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; published ride times range from about 15 to 25 minutes, and the line holds a Guinness World Record as the longest non-stop three-rope 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 €71.27, run by John’s Tours and rated 4.1 stars from 603 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 rating is the interesting number

Its 4.1 stars come from 603 reviews – a sample large enough to mean something; compare it with the snorkelling boats in the same price bracket.

The reviews show what the schedule means in practice. One reviewer found two hours at the amusement park enough, and used them for 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. Masks and snorkels are listed without that caveat; for 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 exclusions are the operator’s own; if one applies to you, choose a different day out rather than hoping for an exception.

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 €38.31 and carries 4.5 stars from 91 reviews. You make your own way to An Thoi, ride within the cable-car slots the listing gives (09:30–11:30, 13:30–14:00 and 15:30–17:00, subject to change), and keep the rest of the day. The cable car category holds 50 offers starting at €12.07, so there is a wide spread between a bare ticket and a full guided day.

Two other combinations cover similar ground. Snorkelling Island Hopping with Cable Car and Lunch is €79.53 with 4.5 stars from 171 reviews, and the 4-Island Speedboat Tour with Cable Car is €77.07 with 4.2 from 128. Both also include the water park; they differ in the island stops, the snorkelling and how the day is timed. If you want the islands without the wire at all, the island-hopping category covers boat days without the cable car.

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, with August and September usually 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 cable car copes with swell better than the boats, although it too runs subject to weather and maintenance.