Ha Long Bay
Between sixteen hundred and two thousand islands, and one decision: how many nights on the boat
- When to go
- October 25° · 10 rainy days
- Per day
- €€price 2 of 5
- How many days
- 2days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 39 km Haiphong · 40 km Van Don
- Right now
Ha Long is not seen from land but from a boat, and the only real decision is how many nights: one is enough to see the bay, two are needed to get out of the part where everyone else is. A day trip from Hanoi buys you four hours afloat and eight in a minibus.
The islands are limestone eaten by the sea on the same pattern as the Li River in China — except the water here is salt and the channels between the cones deep enough for a ship. UNESCO listed them in 1994. The count usually given runs from about 1,600 to 2,000, depending on what you call an island and what a rock.
Cruises divide by time rather than luxury. One-night boats work the central bay, where most of them are; two-night boats reach Lan Ha Bay and Cat Ba island, where the traffic thins noticeably and kayaks go into lagoons through openings in the rock. Lan Ha is also reachable on a day trip run from Cat Ba island itself, with no night aboard.
Weather matters more here than elsewhere. From May to September there are typhoons and sailings are cancelled without notice; from December to February it is cold and grey, and the bay looks like a photograph in fog — which suits some people and ruins the point for others. October, November, March and April are the safest.
What to see in Ha Long Bay
A night on the boat
A cabin with a balcony, dinner on deck and sunrise tai chi — the routine is much the same across boats, only the number of days changes.
Sung Sot cave
The largest cave in the bay, three chambers with a path through them. Done in a group, about an hour.
Lan Ha Bay and Cat Ba
The southern end, off the main tourist run, with beaches and lagoons. Two-night cruises from Ha Long reach it, and so do day trips run from Cat Ba island itself, with no night aboard.
Kayaking through rock
Entering closed lagoons through low openings in the limestone, passable only at low tide. An hour, and the best part of any cruise.
The floating villages
Communities that lived on the water for generations. Most were resettled ashore between 2012 and 2014; a few remain, visited by rowing boat.
Ti Top island
An island with a staircase to a viewpoint and a small beach. About four hundred steps — go early, before the heat.
Two things you probably did not know
The bay holds around 1,600 limestone islands, remains of a massif the sea worked on for twenty million years. Almost none are inhabited, because the rock is too steep to build on.
Floating fishing villages lived in the bay for centuries, with houses on rafts and a school on the water. Most were resettled after 2014 to protect the bay, and a few remain as workshops and farms.
Ready for Ha Long Bay?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Ha Long Bay — day trips or weekends.
Vietnam
→A country sixteen hundred and fifty kilometres long, where north and south are never in season together
China
→A country the size of a continent, where the hard part is sorted out before you fly: payment, internet and tickets
Thailand
→Two coasts the monsoon never reaches at the same time, and a north seen through smoke in March
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