Australian newspaper dubs Phu Quoc Mediterranean town in Vietnam

According to the media outlet, everything visitors typically associate with Italy can be on Phu Quoc Island, such as epic fountains, vast mosaics, delicious pasta, and pots of red geraniums.

“This 30-hectare part-folly, part private investment, part tourist attraction includes villas, big and small hotels, apartments and shophouses along a path leading to the new Kiss Bridge and will delight and confuse,” says The Sydney Morning Herald.

“Eventually this project, by the giant Vietnamese Sun Group, will be full of apartment dwellers, businesses and holiday-makers but the day we visit painters, builders and gardeners are making final touches to Truman Show-esque streets where there is not a leaf out of place and hardly a person to be seen,” it added.

The newspaper also suggested that holiday goers pay a visit to Hon Thom by heading to An Thoi Station where they can then take a ride on the Phu Quoc cable car. 

“The ride itself is quite fast at 30 kilometres an hour, so brace yourself as you dip and glide over beaches and fishing villages for eight kilometres (it's the longest cable car of its type in the world), eventually landing on Hon Thom - dubbed Pineapple Island, a much-loved Vietnamese nature and water park,” it shared.

Phu Quoc Prison is also a location suggested by The Sydney Morning Herald as must-visit destination when enjoying a trip to the island.

The prison is a historic site that had been used to confine Vietnamese revolutionary soldiers. During their incarceration they were subjected to barbaric forms of tortures; such as nailing of the hands, feet, and even their head; along with stabbing burned copper wires into the skin; drilling teeth; and even burning or burying people alive.

“Rows of dummys in stifling cells illustrate cruel and bizarre methods of torture carried out on inmates while crudely dug tunnels highlight the heroism and desperation of those incarcerated,” it noted.

Furthermore, the newspaper also hailed fish sauce in Phu Quoc, an item that is greatly sought after by lovers of both Vietnamese and Thai cuisine from across the world.

“Phu Quoc traditional fish sauce is made from anchovies that feed off particular types of local seaweed and plankton,” it described.

Visitors are also recommended to sample fruits of the sea and coconut ice-cream for desert at the Night Market in Duong Dong, Phu Quoc's biggest town.

The Sydney Morning Herald also introduced visitors to Phu Quoc National Park in the island's north-east which includes more than 27,000 hectares of forest and 20,000 hectares of surrounding ocean area.

“It has white-sand beaches, mountains, jungle treks, waterfalls, the rare slow loris, monkeys and other wildlife for those in search of some nature nurturing,” the newspaper concluded.