Regent Phu Quoc

Phu Quoc keeps its best light for the evening, and Regent takes the western shore where that light lands. The resort is arranged in suites and villas rather than rooms, which changes the arithmetic of a day: there is somewhere to be outside as well as in, and the Gulf of Thailand does the rest.

What keeps a place like this from turning soporific is the food. Rice Market reads Vietnam through rice, noodles and herbs, and Oku answers from an entirely different tradition, formally and at length. Couples and families want different things from a week here, and the address is generous enough to give both without either noticing the other.

The shore that faces west

White sand, a west-facing coast and the Gulf of Thailand running out to a clean horizon: the geography does most of the work here. Late afternoon becomes the fixed point of the day, whether it is watched from the main pool under the palms or from a terrace of one’s own. Phu Quoc’s fishing villages and pepper farms lie inland for anyone who wants them, but the resort is self-sufficient in a way that makes leaving feel optional.

Suites, villas and sky pools

Natural fabrics, a restrained palette and a great deal of glass: the interiors are deliberately quiet, on the reasonable theory that the view is already loud. The suites and villas are built around their outdoor space, and the Sky Pool Villas raise a private pool above the landscape, which is the most persuasive argument the resort makes. A villa here is not somewhere to sleep between activities. It is where most of the holiday actually happens.

Rice Market, then Oku

Rice Market is the Vietnamese kitchen, working through rice, noodles, herbs and regional recipes, and it gives the stay its sense of where it is. Oku is the evening in another key: Japanese-French, with an omakase counter and a Salon de Boeuf, and enough ceremony to be worth changing for. Ocean Club keeps the barefoot end of the spectrum and Bar Jade the last drink. Four addresses, four moods, none of them requiring a car.