HA LONG BAY & CAT BA

25-10-22

Cat Ba Island / 4 nights

One of the most famous landscapes in Vietnam has to be Ha Long Bay. Located in Northern Vietnam, the limestone coastline and islands are what make this bay so gorgeous. If you have been to Khao Sok in Thailand before, it holds a similar resemblance.

As a recognised UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is not permitted to swim or visit any of the islands on foot in Ha Long Bay. Overnight boat cruises here are very popular however word on the street is that the living conditions are reflective on how cheap you pay for this experience. Therefore, we opted to stay on Cat Ba Island, just a stones throw from Ha Long however also home to Lan Ha Bay which is identical to Ha Long but minus all the overnight boats and tourist crowding. Plus, Lan Ha comes with the added extra of being able to kayak and swim in the area.

Travelling from Hanoi to Cat Ba was much easier than ever imagined. The journey involves a 3 1/2 to 4 hour bus from Hanoi to Ha Long coast (with a stop at a service station half way through), followed by a 5 minute ferry to Cat Ba and finished with a 30-40 minute bus to your hotel.

Both companies we used Good Morning Cat Ba (Hanoi-Cat Ba) and Cat Ba Express (Cat Ba-Hanoi) both pick you up at your hotel and drop you off at your next hotel. I personally preferred the service from Cat Ba Express as the buses had much more leg room and it was a lot quieter than Good Morning Cat Ba so we didn’t have to stop at many hotels to get back to Cat Ba port when returning back to Hanoi.

I highly recommend staying in Cat Ba Town, there were a few people on our bus who were dropped off very inland at their hotels where there is very little nightlife and restaurant options. We stayed at the Sea Pearl Hotel which was £30 a night for a double room with breakfast included and the hotel staff were super helpful throughout our whole stay.

If it wasn’t for us experiencing a couple day of bed bound illnesses then 3 nights here is an ample amount of time to see everything, however we ended up adding on an extra night to catch up on some lost time.

We booked our Lan Ha Bay tour with Cat Ba Panorama Travel who were excellent. They picked us up from our hotel at 7:30am, drove us to the port where we boarded the boat and then didn’t return until 3:30pm. Activities on the boat included visiting the local floating villages where over 400 families live, kayaking through caves and even saw monkeys – of which there are only 78 of the exact breed left within the Bay and jumping off the boat to enjoy a swim in amongst the limestone giants.

There are also three beaches within a 10 minute walk of Cat Ba town, all of which are beautiful with bars for food and drinks. These are perfect for complete relaxation days with cooling dips into the sea.

Overall, visiting this iconic coastline and landscape should be on your list of considerations when visiting Vietnam and it’s vibrant town and natural sights, will not disappoint.

Peace and love,

Yasmin xo