Cat Ba Island - why to go, how to get there, what to see, where to stay

General information about Cat Ba, what kind of rest, beaches and why to go here

Cat Ba Island (Cat Ba Island, Cat Ba) is the largest of the 366 islands in the archipelago of the same name in northern Vietnam, 140 kilometers from Hanoi (Cat Ba on the map). Traditionally, it is believed that the island is washed by the waters of the world-famous Halong Bay, but in fact it is located in the center of Lanha Bay, which is also a natural landmark and one of the most beautiful places in Southeast Asia.

Cat Ba is a sparsely populated island, and most of it is occupied by uninhabited territory – Cat Ba National Park. The territory of the island is mostly hilly, covered with evergreen tropical forests. The main settlement is the town of Cat Ba Town, and besides it there are several villages. About 13,000 people live here permanently, while more than 350,000 tourists visit here every year.

Cat Ba is the only developed beach resort in the north of Vietnam so far. Of course, in terms of popularity and development, it is much inferior to such resorts as Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Da Nang, but it also has its advantages. First of all, it is a very beautiful natural resort with stunning views of the bays surrounding it, filled with picturesque islets. There is a well-developed tourist infrastructure here and it is quite suitable for relaxing here for a few days or a week, and not getting bored at the same time. After all, if you prefer sightseeing tourism and acquaintance with the culture of the country, then the north of Vietnam is the best place for this. And along with visiting Hanoi, Sapa, Bac Ha, Dien Bien Phu and other sightseeing places in the north, you can add to your trip a little beach vacation on Cat Ba without a long trip to the central or southern part of the country. But as for coming to Cat Ba for a couple of weeks for a beach holiday, then, in our opinion, it will still be too boring. And the beaches themselves here can hardly be called ideal.

There are not so many beaches on Cat Ba, but enough to feel comfortable here even at the height of the season, and in the low tourist season the beaches are generally almost empty. There are five developed and equipped beaches here, which are called quite simply: Cat Co1, Cat Co2 and Cat Co3, Tung Thu and the new Cac Ba beach. All of them are sandy and are located in cozy coves protected from waves and winds.

There are still a lot of secluded beaches around the perimeter of Cat Ba, but they are not suitable for swimming. But on the nearby islands of the archipelago you can find many more secluded beaches. You can get on them together with excursions (but then they will not be secluded), get on a private boat, or even kayak. Learn more we told you about the beaches on Cat Ba here...

The center of the island's tourist life is Cat Ba Town. This is a compact city where the entire tourist infrastructure is concentrated: hotels, shops, cafes, restaurants, travel agencies, banks, transport rental. There are four beaches within walking distance from the center.

After a beach holiday and excursions, you can have a good time at the Rose Club, Red Sky, Queen nightclub or at one of the many bars with modern music, sing at the karaoke bar, get a massage or spa treatments, eat fresh seafood on Pho Tung Dinh Street, visit the night market. And now there is a magnificent and modern promenade area-an embankment with a light and music fountain, children's entertainment, restaurants and other leisure activities. In general, the evening tourist life on Cat Ba is very well developed, it will not be boring.

🎬 Our videos about Cat Ba

If you prefer to watch videos instead of reading or you didn't understand something from our guides, then we have made a lot of thematic videos about Cat Ba Island for you:

• We take apart Cat Ba by the bones, part 1: review, hotels, food and prices, new embankment
• We take apart Cat Ba by the bones, part 2: Lanha and Halong Cruise
• Rent a motorcycle on Cat Ba - personal experience and how much it really costs to pay
• Currency exchange to Cat Ba - is the exchange rate profitable and where to change
• The new super fountain on the island of Cat Ba
• Hotel on Cat Ba - watch to the end and try to guess the price
• Another hotel on Cat Ba - watch to the end and try to guess the price
• Wooden bridge on stilts and temple on Cat Ba
• Cat Ba Military Cave Hospital Museum

Shopping on Cat Ba

There are no opportunities for exciting shopping on Cat Ba, you can buy only the most necessary things here. In our opinion, shopping here hardly reaches the "three" on a five-point scale. Although it is possible that many new shops will open in the coming years due to the construction of a new area with hotels on the site of the former port.

There are no shopping centers and large supermarkets here, there are several mini-markets with fixed prices and price tags. These are Square C, CT Mart, Minh Mart, Hii Mart. The assortment in them is the most elementary: drinks, snacks, some semi-finished products, alcohol and all sorts of little things like batteries and the like. Some of them work the old-fashioned way, even without price tags and only with cash.

The main trading platform in the city is the local Cho Cat Ba market on Duong Street (local market on the map). This is a typical Vietnamese market, where everything from fresh fish to simple electronics is sold, and there are souvenirs. But the prices for tourists are called several times higher than the real ones, you need to bargain.

The local market is open from early morning until dark, after which the trade moves to a small evening market on the main street opposite the promenade and Stella Cat Ba (tourist night market on the map). Here you can also buy the simplest souvenirs like magnets and plates, T-shirts with inscriptions, swimsuits, toys and other Chinese consumer goods and nothing more. You can also buy the necessary things in many shops along the streets of Cat Ba Town.

Fruits on Cat Ba are very expensive. From personal experience and experience of communicating with local tourists from Hanoi, we can say that they are at least twice as high here as on the mainland, and sellers do not want to bargain.

Where to eat on Cat Ba (with prices)

There are a lot of cafes, restaurants and bars in the center of Cat Ba Town, there is a street food court, seafood restaurants. Most of the tourist cafes are located on the main tourist street along the embankment, there are also pavilions selling all sorts of goodies and fast food. But if you go further away or go into the alleys, there you can find cafes and street shops with simpler food and lower prices.

Mostly local cuisine is represented here, but you can find dishes of European cuisine, Indian, Thai, even Russian. We didn't notice any special restaurants with European cuisine here. There are a lot of fresh seafood restaurants, but do not expect ultra-low prices for a seafood menu. For example, one fish dish or combo in an inexpensive restaurant with plastic chairs will cost from 250,000 VND (rate temporary unavailable USD), and it may also be a defrosted product. If you want to eat fresh fish, try shrimp, crabs, oysters and other "sea reptiles", then you need to cook from 500,000 (rate temporary unavailable USD) up to 1,000,000 per dish. Ordinary dishes for everyday meals such as rice with chicken Com Ga cost about the same here as on the mainland, well, maybe a little more expensive – from 60,000 VND per serving (rate temporary unavailable USD).

If you need to eat very inexpensively, then you can go to the night market next to the local market. Just don't confuse it: it's not about the night market for tourists on the main street, but about the local one, which is located on Pho Cat Ba Street behind the Cho Cat Ba market, here it is on the map. Here you can eat from 40,000 DONG for rice with vegetables, but not every vacationer will be satisfied with the situation: dirty plastic tables, next to the local market with rats looking out from there (no kidding).

Previously, one of the "chips" of the island are floating restaurants in the water area of the city. But now there are no more floating restaurants on Cat Ba. In the place where they swam, they made artificial land from the embankment, built hotels and the Cac Ba beach appeared.

Most of the seafood restaurants have now moved "on land" to Pho Tung Dinh Street, this is near the center, that's where on the map. This is where you should go if you want to try the freshest shrimp, lobster, squid, fish. The assortment is huge, everything is fresh. The only problem is that there is no menu in English and the staff almost does not understand English, let alone Russian. So get ready for translation difficulties. However, this is the case almost everywhere on Cat Ba, and not just on this street.

Drinks on Cat Ba, including alcoholic drinks, are also the same as on the mainland, except that in high season they are more expensive:

• A can of beer in stores from 15,000 VND (0.57 USD)0.95 USD)
• water 1,5l. – 15 000 (9.51 USD)
• Softdrink (lemonades) from 10,000 (0.38 USD) / in a cafe from 15,000 (rate temporary unavailable USD)

The margin in the cafe for alcohol is not very large, besides there are so-called discount "happy hours". For example, from 19:00 to 21:00 in the Lohi bar you can get a mug of beer for free, and Oasis Bar 2 from 28:00 to 22:00 serves local Hai Phong beer for 10,000. Also, draft beer for 10,000 is served in fish restaurants on Thung Dinh Street if you order a dish from them. We found the cheapest local draft beer in a street cafe at the entrance to the fisherman's pier: 7000 VND per 0.5 l mug.

To summarize, these are the prices we ourselves focus on when planning expenses for Cat Ba (one meal per person):

• Eating in a very inexpensive cafe for locals with a drink will cost from 80,000 VND / 3.04 USD
• To eat in a normal restaurant for locals with a drink – from 120,000 VND / 4.56 USD
• To eat in a cafe for tourists or at the hotel (with beer or soft drink) – from 200,000 VND / 7.6 USD

Well, in order not to deny yourself the pleasures and also buy different "goodies" like ice cream, bubble, shakes, coconuts and the like, you also need to add 100-200 thousand per day for each (3.8-7.6 USD).

Currency exchange to cash machines, ATMs and bank cards

It is possible to exchange dollars, euros at a good exchange rate, other currencies at a bad exchange rate, or they may even be changed to Cat Ba. Do not take rubles here, as well as in general in Vietnam.

You can exchange currency at the exchange offices in Cat Ba Town, there are quite a lot of them here. Also change in hotels and travel agencies.

But a really good course on Cat Ba can be found near the market at the jewelry store Vu Binh. Here the exchange rate is higher than at the airport and almost as high as in the exchangers on the jewelry streets in Hanoi. They also accept old dollars with a small discount, euros. The main thing is that the bills are in perfect condition, otherwise they may be accepted or make too big a discount. Also here you can cash out money from a foreign bank card (Russian ones are not accepted) for a 3% commission. We shot a video about this exchanger with all the rates and comparison, 📹 you can watch it here...

If you do not want to take risks with the exchange for Cat Ba and waste time searching for an exchanger here, then you will find the best exchange rate in Hanoi jewelry stores, we have described this in detail here. So it is convenient to change if after arrival you first go to Hanoi to spend the night and take the bus to Katb. If there are no such plans, then change a small amount at the airport, and the rest to Cat Ba.

And now, as for bank cards:

• Russian maps of the World are useless here: there are no ATMs and outlets for their reception. The nearest ATM of VRB Bank (only this bank accepts Mir cards) is in Haiphong, all the others are in Hanoi. But the exchange rate at ATMs is much worse than through cash dollars or euros, so we advise you to leave them as a last resort.

• Cards of international payment systems and Russian Unionpay work both in stores and ATMs. But there are not very many outlets where you can pay by card.

Unionpay cards there is only one large bank in Vietnam now – Rosselkhoznadzor. All other Unionpays issued earlier, including Gazprombank, Russian Standard and Tinkoff no longer work. Read more about ATMs and plastic cards in Vietnam in our updated article...

Hotels on Cat Ba and where to stay

There are more than a hundred hotels of different categories on Cat Ba Island, there are no difficulties with accommodation even in high season. But still, in the summer months during school holidays, on big holidays and on weekly weekends, it is best to book accommodation in advance. The fact is that at this time a lot of local tourists and holidaymakers from Hanoi come to Cat Ba, all rooms are occupied, prices jump.

But in the low season from October to December, many hotels arrange a real attraction of generosity, making a discount of up to 50%. At this time, you can book a comfortable room with air conditioning, TV and your own bathroom from 250,000 VND per day (9.51 USD). We (the authors of the site) have not seen such low-season discounts anywhere else in Vietnam.

The rest of the time, for the simplest room with its own bathroom and air conditioning, you will have to pay from 400,000 VND (rate temporary unavailable USD) when booking in advance. But there are very few such budget options, literally only a few on the whole island.

Watch our video review of the hotel on Cat Ba to imagine what awaits you in budget accommodation options:

In addition to traditional accommodation on land, you can stay here in exotic floating hotels. We are talking about cruise boats in the bays of Lanha or Halong, where you can stay in a separate cabin, or rent a boat entirely with the whole team. Of course, it is most interesting to live in such boats not near the shores of the island, but sailing along the bays of Halong and Lan Ha, and if you book it entirely, you will be able to determine the sailing route yourself.

Such accommodation options are available for booking through hotel search engines, and they are designated as Junk or Cruise there, they are very expensive. But there is another cheaper option: to buy an excursion-a boat cruise with overnight stays in Halong Bay and Lanha. Then you will be on the boat with other tourists, but in your cabin. Such excursions are sold in all street agencies on Cat Ba, and you can buy them even in Hanoi along with the transfer.

You can search and book hotels on Cat Ba Island on the following sites:

• 🛌 Search Cat Ba Island hotels on Trip.com (👍 Mir maps work)
• 🛌 Cat Ba Island Hotels on Yandex.travel
• 🛌 Search for hotels on Ostrovok.ru

Weather on Cat Ba, tourist seasons

It is generally believed that in the resorts of Vietnam, the tourist seasons form the rainy season and the dry season, but on Cat Ba Island everything is completely different: here the low tourist season and the rainy season do not coincide .

• High tourist season takes place here in the summer months from May to September. This is the time of holidays and vacations, everyone is rushing to Cat Ba, including the locals. It is better to book hotels at this time in advance, prices for everything are going up. But at the same time, the high tourist season also accounts for the peak of the rainy season. Rains are quite frequent, the average temperature is about 30C degrees, but can rise to extreme temperatures above 40C.

• Low tourist season on Cat Ba takes place during the winter months, from October to April. There are very few tourists on the island, prices are going down, and hotels offer incredible discounts.

  At this time, some ferry flights and transfers to the island may be canceled, but in general, there are no problems with getting there and with the work of the tourist infrastructure, everything works as usual. The low season is at the same time a dry season with a minimum of precipitation, but people don't come here for a vacation because of the low temperature. In the evenings, the temperature can drop up to 10C degrees, and the average minimum temperature in January is 14C. Another trouble with the weather at this time is constant cloud cover, which, however, does not prevent sunbathing at all.

Given all this, it is difficult to answer unequivocally when it is better to go to Cat Ba. On the one hand, everyone goes in the summer, and at this time it's noisy and fun, the tourist infrastructure is working at full capacity, but there may be weather "swings" with heavy rains or prolonged rains. On the other hand, there is almost no precipitation in winter, but it is cold and often cloudy. Perhaps the best option for a holiday on Cat Ba will be the time between the low and high season in spring or autumn.

Tourist seasons in Cat Ba by month, when is the best time to go

Weather on Cat Ba by month

Weather on Cat Ba Island and forecast for the near future:

How and how to get there

Cat Ba Island is located in the north of Vietnam in the waters of Lan Ha Bay, 140 kilometers from Hanoi (Catba on the map of Vietnam). The main gate to get to Cat Ba is the cityHaiphong (Hai Phong), which is located nearby on the mainland. Less often people get here through the city of Halong.

In Haiphong there is an airport, a railway station, several bus stations. There are mainly domestic flights to Haiphong Airport, and only a few international destinations: from Bangkok, Shenzhen, Seoul. Therefore, more often tourists from Russia and other countries get here through Hanoi Airport, which is cheaper.

You can get directly to Cat Ba only by water, because there is no own airport here, and the bridge from the mainland has not yet been built. Most often tourists come here from Hanoi by bus or train with a ferry transfer, but you can also fly from other cities of Vietnam by plane to Haiphong airport and then by bus + ferry. You can also get here by ferry from Halong.

Whichever way you choose, it is most convenient and cheaper to get there by buying a comprehensive transfer or a ready-made bus ticket to Cat Ba Town. Such tickets include delivery by all means of transport (bus to the pier, ferry, and again bus to Cat Ba Town) directly to the tourist center of the island. If you decide to make this journey completely on your own, then you will have to puzzle a lot about how to get from Haiphong to the pier (there are several of them here, by the way), and then from the pier to Cat Ba to the city. And given that public transport is poorly developed here, you will have to use a taxi, which will be much more expensive than ready-made tickets. You can buy ready-made tickets to Cat Ba Island in Hanoi at travel agencies and hotels, or online at 12go.asia.

Learn more how to get to Catba Island here...

Transport, what to use to get around

Public transport on Cat Ba is very poorly represented. There is only one regular bus and a ferry between the two piers. Moreover, they refuse to carry tourists on the latter, offering tourist boats instead. Therefore, for tourists and travelers, it is ideal to rent a transport – a motorcycle or a bicycle.

In general, transportation to Cat Ba will be needed only if you want to visit remote parts of the island and attractions on your own, such as the Green Staircase, the Bridge on stilts and the temple, Mangroves, the National Park and Caves, the museum of the hospital in the cave. Within the city of Cat Ba, transport is not required, you can see everything on foot and also get to any beaches.

If you do not want to walk, you can use a taxi, a motorcycle taxi, or local "minibuses" - large golf carts:

• Taxi

  

  • A short taxi ride within the city of Cat Ba will cost from 40,000 VND / 1.52 USD
  • From 330,000 VND can be reached from/to the pier across the island / 12.55 USD
  • Mototaxi is twice as cheap.

  The Grab application is not working on Cat Ba yet, but the Xanh Sm modern ecological taxi application is working. This is a relatively new developing taxi on electric vehicles and scooters of local production VinFast, very cool and quite comfortable. So install the app and use it, it will be cheaper and easier than haggling with taxi drivers on the street every time.

  You can also catch or order cars on the street. As usual in Vietnam, the prices for an official taxi must be indicated on board the car, they are charged by distance. For mini-taxis, fares start from 12,000 VND for the first 400 meters, and then 13,000 for each kilometer.

  

• Minibuses golf carts

  

  Electric golf carts literally flooded the entire tourist center of Cat Ba town. They run from the center to the beaches at a fixed price of 10,000 VND per person (0.38 USD), or wherever you ask them for an additional fee of 100,000 VND. We don't have a lot of experience using them, but over several trips there was a strong feeling that it was almost impossible to drive them at a fixed price, since they always announce the price for the entire golf cart at once.

• Rent a motorbike or bicycle

  

  

  You can rent a motorcycle or bicycle everywhere in the tourist center of the island of Cat Ba Town. Immediately a number of rentals with the lowest prices are on the main street Duong 1/4. The real prices for the landmark are as follows:

  • Rent a motorcycle - from 100 000 VND / 3.8 USD
  • Bike rental - 50,000 VND / 1.9 USD
  • Mountain bike rental - 100 000 VND / 3.8 USD

  Of course, initially they can request 150,000 VND for a motorcycle, but if you want to save money, you need to compare prices and bargain.

  For rental, as a rule, you are not asked to leave documents as collateral, but a photocopy or photo of your passport and an indication of the hotel where you are staying are enough. They don't ask for a license either, and we haven't met any policemen on the road here, but by law you must have an IDP strictly with category A.

  There are at least two large chain gas stations on the island: one in Cat Ba Town, the other in the center of the island. Also, gasoline at speculative prices is sold in the center of Cat Ba town from bottle stations at 50,000 VND for a bottle of one and a half liters. We recommend that we always refuel at large gas stations ourselves.

• Buses

  

  Bus service to Cat Ba is poorly developed, but it is there. Between the main pier Cai Vieng (all ferries from Haiphong arrive here) and Cat Ba Town there is a local bus number 14. Runs every 30 minutes from 05:00 to 19:00, costs 25 000 VND. Here is the schedule in the photo:

  

  Previously, the HQ Green Bus still ran between the city center and the Gia Luan Pier in the north. This is not the pier where ferries from Haiphong arrive, but another pier where ferries from Halong arrive. It was also possible to get to the entrance to the National Park, the cave hospital, the Chung Chang Cave. The fare cost 25,000 VND, went very rarely: at 08:00, 11:00 and 15:00 from Gia Luan Pier, and at 09:00, 12:30 and 14:00 from Cat Ba Town.

  Attention! HQ Green Bus buses are suspended. There is no information about the resumption of work yet.

• Ferries

  The only regular ferry within Catba runs between Ben Beo/Cai Beo Marina in Catba Town (Ben Beo/Cai Beo on the map) and Viet Hai village. This village is the end point of the longest route No. 4 through the National Park, and is also interesting to visit as a tourist attraction. The fare costs 50,000, departs from the city at 11:00 and 16:15, from the village at 07:00 and 13:00. But the problem is that tourists are not put on this ferry. Upon arrival at the port, the local "tourist mafia" will offer you to sail this route at an inflated price of 3 times on a private or excursion boat, and in every possible way they will prevent you from boarding a cruise boat. So we don't recommend counting on this option especially.

What to see in Cat Ba, attractions and entertainment

Cat Ba Island is not about noisy attractions and historical monuments, but about stunning nature and active recreation. Its main gems are the National Park with rich flora and fauna and the picturesque bays of Halong and Lanha, which are introduced in the form of excursions on cruise ships.

What to do on the island? Hikers will find hiking trails here, the most popular of which is an 8—kilometer trek through the jungles of the national park to the authentic village of Viet Hai. You can rent a mountain bike or kayak to explore secluded coves and wild beaches. And the rocky shores of Cat Ba and neighboring islets attract climbers of different levels of training; for this there are tours with all the necessary equipment and an instructor.

You won't have to be bored on Cat Ba in the evening either. In the town there are bars with happy hours, karaoke, massage parlors and even clubs with parties and bars. For those who prefer a calm atmosphere, there are cozy cafes near the fishing port with very affordable prices for fresh draft beer. And now there is also a magnificent promenade with a modern light and music fountain and other free and paid activities for evening walks.

Here are our top attractions and entertainment of Cat Ba, which we definitely recommend to visit:

• Halong Bay
• Lanha Bay
• Cat Ba National Park
• Trung Chang Cave
• Viet Hai Village
• Cave Hospital
• Cat Ba Town Promenade
• Light and music fountain
• Minh Chau cave

Many attractions can be visited by yourself on a rented motorbike, bicycle or taxi. However, the main thing for which people go to Cat Ba – cruises to bays and islands – are available only with water excursions. They can be booked at local agencies, through trusted online sites, or even hire a boat with a guide right at the Ben Beo marina.

And, of course, you can book excursions online on trusted sites with reviews. Prices for similar excursions there are about the same as in street travel agencies:

• 📷 Excursions to Cat Ba on GetYourGuide
• 📷 Excursions to Cat Ba on Trip.com