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Halong Bay

Halong Bay is located around 144km east of Hanoi in the Gulf of Tonkin. With over 1,600 islands and islets – mostly inhabited – it’s one of the most popular travel hotspots in Asia.In ancient Vietnamese, it literally means “descending dragon”. According to the legend, when Vietnam was being attacked by northern invaders, the Jade Emperor sent the Mother Dragon (and her children) to descend to earth and help defend the country. The Vietnamese gave the name “Halong” to the place where it first appeared as a sign of gratitude.

Today Halong Bay is also one of the main tourist hotspots in Vietnam, receiving more than 6 million travelers each year, mostly on cruise boats.

Halong BayWhy go on a cruise in Halong Bay

We took the classic cruise option in Halong mainly for convenience. You’re not only buying a boat ride. It also means you don’t need to worry about travel plans, activities, accommodation or food. There’s no human in this planet to which this idea does not sound good.

You will still get the feeling of an organised tour and lose some independence. In some of the most touristy itineraries, you can even feel like cattle.

I don’t like organised tours – in fact I more and more hate them – but in Halong I can see advantages in doing a cruise. It allows you to not only see Halong Bay from where it’s truly powerful, from the sea, but also to navigate to remote areas you’d never reach on your own.

 Tips for picking the best Halong Bay cruise

*Decide how long you want to go.

There are mainly three types of cruise tours operating in Halong Bay:

Day trip cruises

2 Day-1 Night cruises (2D1N)

3 Day-2 Nights cruises (3D2N)

4 Day-3 Nights cruises (4D3N)

Day trip cruises are short journeys created to give you a little taste of the feeling of navigating between forest of islands. You can book day cruises with no overnight stay departing from Hanoi, Halong City or Cat Ba.

In the limit, you can do a long day trip from Hanoi with a half-day cruise in the bay, but I personally don’t see any appeal in this. It’s too rushed and there’s no point in having such a long tiring day!

Overnight cruises are more classic choices and allow some more time to relax and truly enjoy the scenery out in the water. Plus, you get to sleep on board and wake up with a gor-geee-ouuusss view!

2D1N cruises last exactly 24 hours and will suit most travelers. Longer itineraries are recommended for people looking to unwind and explore more remote areas of the bay. 

3D2N and 4D3N cruises, you are transferred from the main boat to a smaller one for the daily activities, returning to the main ship in the evening. In a nutshell, how long you stay depends on how badly you need/want to relax and what your budget is. The longer you stay, the more chances you’ll have to navigate through areas far from crowds and to do more outdoor activities.

Halong BayDecide where exactly you want to go.

Although the whole area is mostly known as Halong Bay, there are in fact 3 different bays: Ha Long, Bai Tu Long and La Han Bay. They all have a similar (beautiful) landscape of limestone cliffs, idilic bays, caves and small beaches. However due to massive tourism and a stupidly high number of boats, navigating Halong Bay can be disappointing.Another point of interest is Cat Ba island. Known as the Jurassic Park island, it boasts a killer combination of lush forest, white sandy beaches and dramatic cliffs and hills.The cruise boats offer different itineraries to cruise along these points of interest. Very roughly, these can be summarised as in the box below.

Itineraries of cruises in Halong Bay

Halong Bay

This is the most popular route amongst tourists, but also where you will find the most crowded areas. The water in some of the areas with more boats is oily and dirty. It will often include stops in Ti Top island and the Surprising Cave.

La Han Bay & Cat Ba island

Some cruise boats offers you the option of sleeping a night in a resort in Cat Ba. Good option if you wish to combine it with a stay of your own in the island for some extra nights.

Halong Bay & Bai Tu Long Bay

These itineraries combine some of the best of Halong Bay with some more remote areas in Bai Tu Long Bay. It’s more off the beaten path and usually come with a higher price tag.

Activities in Halong Bay cruises

Visit to Pearl Farm

Visit to the floating villages

Swimming in a beach

Cave exploring

Tai Chi

Cooking classes

Squid fishing

Biking (Cat Ba)

Research the cruise boats

This is key. You’ll notice there is a huge range of boats styles, sizes and quality standards to cater to all types of travelers. Make sure you ask which boat you’re going and do some research online before you pull your wallet. Does it look decent? How old is the boat? What are the reviews like?If someone’s trying to sell you a cruise on one of those good-looking dark-wood boats with big red sails, raise a RED FLAG yourself. Since 2012, all ships on Halong Bay have been painted white by government order, so these literally don’t exist anymore. The number of passengers it can hold is important. Remember you won’t be alone aboard. You’ll be eating and doing all the daily activities all together, so the number of people doing all that affects tremendously your experience. I’d say a boat that can hold more than 35 people is already too much.

 Prepare your budget

A cruise in Halong Bay is not the time to suddenly go on a shoestring budget but you don’t need to hurt your wallet either. A quick search on the web will reveal stories of low quality food, poor accommodation and unwanted animals as your roommates. While you can endure a bad accommodation option for one night in land, while you’re out there in the sea things are different. Because you know, YOU’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA. A “simple” food poisoning can turn into a nightmare aboard! Be smart.Do some research and/or ask around and try to get a sense of what’s a good deal. Always take into account not only the boat itself, but what’s included on the entire tour. This means activities, food, transportation to/from Halong, etc.If you’re booking through a travel agency in Vietnam, prepare to negotiate hard, but come with a maximum budget in mind and stick to it. If you’re booking online, start comparing prices with Halongbaytours.com or Booking.com which have a large offer of Halong Bay cruises.

Book through the right place

here are many tourist scams in Vietnam and people looking for cruises in Halong Bay are one of the best targets. Do not go walk in into any hole-in-the-wall travel agency. More than anywhere else, Vietnam is the place to research beforehand and try to find places recommended by other travelers. This is one of my biggest tips I give someone heading to Vietnam.I would strongly advise against booking through your hotel. I got some quotes from the hostel I was staying in Hanoi and they were absolutely terrible. Far worse than anywhere else I’ve checked. Surprisingly, I also don’t think contacting the cruise companies directly is worth it. I contacted at least a dozen of them and in all of them the price were more expensive than through an agency.The solution is contacting a reliable tour agency. Do your research, check reviews, ask around. To make your life easier, here’s a convenient online option for all sorts of cruises in Halong Bay.

When to do a Halong Bay

Spring time – February to April

Dry weather and getting warmer and warmer as the summer approaches. The only con is that there will be more tourists in the water, some spots might be too crowded.

Summer time – May to August

It’s the warmest but also the rainiest period of the year. In sunny days, it’s great for the daily activities, specially kayaking and swimming.

Autumn time – September to November

It’s a relatively uncrowded time of the year in Halong, however the weather can be a bitch. Cancellations due to rough sea conditions are more frequent.

Winter time – December & January

Although it hardly ever rains and there are fewer tourists, this is also the coldest time of the year – expect temperatures between 15 to 20C and some more foggy days. Not the best time to swim.

[ Contact us to book your tour in Halong Bay ]

Want to book a tour? Call Us For booking on +91- 8894917116, +91- 8894404523 Or +91-44-6531-5613, +91-5832-267070. In case if Phone no's are continuously engaged, You are requested to fill contact us form on our website and our executives will get back to you as soon as possible. You may also leave us a message on our +91- 8894404523 WhatsApp Number to receive packages. Once you will say Hi on our WhatsApp no. Our team will send you a small form immediately which need to be filled by you. After filling it up, Please send it back to us on same Whatsapp no. You will receive all the information with packages and pictures on Whatsapp itself. In case if you are facing any problem, Please feel free to get in touch with us. We are looking forward to welcome you and your Group.

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