Culture and history

According to the special zone's own history page, Mac Cuu arrived from Guangdong in 1671 with about 400 people to settle the coast and the island, which the page says was earlier called Koh Tral. In 1680 he set up several hamlets, and in 1708 he began dealings with the Nguyen lord Nguyen Phuc Chu.

In September 1868 the resistance leader Nguyen Trung Truc was captured on Phu Quoc; he was executed at Rach Gia on 27 October 1868. The island later passed through French rule and the war years. After 1975 it was a district of Kien Giang province, became a city on 1 January 2021 and, on 1 July 2025, the Phu Quoc Special Zone of An Giang province.

Barrel houses are working buildings: dark, warm and pungent; ask before you walk in. Barrels were once made of local forest timber and are now often of jackfruit wood, bound with rattan, Bao Phap luat reported in 2021.

Airlines treat fish sauce as odorous baggage. Vietnam Airlines' rules allow it in checked baggage only, up to 3 litres or 3 kg per passenger, not on its ATR72 aircraft, in plastic bottles filled to no more than 95%, and packed in a sealed foam box; no glass. Connecting airlines may be stricter.

The prison site in An Thoi is a special national relic under Decision 2408/QD-TTg of 31 December 2014, according to Vietnam's Department of Cultural Heritage. Between June 1967 and March 1973 it held some 40,000 prisoner entries, mostly captured soldiers, across a camp that originally covered 400 ha. SGGP has given a peak of more than 32,000 prisoners at one time; sources count differently.

Its origins are dated differently too: Vietnam Airlines' guide says the French built a prison here in 1949, while CAND gives 1953. What remains to see, according to the Department of Cultural Heritage: the prisoners' cemetery, the reconstructed sub-camp B2 with watchtowers, barbed-wire cages and a reconstructed tunnel, the memorial on Doi Sim hill, and an exhibition house with 43 artefacts and more than 100 photographs.

Sim wine, made from the fruit of the rose myrtle that grows wild on the hills, is produced by small makers in the former Duong To commune, Bao Van Hoa reported. Dried squid, anchovies and shrimp are sold in Duong Dong market and are easy to carry once vacuum-packed.

Be careful with pearls. VOV warned in 2014 that most oysters for pearl farms were imported and that cheap pearls sold at night stalls may be imitations made of shell powder and glue; VnExpress repeated the warning in 2019. Buy from a business that issues a written certificate.