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VietnamGeneral information about Halong and why to visit
Halong Bay, also called Halong Bay is a famous bay in the Gulf of Tonkin of the South China Sea in northern Vietnam, one of the most famous and visited natural attractions of the country, a miracle of nature. It is located about 170 kilometers from Hanoi. There are more than 3,000 islands, rocks, cliffs and caves in the bay. Its area is about 1500 sq.km. Halong Bay on the interactive map of Vietnam. Halong is also a city, the capital of Quang Ninh Province, to which the bay belongs. The city itself does not contain any tourist attractions and is just a transshipment base for self-traveling tourists and a place to relax on the beaches.
The name of the bay translates from Vietnamese roughly as "The Bay into which the dragons descend (dive)" or "The Bay into which the dragon descended." In 1994, Halong Bay was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, and in 2011 received the title of one of the "7 new Wonders of the world" and was declared a new natural wonder as one of the most beautiful iconic landscapes of Vietnam. The scenery here is really spectacular, especially when your pleasure boat will cruise between the rocks.
But, in fairness, it is worth noting that photos of the bay from advertising booklets and on websites do not always correspond to the reality that you will see here. Unfortunately, there are no traditional sailing boats with specific easily recognizable sails as in the promotional photos. Tourists are carried on large motorboats, and all these traditional boats under sail in advertising are the result of photomontage or staged shooting.
Our opinion is that it's worth visiting Halong Bay, of course, but only once. We visited it three times, and the second time it was boring and uninteresting, not to mention the third.
Almost all the islands of Halong Bay are rocky, many of them are funny little rocky formations. There are thousands of caves of various shapes and sizes in the rocks, filled with stalactites and stalagmites, small waterfalls. The most popular caves are equipped for tourist attractions with the help of illumination with multi-colored lamps, which makes them look like underground palaces.
But before you decide to go to Halong, you should be warned about the numerous incidents that result in the death of tourists. This is due to the low level of safety on old pleasure boats. Many of the tourist pleasure boats have long outlived their days as fishing vessels, and now live a second life after alterations and repairs. The last incident (at the time of writing) occurred in the summer of 2025, when 39 tourists died.
What you will see in Halong Bay
During a cruise around the bay, of course, you will first of all enjoy the views of the picturesque rocky islands from the deck of the cruise boat, but not only that. Also included in the program of cruises is:
- disembarkation on the shore of one of the islands to relax on the beach
- visit Monkey Island, where you can climb the path to the cliff with a viewing platform
- landing on one of the islands to visit the cave, the most famous and beautiful of which is Sung Sot Cave
- disembarkation on Cat Ba Island in a remote part for a walk to the authentic village of Viet Hai
- kayaking through caves and lagoons surrounded by rocks
- floating fishing village
But not all excursions include all these places, so carefully check and check the program of the excursion and the seller. The cheapest tours can include a very long boat trip with rare stops, and it is very boring and monotonous.
We advise you to choose cruises that include at least a visit to one of the dry caves, preferably Sung Sot Cave, landing on the beach and monkey island, a floating village and kayaking. If all this does not happen, then you will just float and miss more.
Weather in Halong and when is the best time to visit
The climate in the bay is tropical, humid, with two seasons: hot rainy summer and dry cold winter.
- The coldest and driest months are December-February. The sky is clear, there is little precipitation, but the temperature can drop to 10 degrees, and the minimum record is only 1.7 degrees.
- The rainiest months - from June to September with maximum precipitation in August. At this time, there may be unpleasant weather surprises, storms, and in general, in the rain and with clouds, you will not see much.
- The most favorite months are April-May and September-October. If possible, then choose this time.
However, the bay can be visited at any time of the year, and excursions there never stop. But, as in general in the northern part of Vietnam, you should be prepared for low temperatures during the winter months. Of course, there are no frosts here, but given the proximity to the ocean and the piercing winds, you are unlikely to experience much pleasure from being here from December to February inclusive. Sometimes at this time at night the temperature can drop to 10 degrees Celsius, although during the day it stays at least 20.
Since March, the temperature begins to improve and it is already getting hot enough, although the water may not be warm enough yet and the bathing season is just beginning to open. Although, in general, the weather is already quite favorable for visiting the bay. In April, we can safely talk about the beach season in Halong.
In June-September, the weather is very hot, but there may be torrential rains, which, fortunately, are most often not prolonged.
The end of the beach season can be observed already in November.
Seasons in Halong by month, when is the best time to go
| Jan | Feb | March | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
*the best time to visit;
acceptable time to visit;
not recommended time to visit
Current weather in Halong and forecast for the near future:
How to visit Halong Bay
Now we will tell you all about how Halong Bay is visited on its own or with excursions, and what you need to know before visiting:
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What you need to know about excursions and what they include
For tourists, the bay is mostly interesting not as a resort for long-term accommodation, but as a short-term excursion destination, usually 1-2 days. These are sightseeing boat cruises with a group of other tourists or you can hire a ship just for yourself. The most popular cruises take place during the day, but there are options with 1, 3 or 3 overnight stays on board.
It is also important to note that in addition to Halong Bay, there is also Lanha Bay. The latter is also very picturesque and almost as good as Halong, and some excursions include both at once. Lanha is closer to Cat Ba Island. Therefore, "Halong + Lanha" excursions are usually offered from Halong, and "Lanha + Halong" is offered from Cat Ba Island. This may be a little confusing, but in fact there is almost no difference, only the route and points of visit are slightly different.
The standard program of excursions includes sailing by boat along the route between picturesque cliffs, disembarking to visit the beach, caves, monkey island. If you have an extended route along Lanha Bay, then there may also be a landing on Cat Ba Island in the national park area to visit the authentic village of Viet Hai, but as a rule this is included only in individual one-day tours from Cat Ba Island or multi-day from Halong. Additionally, almost all programs include kayaking through caves to the lagoon. It also includes meals on board (lunch) even on day trips, drinks for an additional fee.
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Where to buy excursions
You don't have to go to Halong City or Cat Ba Island on your own. Excursions with a transfer are widely offered in all travel agencies of Hanoi, and this is the best option. You will be taken to the pier, put on a boat in an organized manner, and then returned back to Hanoi. In this format, there are day trips and multi-day trips with overnight stays on a boat.
Prices for tours to Halong in Hanoi travel agency Day trips to Hanoi street agencies cost from $ 28/person. This price includes everything you need, but you may be charged an additional fee for renting a kayak. Drinks and water during lunch are also not included, but you can take them with you. When buying, you can specify what is included and what is not.
Two-day tours (with one overnight stay on a boat) from $ 85/person, three days from $ 130. Moreover, these prices have hardly changed for many years.
You can also buy excursions online, including even paying with a bank card of the Russian Federation, on these sites:
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How to visit Halong Bay on your own
In our opinion, an independent trip to Halong Bay makes sense only if you want to stay in Halong or Cat Ba Island for a few days to relax. If the goal is only the Bay itself, then choose a ready–made excursion from Hanoi. It will be cheaper, more convenient and faster.
If you are determined to do everything yourself, you will have to spend a few days. After all, you will have to spend the whole day just moving to one side and the other. That is, it will not be possible to go back and forth on your own during the day and swim around the bay.
The starting point for cruise boats on Halong is two points: Halong City and Cat Ba Island. Which of these two places to choose, there is no fundamental difference, you will see everything is about the same. Therefore, choose according to your plans.
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Halong Bay from Cat Ba Island
Our choice is Cat Ba Island, because it is a resort and an island with beaches, and there is something else to see and do in addition to the cruise. We have a detailed guide to Catba, everything is there.
From Hanoi, Sapa, Ninh Binh and other cities of Vietnam, ready-made transfers with ferry crossing and delivery to the hotel are sold on Cat Ba, and this is how we recommend getting there. You can also get to Haiphong by rented transport, taxi, train and buses, but all this further with a ferry or cable car. You can read more about how to get to Kaba in our instructions.
When you arrive at Cat Ba, you can buy a tour here at any street travel agency or in hotels (price from 700,000 VND / rate temporary unavailable USD, see the currency of Vietnam and its exchange rate), or come to the Ben Beo pier yourself and there you will be offered individual tours at a negotiated price.
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Halong Bay from Halong City
There are also beaches in Halong City, but in our opinion there is nothing else to see and do except cruise. Although, in fairness, Halong has been developing very steeply in recent years and is being built up, turning from a beach holiday destination for local tourists mainly from Hanoi.
As well as on Cat Ba, hotels and agencies can buy multi-day cruises and one-day cruises, there are different programs, including Halong and Lanha. By the way, excursions from Hanoi are brought here.
To get to Halong City, it is best to take a tourist bus. Most often these are minibuses from Hanoi, but there are also large sleeping buses from Sapa, Ninh Binh, Hue, Da Nang, Phong Nya and other major cities and resorts. Tickets for them are sold in hotels and street travel agencies, in the offices of bus companies. Can be bought online on the site 12go.asia and others.
A cheaper option is to get there by regular intercity bus. Such buses depart from the bus stations in Hanoi Long Bien, Gia Lam Station, My Dinh or Luong Yen to Halong City. Buses depart every 15-30 minutes and cost about 100,000 VND. Buses are very slow, make a lot of stops, so do not expect to get there faster than 5 hours. In Halong, buses arrive at the Bai Chay Bus Station.
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Hotels and where to stay to visit Halong Bay
You can stay in Halong or on Cat Ba Island. For a long stay, Cat Ba Island is much more interesting. The island is beautiful, has several beaches, a national reserve, and a developed tourist area. However, there is also an inconvenience – it is quite far to get to the hotel zone from the main pier.
It is not so interesting to stay in Halong, since there is almost nothing to do in the city. Most cruises around the bay are organized from here, so it's worth staying in Halong just to spend the night. It is best to stay in the area of Bai Chai beach. There is another great place - Tuan Chau Island, connected to the mainland by a bridge. The island has a great beach and several hotels, most of which are obscenely expensive.
You can find and book accommodation in Halong on these reliable, trusted sites or through the search form:
- 🛌 Search for hotels in Halong on Trip.com (👍 Mir maps work)
- 🛌 Hotels in Halong on Yandex.travel
- 🛌 Search for hotels on Ostrovok.ru
Halong map with hotels
Useful information
Alcoholic beverages. For alcohol brought with you or bought not on the ship (in floating stores) during the cruise, the so—called "cork right" is often required - about 10,000 VND per bottle. If you don't want to pay, buy alcohol in advance and bring it on board secretly :-). A bottle of beer on the ship costs about 40,000 VND.
Photos. The best, simply mystical, photos of Halong are obtained at dawn or dusk. But keep in mind that the sun here is "Falling" below the horizon at almost right angles, and the time of dawn or sunset is very short.
Diving. In addition to the natural beauties of the bay and caves, some tourists find good diving from the sides of ships in the waters of Halong Bay. For this purpose, special excursions are organized from Hanoi.
Wiring in a floating village. When you arrive at the floating village, you will be invited to go by boat or kayak to the cave. At the same time, you will first be told that the walk will cost one or two dollars, but when you get into the boat, you will be charged five or more dollars. Therefore, check the price and pay before boarding the boat, so as not to give the Vietnamese the opportunity to deceive you once again.