Review – Shells Resort and Spa, Phu Quoc – Welcome to the Ultimate Guide to points, miles and travels in Hong Kong

After clearing immigration, I headed outside the terminal, and there was the driver of the hotel waiting for me, with a sign with both my name and the name of the resort. Unfortunately, we were a total of 9 guests arriving from Hong Kong for the hotel, and we had to wait for everyone to come out before we could head off. Me and 6 other guests were quickly there, but we still needed to wait for the remaining 2 guests. About 45 minutes after I had cleared immigration, the arrivals hall was empty, and it was obvious that we were missing 2 passengers…. So finally the driver walked us to the minibus and we headed off to the hotel.

The drive to the hotel took us straight through the small town of Duong Dong, and we arrived at the hotel maybe 20 minutes after leaving the airport.

As it was already 10 PM by the time we arrived, there were only one staff member at the check-in desk, but he had us all checked in in minutes, and we were then led to a golfcart that took us to our bungalows. I was given bungalow 404, which had a lot of privacy.

I was also informed that breakfast was included in the room, and it was served at the restaurant from 0630-1000. I was not aware of that when I booked, so it was a nice bonus.

The bungalow was very spacious, and had a nice, big king size bed.

The bed, and a small table and 2 chairs.

On the side of the bed there was a large computer desk and chair.

The bathroom actually consisted of 3 rooms, a main room with a large bath tub and 2 sinks.

Then there was a separate shower-room, with both handheld and rain-shower heads.

There were no disposable shampoo or conditioners in the shower, but instead bigger ones and you just take what you need. I know it is probably better for the environment to avoid the disposable ones, but I always worry about what previous guests might have disposed in the containers…

Next to the bathtub there was a cabinet with 2 large umbrellas, hairdryer and bath robes.

On one of the two sinks there were complimentary bottled water, and disposable toiletries.

There was a basket of fresh fruit waiting for me on one of the tables, so I could have a quick snack when I arrived.

I was quite hungry at this point, and although the restaurant was closed, the resort offered 24 hours room service, so I quickly browsed the menu. The food sounded really good, and was very cheap in my opinion.

I decided to order the spring rolls and the club sandwich (two fairly safe options I would say.)

Even though it was now almost midnight, I decided to take a look around the resort. The electrical storm I had seen from the plane was approaching too, so it ended up being just a quick walk, but the entire resort was beautifully lit at night.

The main building on the beachfront with swimming pools

The walking paths between the bungalows.

Lightening lighting up the sky behind the reception building

The main walking path from the reception to the hotel building.

With the electrical storm getting closed I decided it was time to sleep now, and I was up early the next morning for the buffet breakfast.

The breakfast buffet was amazing. There were 4 different kind of fresh juices each day, probably 10 different hot dishes, omelettes, scrambled eggs, fired eggs, boiled eggs, lots of fresh fruits, cereals, bread stations, noodle cooking stations, cold cuts, 6 different kinds of tea and coffee and so on. It is safe to say I had enough for breakfast to last me through to dinner 😀

Back at the bungalow I realized that there were windows all the way around it (all the blinds were closed when I arrived the night before), so opening them it was very bright inside – and with a large hedge around the bungalow I still had a lot or privacy even with all the curtains open.

The bathroom opened up completely, but still the hedge provided a lot of privacy.

The bungalow was about 80 square meters, and had a private garden of maybe 200 square meters.

Outside sitting area in front of the bungalow

Then it was time to look around the resort a bit more.

The main hotel building with beachfront swimming pools.

Beachfront lawn with a small outdoors restaurant and beachfront bar.

A very instagram-able palmtree on the beac

The beach extends all the way from the resort to Duong Dong Town.

The sea was very flat, and water was crystal clear. About 430 KM straight ahead is Koh Samui.

The main beach of the resort, with deckchairs and umbrellas.

There is also a large swimming pool area in the middle of the bungalows, a few minutes walk away from the beach.

Green areas everywhere around the swimming pool

The swimming pool also had a childrens pool and a jacuzzi .

The golfcart that brought me to the bungalow the first night was also available 24 hours, you just had to call reception and request a pickup, and it would arrive within minutes.

One thing to keep in mind though, is that not all the bungalows had the same level of privacy as the one I stayed in, so it might be a good idea to request a specific one when one makes a booking.

Every night from 1815-1900 they serve free cocktails and beers close to the beach bar, a good way to meet some other guests at the resort (and a good way for the resort to make sure people get lazy and don’t go somewhere else for dinner).

Free cocktails – as many as you could drink in 45 minutes 😀

The restaurant was also set up for those who wanted to eat outdoors, just next to the free cocktail bar.

The resort is a bit far away from other resorts and restaurants, but the receptionists were more than happy to call for a taxi when needed, and often they would be hanging around outside the hotel. A taxi ride into town cost about 100.000 Dong.

On the day before my check-out a letter was delivered to my bungalow, with the flight details I had passed on to them, and they then informed me of when my check-out time should be, in order to make it to the airport shuttle in time for my flight back home – a very nice touch.

Overall I had an amazing stay here, I am sad i didn’t have time to stay longer, but I will be back one day, and hopefully bringing the kids as well. Value for money, quality, staff friendliness and facilities was all outstanding, and I cannot recommend this place highly enough.

To end it off, here are a collection of sunset pictures taken from the beach as well 🙂