Tag Archives: Phu Quoc
My Favourite Hotels Rooms for under $40 per night! (Part 2)
In part 1 of this post, I featured a hotel in Thailand (Ko Lanta) and Nepal (Pokhara) that we had found to be great finds for under $40 per night. (Link back to Part 1). I have selected hotels that are under the $40 per night level, as this is the expense level I try to keep to, when long term traveling. This amount is about where I feel I need be, to get some comfort and character, but also be sustainable for long term travel. In part 2 of this post, I am looking at a hotel in two more of my favourite long term traveler friendly countries – Vietnam and Bali (Indonesia).
Bali
Puri Bening Hayato, Toya Bungkah
We found this hotel while doing a cross island scooter trip a couple of years ago, and I have done some investigation to make sure it still exists! This was a very old hotel, and in h=need of a bit of repair at the time, but at $25 per night it was cheap, spacious, and in another wonderful location. Toya Bungkah is located on the side of Lake Batar, and both the lake and town are located in the crater of the active volcano, Mt Batar. To reach the town you travel down into the crater from the road that runs around the volcano rim at kintamani. The town is located in a fertile market garden area, and drying onions where the dominant smell when we visited. The hotel had excellent views from our 3rd floor room, both to the volcano behind us and the lake and rim wall in-front. In addition, it was an older, 70′s style complex, with big rooms, and adjoining balconies. And we were the only guests! It was cheap, retro, and located in a surprisingly non-balish corner of Bali! limited information available at http://hotelpuribeningbali.com/
Lake Batar
Overlooking the carpark!
Vietnam
Sea Star Resort, Phu Quoc Island
Vietnam is probably the ultimate for hotel rooms under $40.00 per night, in-fact I can only think of 1 hotel I have stayed in, in two visits to Vietnam that cost more than $40.00! But for comfort, friendly family run service, and amazing location, the Sea Star Resort, Phu Quoc Island rates as the best in my opinion. This resort has a series on bungalows, set in 3 or 4 rows facing the the beach and ocean. The front row is right in the sand of the beach, and the second row, where our $40 bungalow as, was a mere 5 meters or so from the beach, with access and views between the front ones, to the beach. In addition, Sea Star has an excellent restaurant located under the palm trees beachfront, that served as good a local food as any of the restaurants in town. They rented motor-scooters for only a few dollars a day, and happily suggest routes and day trips to enjoy. Absolutely recommend the Sea Star resort, and refer as many people as possible to their website for more information – www.seastarresort.com
Sea Star Resort
Restaurant at Sea Star Resort
These two posts cover 1 cheap but nice hotel in each of my favourite countries. I hope this gives either comfort, lead or food for thought if you are heading to any of these places. I think I might keep this series going for a few more posts, and see if I can share some info on a few more places I have stayed under $40. keep you posted!
Tropical Island Gems #2- Phu Quoc, Vietnam
Number 2 in my series of posts on some of the lesser known tropical islands that I have visited, and feel others need to know about, is Phu Quoc, Vietnam. I only visited Phu Quoc earlier this year, although it was my second visit to Vietnam. I thought it is imperative that I discuss Phu Quoc now, as I cant see it qualifying as a lesser know island for too much longer! Development is on its way, and a couple of years from now, Phu Quoc could well resemble Phuket or Bali!
Where is Phu Quoc?
Anyway, back to now. Phu Quoc Island is the largest island of Vietnam, and is oddly located to the west of the extreme west of the Vietnamese mainland. It is, in-fact, closer to the Cambodian mainland than the Vietnamese mainland. It is quite a large island, with almost all the tourist infrastructure located on an area on the west coast, called Long Beach. As the name suggests, it is an appealing beach area, white sand and blue water! Long Beach lies south of the Main town on the island, Duong Dong, and is linked by a wide, unsealed but relatively well maintained, road.
We arrived onto the island by ferry from the Mekong delta town of Rach Gia. This ferry, and the other option from Ha Tien, further North, near the Cambodian border, are the two departure points from the mainland, and both arrive at Bia Vong, on the east coast of Phu Quoc. The other entry point is by Vietnam Airlines flight from HCM (our departure choice), with the airport located just north of Duong Dong.
Picture Perfect?
The western beaches are picture perfect, with the required palms draping over the beach, and with wonderfully warm and calm seas. Beach net fisherman can be watched hauling hundreds of kilos of small fish from the shallows offshore. This can be watched in comfort from several (but not too many) beachfront restaurant/bars.
Beach Fisherman on Phu Quoc
Apart from soaking up some of the wonderful sun on the beach, there is plenty of island to explore, and there are a couple of different full day 1/2 island covering day trips that can be done, easiest on rental motorbikes. Both trails include nice coastal rides, as well as some of the forested inland areas. We recommend a ride then walk to Suoi Tranh waterfall, for a refreshing dip in much cooler, fresher water than the sea. It involves a nice couple of Km walk though forest.
we stayed at the Sea Star resort, on Long Beacg, but this was just one of a couple of dozen different options, in all class levels. I will post again on the Sea Star resort soon, with plenty of photos. well worth the 40$ per night!. In the mean time, follow my Hotels combined link to look at all accomodation options on Phu Quoc.
Hotels Combined – Phu Quoc
Hope you visit Phu Quoc soon, its well worth the little bit of a hassle to get there!
