Arriving to Con Dao
There were several direct flights from Ho Chi Min City airport. We gave ourselves a five hour layover, just in case our flight from London was delayed. Fortunately, it was on time, and we spent the few hours in a Priority Club lounge.
Tip: The Priority Card goes a lot further overseas than it does in the States. We found that our favorite (uncrowded) lounges are in Asia.
The flight was less than an hour and was pretty smooth until landing. The airport on Con Dao is nestled between two mountains and it was pretty windy. So the landing was a bit bumpy. It was funny that the airport taxied to within a hundred feet or so of the terminal, but they made us board shuttle busses to drive us the very short distance. It would have been much faster to walk it.
Coordinating Transportation
We were staying at the Eden House and Coffee right outside of town. The owner coordinated the taxi for us ahead of time (and it saved money from trying to call one ourselves). It was a short drive into town, but you should definitely keep an eye out along the road for monkeys. They were fun to spot.
Eden House and Coffee
So, our choice in lodging is a bit here-and-there. We usually prefer a bit more space with an airBnB, but we also like to save money and experience the local community. For Con Dao, we chose Eden House as it was inexpensive, and the owner cooked our meals on-site. We still went into town and enjoyed some restaurants, but it was nice to wake up and have breakfast waiting for you.
The owners treat you like their family. It was adorable! We saw some interesting shelled creatures in the market and sent a WhatsApp message to the owner asking about it. She replied that it was a Bailer Shell and then added it to her menu for a special New Year’s Eve feast. It was delicious, by the way!
On our last day, we met another American couple at the resort on our last day there. They had just arrived, rented a scooter and got into an accident. He had a complete dislocation of his finger and the hotel owner met him at the hospital to help with the translation as the doctors x-rayed his finger and reset it. We got to see the gnarly x-ray photos. They told the owner that she could go back to the resort after they got service, but she insisted on staying the entire time to make sure they were taken care of. She was an absolute life-saver for them and it showed her caring nature. It is one of those things that will keep me loyal to her hotel every time we will return. By the way, that emergency medical services only cost them $14! Can you believe it? In America, I would cringe at the bill that I would have received for that.
Transportation in Con Dao
Everything in the small town was walkable, but the humidity can be high at times, so we took advantage of their local taxis (think Golf Cart!). These cost 25,000VND per kilometer driven (that is a bit less than $1 per km), and it was well worth it after we were tired from walking and exploring the town.
Restaurants in Town
There are a lot of restaurants, and we used a combination of Google Reviews and looking to see how busy they were, to make a decision on where to eat. Our favorite was An Oi Cafe. It was delicious and we absolutely loved the huge servings of veggies. We also visited Yin Yang for their insanely good coffee drinks. Seriously, the food and drinks were exceptional!
Things to Do
We were only on the island for a week and did a lot of exploring in the town. There are a few tourist attractions, but we were not able to go see the turtles as it was the wrong time of the year.
The prison tour was emotionally heavy. Most of the signs have a section in English, but the photos were enough to convey the horrible conditions endured by the prisoners.
We hiked from the hotel to the Pagoda. It was gorgeous and enjoyed watching the monkeys playing. A local warned us to be careful as the monkeys love to steal iPhones. Fortunately, we didn’t have ours snagged.
The hotel owner directed us to a hike in the National Park. It was straight up a hill. I mean STRAIGHT UP. It worked up to a lookout tower where you can capture pictures of the whole town, islands off the coast and virtually everything else! It was not an easy hike, and it sure made me miss the rolling switchbacks we typically see on hikes in the US! But, it was well worth the effort. I sweated so hard, I soaked through my shirt, and was more than happy to cool off in a shower back at the hotel.
We were tired towards the end of the week and craved a day to sit at the pool and relax. Both the Con Dao Resorts and Secret Resort offered day passes. We paid a few dollars at the Secret Resort, chilled at their huge pool, and enjoyed the cool and windy day, reading books and relaxing.
Lastly, the best thing we did was exploring the coffee culture! It felt like there was a different coffee shop on every block and each one seemed to serve their own unique flavors. I definitely recommend the coconut coffee and salted caramel over ice.
Interesting Notes
Our hotel owner told us that the island is extremely popular with tourists from Germany. For every American, she gets about ten Germans. We aren’t really sure why, but we definitely saw a lot of folks from Germany.
This island is up and coming. There is a lot of infrastructure being built including a couple of large water retention ponds that the locals were fishing in. I expect that this will be one of the next nomad hotspots in a few years. There are already a lot of hotels (from hostels to full-blown resorts) and tons of restaurants and coffee shops. The coffee culture by itself would keep us caffeinated for several months!
Overall, this town is low-key. You would come here to relax, take a walk in the town, explore some restaurants, relax at the beach, and enjoy the hikes. If you are looking for zip-lining adventures, or other adrenaline activities, this might not be your first choice.
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Ginny and Jason
Recommendations
This island was just what we wanted for a few days. It was inexpensive and very low-key. I expect it will be really popular with the Instagram and Youtube influencers in a few years. We wanted to start off our trip in a location that would save us money and still had enough activities to keep us energized. Later in our trip, we’ll have some higher costs, so it was nice to kick it off with a new experience in a small town on an island in Vietnam.
It is high on our epicness per dollar scale! We loved the out-of-the-mainstream nature of the town and REALLY loved the low costs of everything from the hotel to the transportation.