The Chen Sea Resort is a small facility on the West coast of Phu Quoc Island.
The price is reasonable but there are some trade offs, stay tuned for a full review.
Phu
Quoc is a Vietnamese island in the far southwest of the country surrounded
by the Gulf of Thailand. You can reach their airport on a short 40 minute flight from Saigon
or a bit longer from one of the many other cities which serve the island.
Located around 20km north of the airport, the resort is an easy 30 minute drive
up the coast where it is nestled among many other resorts such as Mango Bay,
Movenpick and The Shells- among others.
There is no denying that this is quite simply a small resort. The reception area is adequate
in size and in a rustic Indochine style- as is most of the resort. I’ve seen Chen Sea
referred to as a boutique resort- but I’d have to disagree. Boutique has many meanings these days,
but for me the primary definition is a small hotel or resort with an impressive focus on their common
facilities. The facilities at Chen Sea are all very nice, but- they’re nothing over the top.
If you’re looking for a homebase while you explore every inch of the island,
this might be a great spot- but if you are looking for a large resort to set up camp for a week,
there are probably better options out there for you. We’ve got multiple other
reviews from around the island you might want to check out.
Located adjacent to the reception and pool area, the spa and fitness center are housed in small
open air huts gathered together in a well manicured tropical setting.
The fitness center- a treadmill, spin bike and a collection of free weights-
is a bit disappointing, but the treatment huts are
nicely equipped as long as you don’t mind an open air massage.
The pool area is beachside and a great size for such a small resort.
The pool is surrounded by loungers and umbrellas on three sides
and I’d imagine even on the busiest of days, it won’t be too hard to find a chair or two.
To the right are the restaurant facilities which we will take a look at a bit later-
from here though we can get a sense of the scale of the resort.
Below the restaurant is a small sundries shop and
a cocktail bar which lead out to the resort’s private pier.
Because of covid regulations at the time
of my visit the pier was not fully setup and operational-
but you can imagine how nice it would be to have a dinner out here- with the sunset behind.
The beach was cleaned throughout the day and featured light golden sand
and clear waters typical for this part of Vietnam.
At 190 meters or 620 feet in length,
the beach was more than adequate for the number of guests that could be staying at Chen Sea.
Further down the beach in front of the rooms there are plenty of loungers available
as well as non-powered motor sports- both free and paid- available directly from the resort’s beach.
On our way now to take a look at our room for this stay- a Beachfront Villa.
One big thing to take note of, generally a “villa” would be freestating,
but the Seaview and Beachfront Villas at Chen Sea are attached and have 2 units per house.
The rooms are well maintained and pleasant for the most part- but they
are starting to show their age. If I had to point out two areas for improvement,
they would be the amount of light available in the room due to the strange window placement
in the front and the weight of the sliding doors to the terrace. To open or close them
I would have to put all of my weight into it which became pretty annoying right away.
Rooms are nicely equipped with a single serve espresso machine,
kettle, ceiling fan and well stocked mini bar.
The walk in closet is more than adequate for 2-3 people
no matter how many bags they have in tow- a few more hangers would be appreciated though.
The room is a mixed bag of older features that are sometimes appreciated for their aesthetics,
but some you wish they’d just upgrade.
The beds were comfortable and had reading lights above.
Opposite of the bed was the bathroom which ran the depth of the room. The toiletries on the
double wash basin were nicely stocked and though I’m not a fan of non tamper proof bulk toiletries-
their honey scented soaps were really good quality and a nice departure from the default
lemongrass scented soaps that all resorts seem to be using these days.
The shower is open air, but private enough with lengths of bamboo blocking the view from the
side of your villa. Overall the bathroom is nicely outfitted if not a bit dated.
The bathtub is located on the outside patio which had multiple seating options
and a decent view of the water around 30 meters in front of the Beachfront rooms.
Take note that there are reed sun blockers that can be lowered for a little more privacy,
but the terrace (and bathtub) are never fully private.
The sunset was not much to speak of that night, but the food certainly was.
For such a small resort, I was expecting standard 4 star resort food-
but I was happily very wrong and the mostly Italian dinner menu
was the highlight of the entire resort. Truly food worth sticking around for.
The next morning the beach and pool staff were laying out
all of the cushions for the hammocks and loungers before 6:30 which I thought was
a nice touch and earlier than most resorts, especially during Covid.
The resort has 4 categories of rooms. The row closest to the beach were the Beachfront Villas,
behind which was a row of Seaview villas, staggered so they truly did have nice views.
Behind them were a row of Jacuzzi Villas and Pool Villas,
both of which were free standing units with much much more privacy.
Ahead and as I turn around, you can see the full size of the resort, which was well
manicured from corner to corner. When booking- if you go for a Beachfront or Seaview villa,
I highly recommend requesting a unit further away from the pool area for more privacy.
This is actually the room I was originally assigned at check in
and you can surely see the lack of privacy.
The included breakfast buffet was more than adequate with multiple stations and a live egg
station. It wasn’t on the same level with the dinner quality I had the night before though.
The restaurant has multiple seating and lounging areas but I think the
outside patio was by far the best place to sit.
This brings us to the end of this video. For our regular viewers, this marks the start of
regular posting again with a lot of content on it’s way from Vietnam, Thailand, the US
and more in the coming months. If you enjoyed this review, please give it a like and subscribe
to see many more videos coming soon. Stay tuned for the detailed Flip Flop Score.