5 Best Sights in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

With palms, powdery white sand that is regularly cleaned, and an ocean that seems to change colors throughout the day, this beach on the southeastern tip is what you'd expect from a tropical island. A few seafood restaurants offer loungers, and sometimes the grandiose JW Marriott Phu Quoc, occupying the southern end of the beach, allows outside guests to purchase day passes. There is also a difficult to traverse access road to the beach beside Phu Quoc Prison. Amenities: food and drink. Best for: walking; swimming; families.

With its pebble-strewn brown sand, Mui Nai, 6 km (4 miles) west of Ha Tien, pales in comparison to Phu Quoc's beaches, but the sea is calm and shallow so it's a pleasant enough place to take a dip. It's extremely popular on the weekends when people from all over the delta come to escape the heat and enjoy fresh seafood from one of the seafood shacks. There's sometimes an entrance/parking fee on busy days.

More of a series of coves than one long beach, Ong Lang can be pretty with its rocky outcrops and narrow strips of white sand. Hotels such as Mango Bay Resort and Phu Quoc Eco Beach Resort front the beach, so wonderful views can be enjoyed from their in-house restaurants or by purchasing a day pass. For public access, follow signs to Mango Bay and look for the "public beach" sign just south of the resort. Amenities: food and drink. Best for: snorkeling; solitude; sunsets; swimming.

This is a popular spot for tour buses given the number of restaurants that front the fine white sand, as well as the umbrellas and water sports available for rent; the water gets crowded and noisy with Jet Skis and banana boats buzzing around. Once one of Phu Quoc's dirtiest beaches, businesses now clean their section but pile the trash off to the side. Entrances 1 and 2 offer free access and parking, while Paradiso Beach Club at entrance 3 charges for use of its facilities. Amenities: food and drink; showers. Best for: sunrise; water sports activities.

Boasting golden sand, swaying palms, and Phu Quoc's best sunsets, Long Beach (not to be confused with Bai Dai, which also translates to "Long Beach") stretches for nearly 20 km (12 miles) along the island's western coast, from just south of Duong Dong Town down toward the southern tip. The section north of the airport is Phu Quoc's central hub, with the greatest concentration of hotels, restaurants, cafés, and bars—and overdevelopment. The area has become densely packed, and smaller hotels have been engulfed by large resorts so it can be quite crowded, even more so now that the beach is disappearing due to coastal erosion. Be aware that some resort "beachfronts" have been reduced to unsightly sandbags. Amenities: waterfront food and drink; water sports. Best for: sunsets; partying.