full of a huge number of wonderful and unforgettable experiences. Whether you want to live like a local, see the sights, relax on a beach or party hard, Thailand will have something for you. However, it is important to remember to ‘travel right’ when you visit these unique islands. From expensive hotels to elephant sanctuaries, there is a lot of darkness that may be hiding behind these dreamlike experiences. There are some phenomenal places that will benefit the locals, the wildlife and your experience, and the key to traveling right is to do it responsibly.
To help you get the best out of your trip in the kindest and most ethical way possible, here are some tips to keep in mind.
The Wildlife
Getting up close and personal to Asian elephants is something that every Thai tourist wants to do. In Thailand, you will come across animal sanctuaries, parks or orphanages full of ‘domesticated’ wild animals that cannot be released into their natural habitat. While some of these sanctuaries are legit and take care of their animals properly, many will encompass a wide range of activities, from riding to circus-like shows, which involve cruel methods to ‘break’ the animals’ spirit. If you want to experience Thailand’s wildlife, you must research and avoid making incorrect assumptions about these parks.
The Environment
Choosing your beach wisely is an important part of being a responsible traveler in Thailand. Many beaches have experienced damage from waste and development, to the point where many consider them to be unsavable. Thailand has an amazing coastline and 1400 islands, so there will many that remain completely natural and free from development.
You should also stay in sustainable and eco-friendly accommodation, so that you support and contribute towards the right businesses and keep them afloat. As well as this, remember to use resources carefully, as it is common for islands to have limited resources.
The People
Unfortunately, poverty levels are high in Thailand. The high cost of living, alongside the shockingly low minimum wage, makes it hard for many workers to have a decent life. Workers’ rights aren’t always put in place and just because a hotel looks amazing, it does not mean that they are ethically or morally kind. The best thing you can do to support the local people is to leave tips for serving staff, drivers, chambermaids and porters, even in all-inclusive resorts. These small contributions may not seem like much, but they will make a big difference to how much they take home to their family.
The Culture
In order to make things enjoyable and easier for you and the people you meet along the way, you’ll want to get immersed in the local culture. This includes learning the native language, which is Thai. You can learn the basics online, which will get you further than you think. The citizens will appreciate the effort and will instantly warm up to you, making it easier to make your way around the country. Developing cultural self-awareness and learning how to value and appreciate diverse views, but in an ethical way, is important when it comes to being a responsible traveler, as it shows others respect and gratitude.
Being vigilant and doing your research into an experience or accommodation facility beforehand is essential to getting the most out of your trip to Thailand in a responsible and ethical way. One person making the right decision may not seem like much, but if everyone followed their lead, then the dark trades would go out of business and cease to exist. When you travel right, you will be safer too.
I based myself in the Long Beach area for my stay, knowing that this was the part of the island with the most places to sleep and eat – and of course right on the beach. 20 kilometers of beach, stretching all the way along the southern part of the island’s western shore. Long Beach is also not far from the island’s main town, Duong Dong, where the popular night market is held.
During my first two days on the island, I didn’t venture far from Long Beach, which is long enough to make for hour-long walks in each direction. I didn’t dislike the beach, but I also wasn’t too impressed by it, and the many resorts that were lining it. None of them seemed overly appealing, each one setting up rows and rows of sun chairs on the beach every morning, which soon would fill up with Western tourists hungry for sun.
Along the main street, where most of the restaurants are, I was constantly approached in Russian, and I realized that this was the part of the island where most package vacationers spent their holidays. Restaurant menus were written in Cyrillic letters, and pharmacies were praising their cheap drugs in Cyrillic, too.
One thing I was tremendously looking forward to was the Night Market. I still have vivid memories of the night markets in Thailand which were one my favorite things there, with plenty of delicious food to devour. The night market in Phu Quoc fell flat in comparison, however. The food was very seafood and fish-centric (to be expected on an island), but I also kept seeing the same things over and over again, just sold by different vendors.
On my third day, I finally worked up the courage to rent a scooter and explore the island beyond Long Beach. After a scooter accident in Thailand in 2011 that left me so traumatized that I wouldn’t rent a scooter again until 2017, six years after the incident, I am still a little wary of renting scooters. But after only a couple of days on Phu Quoc I had seen how long it took me to walk to places that seemed only a stone’s throw away on the map, and I knew if I wanted to see more of the island I had no choice but to rent a scooter.
Bus connections barely exist, and hopping from beach to beach by taxi would be possible, but not all that easy, since taxis are quite rare outside of the town, the airport and the Long Beach area. Plus, being able to stop to take photos and randomly follow a sign to a sight along the way is something you cannot do unless you rent a scooter.
And so off I went, slowly getting accustomed to the not-so-great bike. I took advantage of having wheels and drove straight into town for breakfast, because Google had revealed that were two vegan restaurants which meant I could finally have a Vietnamese (veggie) breakfast. At first, I was terrified by the traffic and especially all the scooters, but as soon as I left Duong Dong, I started feeling safer and eased into riding a scooter again. Suddenly, the roads were empty, gone were the droves of scooters that were surrounding me in the island’s main town.
My first stop was Ong Lang Beach, a beach just northwest of Duong Dong on the northeastern coast of the island. On the way there I got lost and ended up in a small village, which gave me a first taste of what Phuc Quoc was like beyond the touristy parts. The villagers were gathering around market stalls and fishermen were bringing in the morning catch on motorbikes. There was not a single tourist in sight.
When I arrived in Ong Lang beach about half an hour later, I couldn’t believe how different it was from Long Beach. There were only three or four beach bars here, with a couple of rows of sun chairs in front of each one, and that was it. None of the bars was busy, in each one, only a few chairs were taken and the rest of the beach was completely empty. It was heavenly. I could have easily spent all day here, but after a banana smoothie and an hour of sunbathing, I decided that it was time to head further north.
My next stop was a small beach in the northwestern corner of Phu Quoc: Gan Dhau Beach. On my way there I realized for the first time how big the island is – it took me over forty minutes to get here from Ong Lang Beach, and it had taken me nearly as long to get there from Long Beach. On the way to the island’s northwestern tip I drove by the second most bizarre thing I saw during my entire stay: the gigantic Vinpearl Amusement Park.
My original plan was to check out the famous Sao Beach, but when I saw that it’d take me nearly 90 minutes to get all the way down to the southwest of the island, I changed my plans and decided to stay in the north of the island. My next stop was Thom Beach, a small beach on the northeastern tip of Phu Quoc that barely sees any tourists. I took the advice of Tom of Vietnam Chronicle and stopped at Local Beach Bar, a little bar and homestay run by a lovely family, for a refreshment, but since it was low tide, I didn’t stay long – I feel like the beach is nicer during high tide. I used Vietnam Chronicles’ 
I ended my day of exploring at 
The next morning, I hopped on my scooter like a pro – my first stop was Sao Beach. This beach was supposedly Phu Quoc’s show stopper, a truly stunning beach with white, powdery sand, crystal clear water and palm trees lining the long half-moon shaped bay this beach was located in.
But I had also read several articles that said Sao Beach was ruined now, and that what you find there these days isn’t at all what Sao Beach used to be, when, only a few years ago, you wouldn’t find much there except for a few adventurous backpackers. Quoting Vietnam Chronicles: ‘Its increasing popularity led to haphazard, temporary construction of small resorts, bars, cafés, and restaurants; trash quickly built up – squeezed into the narrow freshwater creeks that feed onto the beach and into the sea; jet skis filled the waters with gasoline and broke the silence; even the husks of fresh coconuts – consumed in the hundreds by day-trippers each day – built up to clog the sand and the surf.’
After reading Tom’s take on it, which concluded it was a sad place and a sad sight, I almost didn’t want to go, but in the end I wanted to see what the fuss was all about and if the beach was really ruined. I read that you visit Sao Beach in the morning, you still have a good chance to get the ‘deserted beach’ experience this once was, and so I left as soon as I woke up and headed south.
I started my exploration with a walk all the way to the northern end, which was still lined by palm trees. It seemed that most of them had been removed further south to make room for a few restaurants. But what I also discovered was that as soon as I passed the last sun chair, the beach became significantly dirtier. All of a sudden, I was walking through piles of trash instead of soft white sand. Apparently, the beach bars clean up their respective areas along the beach, but don’t bother beyond those.
I noticed the same thing when I walked all the way to the southern end of the beach: past the last restaurant, the beach started looking much less attractive. You can’t deny, however, the appeal of this beach: the white sand, the crystal clear water, looking out at an array of different shades of blue. The shallow water, that allows you to walk far out into the ocean without the water ever even reaching your hip, adds to the beauty.
I did make the most of my lazy morning at Sao Beach, spending most of it on a swing in the ocean, my feet in the water every time I swung back and forth, and lounging in the sand with a Vietnamese iced coffee ($0.65) in my hand. The later it got, the less I was able to block out the growing noise of the arriving sun-seekers around me. The jet skies started roaring, larger groups arrived, enjoying a mid-morning beer, and a line of people forming in front of the swing that I had all to myself just an hour earlier to take Instagram-worthy pictures.
When I left just after noon and saw several tourist buses pull into the parking lot, I felt like I’d made the decision to move on to my next stop at the exactly right time.
As I was heading further north and caught glimpses of the ocean to my right every now and again, I wished there were more accessible beaches here, but I realized that while most of the west coast is one long stretch of beach (Long Beach), on the central east coast there aren’t really any noteworthy beaches per se, instead you have a number of small boutique resorts and hotels that allow you to access the beach if you buy a drink or meal there.
I stopped at the 
A few minutes further north is 
The infinity pool was absolutely stunning, and I had the best coconut coffee in all of Vietnam there. The resort even has three overwater bungalows – I’m pretty sure the only ones on the island – although, upon closer inspection, I am not sure that Phu Quoc, and particular the eastern coast, would be my first choice for an overwater stay. The rest of the resort was divine though, and would make for a wonderfully quiet and relaxed getaway – simply because there’s not much around.
On my drive up the east coast road I noticed, however, that quite a few little bungalow resorts were being built – nothing like the crazy huge and characterless resorts on the west coast though. Every resort I saw on the east coast was small, elegant and beautifully designed. I read that this road had been paved only recently, making access to this part of Phu Quoc much easier, which is probably why people start seeing potential for hotels and restaurants there, like Rory’s, who moved to the east coast after many years on the west coast.
Still, I am not sure if I’d choose the east coast as my base on the island, because I found the number of restaurants and bars quite limited, while Long Beach – despite being quite tacky – offers everything from homemade Italian pasta to Indian dishes and even tacos. And of course plenty of Vietnamese eateries. I guess it depends on what you are looking for, and if you don’t mind riding a scooter every day to get to a different part of the island.
After finishing my east coast exploration, there was only one more thing on my Phu Quoc to-do-list: snorkeling! I read somewhere that Phu Quoc offers some of Vietnam’s best snorkeling spots, and of course I didn’t want to miss out on those.
This cable car touts itself as the longest sea cable car in the world, spanning three islands: the main island of Phu Quoc, passing over a smaller uninhabited island and finally ending in Hon Thom island, part of the An Thoi Archipelago, nearly five miles (8 kilometers) long. The cable car opening in early 2018 made big news in the tourism world, adding another attraction to lure more visitors to Phu Quoc.
“Why in the world does a tropical island need a cable car!?” was my first thought upon hearing about it, and when I finally saw the monstrous concrete polls that were installed on the lush green islands I could only shake my head. What a way to destroy the natural beauty of a tropical paradise. But apparently especially Chinese tourists, who are one of Phu Quoc’s biggest visitor groups, require more than just beaches, hence the amusement park, the safari park, and now the 
Since the cable car opened – within the Kien Giang biosphere reserve, by the way, which was recognized as a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2006, there has been a lot more talk about the island being ruined and overtourism destroying what’s left of its natural allure.
To think that less than a decade ago, the island didn’t have an airport, and now there are daily flights to international destinations – as far as the U.K.! – made me think of what happened to Phuket in Thailand. Phu Quoc’s airport opened in December 2012, and the little island suddenly saw visitor numbers skyrocket. Before the airport opened, only 
The environmental impact was noticeable during my snorkeling trip: while the shades of blue of the water looked dreamy, what I saw underneath the surface can only be described as bleak: dead coral, and there were barely any fish or other sea creatures around. It was a sad sight.
Seeing the development on the island reminded me of Phuket in many ways: the malls that were being built, the growing number of big resorts, the entertainment options. In Phuket, it’s elephant trekking, in Phu Quoc, it’s a safari park. In Phuket, it’s ziplining, in Phu Quoc, it’s a cable car. Both islands struggle with the issues that come with overdevelopment: waste management (the landfill I saw on the island was disgusting), sewage water removal (it usually ends up in the ocean), the protection of the environment.
As I had suspected when I first arrived in Phu Quoc: it was not the island paradise anymore that it still was when I first heard about it (before the airport was completed). Instead, I found an island full of package tourists, where it was not easy to find remote corners. That said: they’re still there. I don’t think that the deserted beaches in the north of the island will be overrun by crowds anytime soon.
Just know what to expect when visiting Phu Quoc. If you’re looking for a remote tropical island, you’ll probably be disappointed. If you’re looking for a cheap island getaway with a functioning tourist infrastructure, you’ll get exactly what you came for.
If you want a quiet getaway with a few restaurants nearby, stay on the eastern shore:
