🏠 Long-Stay & Expat

Phu Quoc Furnished Apartment: What to Expect (Long-Stay Guide)

Phu Quoc furnished apartment listings all say "fully furnished" — but what that phrase actually covers varies enormously. One landlord's "full kitchen" is a two-burner cooktop and a single pot. Another's includes a rice cooker, a proper knife set, and a 200 L refrigerator. This guide tells you exactly what the standard looks like, what the common gaps are, and what to check the minute you walk through the door.

We've handed over probably 200 apartments at this point, and the same surprises come up repeatedly. The guest who discovers there's no microwave on day one. The person who can't figure out why the water isn't hot (the heater is switched off at the wall). The family who assumed "washer included" and finds a shared machine three floors down. None of these are disasters, but all of them are avoidable.

What does a standard furnished apartment in Phu Quoc actually include?

A standard furnished long-term apartment in Phu Quoc includes a bed with mattress, wardrobe, desk or table with chairs, a sofa, and a TV. Appliances typically included: air conditioner (split unit), refrigerator, electric water heater, washing machine, and a two-burner gas or electric cooktop. A rice cooker and electric kettle are common but not universal. Oven, dishwasher, and microwave are rarely included.

The bedroom is usually the most reliably outfitted room. You get a bed frame, a mattress (quality varies significantly — ask to see photos of the actual mattress, not a stock image), a wardrobe or built-in closet, and some form of desk. A side table and lamp are hit-or-miss.

Living area: sofa, coffee table, and a wall-mounted TV. WiFi router, usually placed on a shelf or TV unit. That's about it for the common areas — don't expect a bookshelf or anything beyond the basics unless the listing specifically mentions it.

The kitchen is where the real variation begins. See the long-term rental guide for a full breakdown of how furnished vs. unfurnished pricing compares across the island.

How do the key appliances actually perform?

Air conditioning is the one thing you can count on. Split-unit inverter AC is standard in virtually every furnished apartment, even budget studios. The typical setup is one unit in the bedroom. Larger 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units often have a second unit covering the living area. This matters more than it sounds — Phu Quoc runs 29–33°C from April to October, and sleeping without AC is genuinely miserable rather than just uncomfortable.

Electricity is metered separately from rent at 3,500–4,500 VND per kWh. Running one AC unit 8–10 hours a day in a studio typically costs 800,000–1,400,000 VND per month ($32–56 USD). A 1-bedroom with AC in both rooms runs 1,200,000–2,000,000 VND ($48–80 USD). This is the most significant variable in your monthly budget — negotiate whether AC electricity is capped or fully metered before you sign.

Water heaters are electric in most apartments — either instant (heats on demand) or small-tank type (10–30 L). The instant heaters are fine unless you have a high-flow shower head. If the water is cold, check the wall switch first; about half of first-morning complaints are just the heater being switched off. Gas water heaters appear in older buildings; if yours has a pilot light, ask the landlord to show you how to relight it before they leave.

Washing machines are included in most mid-range apartments (roughly $400+/month) and almost all higher-end units. Budget studios below $350/month often skip them. A laundry shop (tiệm giặt ủi) within 400–600 m of most Duong Dong apartments charges 30,000–50,000 VND per load, washed and folded. Reasonable option for a short stay; annoying over 3+ months.

Refrigerators range from a 90 L bar fridge in the smallest studios to proper 200 L two-door units in family apartments. A bar fridge is survivable for one person who shops daily; if you plan to cook and store groceries for a week, it becomes a daily inconvenience. Check the stated capacity in the listing, or ask for a photo of the actual unit.

What should you check the day you move into a Phu Quoc apartment?

At move-in, check: (1) AC cools properly in both rooms — turn it on and wait 10 minutes; (2) hot water actually reaches temperature within 2 minutes; (3) all burners on the cooktop ignite; (4) washing machine completes a short cycle without leaking; (5) fridge reaches cold within 30 minutes; (6) all window locks and door locks function; (7) water pressure at peak morning hours (7–8 AM) is adequate; (8) WiFi speed — run a test on speedtest.net. Document any existing scratches or damage with photos before unpacking.

The WiFi test is one people skip and then regret. We've had guests discover on day three that their apartment's router tops out at 8 Mbps because it's an old 2.4 GHz model. The fiber line into the building is fast; the router is the bottleneck. A $15 replacement router from CoopMart fixes it, but you want to know this on day one, not day 14.

Run the washing machine immediately. Not because failures are common, but because a seal leak will show up in the first cycle and you want the landlord to deal with it before your clothes are involved.

Check the gas cylinder under the cooktop. An empty cylinder is the single most common move-in issue. The previous tenant left it empty; nobody checked. Pick it up and shake it — a full 12 kg cylinder has obvious weight. A nearly empty one rattles.

What's usually missing from furnished Phu Quoc apartments?

The most common omissions in furnished Phu Quoc apartments: oven (almost never included), dishwasher (extremely rare), microwave (included in maybe 30–40% of units), vacuum cleaner (bring or buy one for around 500,000 VND / $20), full set of kitchen knives, a colander, and a baking tray. Good-quality pans are hit-or-miss — the provided pans are often thin aluminum. Bed linen and towels are included in most long-term rentals but confirm this explicitly.

No oven is the one that surprises people most. Baking bread, roasting vegetables, making pizza — none of this is possible with a standard setup. A toaster oven from CoopMart costs 700,000–900,000 VND ($28–36) and handles most of what a full oven does for one or two people. Buy it on day one if you cook. It will be the most-used item in the kitchen.

Vacuum cleaners are almost never provided. A basic Philips upright runs about 500,000 VND at any electronics shop. Buy two sets of spare bags while you're there.

Kitchen knives. I have yet to find a furnished apartment on the island that has a knife worth using. The one that comes with the unit is usually a thin Chinese steel knife that goes dull after three uses. If you cook seriously, this is the one item genuinely worth bringing from home — a good knife is light and worth the suitcase space.

What should you buy locally versus bring from home?

Buy locally — it is cheaper and practical. A basic non-stick pan costs 150,000–250,000 VND ($6–10) at CoopMart or Vinmart in Duong Dong. A decent chef's knife runs 80,000–150,000 VND. A microwave costs 800,000–1,200,000 VND ($32–48) new. The main item worth bringing from home if you cook seriously: a quality knife, since Vietnamese mid-range kitchen knives lose their edge quickly. Everything else is available locally and cheap enough that shipping from abroad makes no sense.

The full shopping list for a typical move-in, if you're starting from scratch:

Total spend to fill a typical gap list: 2,000,000–4,000,000 VND ($80–160 USD). Do it all in one CoopMart trip plus one visit to Điện máy Xanh electronics store on Tran Hung Dao street in Duong Dong. Allow two hours. See the kitchen setup guide for a full shopping list with current prices.

How do deposits and inventory checklists work?

The standard deposit for a long-term apartment rental in Phu Quoc is one to two months' rent. A one-month deposit is typical for stays of 3–6 months; two months is common for leases of 6 months or longer, or for higher-end units. The deposit is held against damage beyond normal wear and returned within 7–14 days after checkout once the landlord has inspected the apartment. An inventory checklist signed by both parties at move-in protects both sides.

An inventory checklist (sometimes called a handover list) is a document listing every piece of furniture, appliance, and fixture in the apartment, with a note on its condition at move-in. Both tenant and landlord sign it. This document is the only reliable protection against deposit disputes at checkout. Without it, a landlord can claim a pre-existing scratch on the dining table was caused by you. Request one from every landlord; if they do not have a template, photograph every room systematically and share the photos with the landlord via WhatsApp before unpacking.

After you vacate, the landlord inspects the apartment against the inventory checklist. Any damage beyond normal wear is deducted from the deposit. The remainder should be returned within 7–14 days — get this timeline agreed in writing at the start of the lease. If the landlord delays, the signed inventory checklist and your move-in photos are your leverage. We always advise tenants to do a joint walkthrough with the landlord on the final day so there are no surprises after departure.

The most common deductions we see: broken items (fans, remotes, cups), wall stains, and missing keys. All avoidable by doing the move-in walkthrough properly and keeping a set of spare keys somewhere safe.

For full guidance on leases, what clauses to watch for, and how negotiation works on the island, read the studio apartment monthly rental guide.

Which utilities are usually included in furnished Phu Quoc apartments?

Water is almost always included in the monthly rent — it is cheap and landlords do not typically meter it separately. Electricity is almost always metered and billed separately at 3,500–4,500 VND per kWh. Internet is included in most mid-range and above furnished apartments in Phu Quoc — typically VNPT or Viettel fiber at 50–100 Mbps. Budget apartments may not include it; a new fiber connection costs about 200,000–300,000 VND per month ($8–12) to set up yourself. Always test actual speed on arrival. WiFi routers in apartments are sometimes older models that throttle speed at the unit level even when the fiber line is fast — request a router upgrade if speeds are below 30 Mbps.

Before signing any long-term lease in Phu Quoc, confirm in writing: what utilities are included (some landlords charge separately for water, some include it); who pays for appliance repairs if something breaks; whether cleaning is included or optional; whether guests are permitted; whether a motorbike parking space is included; and what the exact check-out condition requirements are for deposit return. These four or five points account for almost every dispute we have seen between tenants and landlords in 7 years.

Electricity negotiation tip: if you plan to work from home and run AC during the day, your bill will be significantly higher than a guest who is out sightseeing. Be honest about your usage pattern when asking about electricity costs — some landlords offer a fixed monthly electricity cap ($30–40/month is common in smaller studios) which makes budgeting much simpler.

What is included at each rental price tier?

Here is what furnished apartment tiers typically look like in Phu Quoc as of mid-2026. These are general patterns — individual apartments vary. Always verify with the landlord before booking.

A few notes on this table: the "oven" entry in the premium tier covers maybe 15–20% of premium units. It is still genuinely rare even at $1,000+/month. And "sometimes elect." in the upper tier usually means a fixed electricity cap of $30–50/month rather than unlimited — verify the exact terms.

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