The present paper proposes a coupled volume-of-fluid (VOF) and level-set (LS) method for simulating incompressible two-phase flows that include surface tension effects. The interface of two fluids and its motion are represented by a VOF method designed using high-resolution differencing schemes. This hybrid method couples the VOF method with an LS distancing algorithm in an explicit way to improve the calculation of the normal and curvature of the interface. It is developed based on a rather simple algorithm to be efficient for various practical applications. The accuracy and convergence properties of the method are verified in a simulation of a single gas bubble rising in a three-dimensional flow with a large density ratio.