Hon Thom Cable Car and the Three-Island Day: What You Actually Get

Almost everyone who books a day out in southern Phu Quoc ends up on the same cable car. It leaves from An Thoi at the bottom of the island, crosses Hon Dua and Hon Roi, and lands on Hon Thom. The operator, Sun World, puts the length at 7,899.9 m and the ride at about 15 minutes, and holds a Guinness World Record for the longest three-rope sea-crossing cable car.

That is the part everyone agrees on. What differs enormously is the day built around it – and the day is what you are paying for.

The ride itself is short. The tour is not

The most-booked of the cable car day tours is the Cable Car Ride & 3 Islands Boat Tour with Lunch, from €70.30, run by John’s Tours and rated 4.1 stars from 601 reviews. Its own itinerary runs from a pick-up shortly after 8 am to a hotel drop-off at 5:30 pm. Inside that span sit a boat crossing, a snorkelling stop, a beach stop, lunch on board, free time at the Aquatopia water park on Hon Thom, and – right at the end, as the way home – the cable car.

So the headline attraction is the last fifteen to twenty-five minutes of a day the listing sells as ten hours. That is not a criticism; going out by boat and back by wire is genuinely the better order, because you arrive at the cabin at the hour when the light is worth having. But if you booked expecting a cable car excursion, you booked a full island day with a cable car at the end.

Pick-up is free from central Duong Dong, defined on the booking page as the stretch from the night market along Tran Hung Dao Street as far as Eden Resort. Outside that strip an extra fee can apply, and it is worth asking before you book rather than at the kerb.

The 4.1 rating is the interesting number

Among Phu Quoc’s big sellers this is the lowest score on a large sample – the snorkelling boats in the same price bracket sit at 4.8 and 4.9. GetYourGuide’s own review summary names the reason: travellers say more time at the water park would make the day feel less rushed.

Read the five-star reviews and the same picture appears from the other side. One reviewer writes that two hours at the amusement park was enough for exactly two rides, the main rollercoaster and the sky deck. If your children have been promised a water park, two hours and two rides is the expectation you need to set at breakfast, not at the gate.

There is a second thing the listing tells you plainly. At the time of writing, a notice on the booking page says that because of rough seas the itinerary substitutes Xuong Island for May Rut Trong until further notice. Island names on this coast are a plan, not a promise, and the listing says so itself: in poor weather islands get swapped, or the cable car runs before the boats rather than after.

What is included, and the two things that are not

The price covers transport, the cable car ticket, water park entry, a guide, lunch on the boat, one bottle of water, life jackets and snorkelling gear. The listing adds one detail that matters for families: fins are not available in child sizes. A mask and snorkel for a nine-year-old, yes; fins, bring your own or plan for a child who floats and looks rather than swims properly.

Two further items from the same page, both easy to miss. Travelling over the New Year or Lunar New Year period carries a 10% surcharge. And if the water park happens to be closed for maintenance, the tour still runs, the cable car still runs, and the price does not change.

The listing also states that the tour is not suitable for pregnant travellers or for people with mobility impairments, and that baby strollers are not allowed on board. Those are the operator’s own words rather than a legal rule, and if either applies to you the honest advice is to write to the operator through the booking page and get the answer in writing before you pay.

Children are measured, not asked their age

This is the single most useful line on the whole booking page, and it is buried near the bottom. Cable car pricing for children goes by height, not by birthday:

• under 1 metre – free
• from 1 metre to under 1.4 metres – child ticket
• 1.4 metres and taller – adult ticket

A tall ten-year-old pays the adult fare. A small twelve-year-old does not. If you are budgeting a family day out, measure at the hotel before you decide which ticket to buy.

When to skip the tour and buy the ride

If what you actually want is the cable car and the view, the Sun World Hon Thom entry ticket costs from €37.78 and carries 4.4 stars from 89 reviews. You make your own way to An Thoi, you ride when you want, and you keep the rest of the day. Across our whole inventory the cable car category holds 38 offers starting at €12.31, so there is a wide spread between a bare ticket and a full guided day.

Two combinations sit in between and both rate higher than the classic. Snorkelling Island Hopping with Cable Car and Lunch is €69.81 with 4.5 stars from 155 reviews, and the 4-Island Speedboat Tour with Cable Car is €70.30 with 4.2 from 128. Both trade water park time for water time. If nobody in your group is under twelve, that is usually the better trade – and if you want the islands without the wire at all, the island-hopping category starts at €8.79.

The season decides more than the operator does

Phu Quoc’s dry months run roughly November to April, when the Gulf of Thailand on this side of the island is calmest. The southwest monsoon brings the rain from May to October, and September and October are the wettest. The cable car is not the problem in those months – the boat half is. Rough water is why the itinerary above is currently rerouted, and a day tour that loses its snorkelling stop is a long drive to a water park.

If you are here in the wet half of the year and want the ride regardless, buy the ticket rather than the tour. The wire does not care about swell.