1. 1. General information?

Halong bay is the first place that everyone searching for when they plan to visit Vietnam. It is also the most famous and be advertised much from the travelers. The Creator gave Halong bay the numerous limestone moutain doting on the sea. Name of Ha Long bay means “descending dragons” which is related to a legend of dragon family. Having nearly 2000 islands doting on bay, Ha Long is stunning about the unique scenery all over the world. Ha Long bay is formed by Cat Ba island to the South, Ngoc Hung and Van Canh islands to the East and the Vietnamese coastline to the North and West. The bay covers a total area of 1553 square kilometers. Occupying the middle of the bay between Halong town and Cat Ba island, the central World heritage area stretches for 434 square kilometers.  Such is the signigicance of Halong bay that in 1994, UNESCO recognized the heart of Halong bay as being a site of natural World Heritage and stated that “ Apart from Halong bay there are no equivalent sites on the World Heritage list…” in 2012, the new 7 wonders foundation officially named Halong Bay as one of new seven natural wonders of the world.

General Halong bay is splited to 3 bays with similar activities (cruising, kayaking, boating…) as well as different politic units. They are called Bai Tu Long bay, Halong bay and Lan Ha bay. Each area has their own beauty but you don’t need to visit all. Spending 3-4 days staying in Halong bay should be nice for you.

Ha Long bay is located approximately 165 km by road from centre of Hanoi to North West. it belongs to Quang Ninh province and lie down on the Westernside of the Gulf of Tonkin Vietnam. Quang Ninh province has border with China at northen side.

1. How to go to Halong bay

There are many options of transfers from Hanoi city to Halong bay. You can choose going by buses, limousines or by private car. We would recommend you to choose the travel bus. By the way you will be taken care, answered as well as more safety. It’s also save your time to travel, just 2.5 hours to arrive.

The departure time of travel bus / limousine / car should meet the time of the cruises in Halong bay. So you won miss the cruises you booked with.

In case you want to come to Cat Ba island, we have a ticket for you. Get picked up from your hotel in Old Quarter, transfer by bus to Hai Phong city and get hydrofoil to Cat Ba island. Total of time would be 3.5 hours.

We also supply tourist transport service picked up at 8am at your hotel in Old Quarter to Halong bay and back. It costs 8USD per person.

The most highlighted activities in Halong bay is enjoy the time with cruise. We would recommend you to book the service before you go. Book the nice cruises in advance after reading the reviews, checking information or recommended by Hanoi Tour Planner will give you the beautiful experience. In other way, you can avoid a lot of doubts when you book when you arrive there. There are a lof of travelers got the same trouble by hidden price, low quality boat or something else. Travel is for enjoying, not for annoying .

In general, the customer service quality on the cruises in Halong bay is good. You will be happy after the trip here.

3. Going to Cat Ba island

In case you want to come to Cat Ba island, we have a ticket for you. Get picked up from your hotel in Old Quarter, transfer by bus to Hai Phong city and get hydrofoil to Cat Ba island. Total of time would be 3.5 hours.

In case you want to travel to Cat Ba island from Hanoi city, we also supply tourist transport service picked up at 8am at your hotel in Hanoi city to Halong bay and back. It costs 8USD per person.

4. Things to do in Halong bay

Swimming, kayaking, hiking and photography are must-do things when the tourists go to Ha Long bay. Various decent seafood is also detectation.

Floating fishing villages are the most favorite human attraction. The whole of villagers live, work and die on these floating house. The residences are mainly fisher men and follow the tourists boats around their villages to sell their produce such as souvenirs to the passing tourist trade.