Vietnam

Ha Long Bay

Two thousand limestone islands in a shallow green sea, and a tourism machine built around them — the difference between a good day and a wasted one is almost entirely which water you are on.

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Ha Long Bay

Three bays, one seascape, very different days

What everyone means by Ha Long Bay is a drowned limestone plateau — roughly 1,600 islands, most of them uninhabited towers with vertical sides and trees growing out of the top. The rock is the same across the whole area. What differs, and differs enormously, is how many other boats are in the frame. Ha Long proper takes the great majority of traffic and the main channels can carry a hundred vessels on a February morning. Bai Tu Long, to the northeast, takes fewer. Lan Ha Bay, in the south under Cat Ba island, takes the fewest and has small beaches at the foot of the cliffs, which the northern bays largely do not.

The second variable is the boat. Cabins range from functional to genuinely comfortable, and the number of cabins matters more than the fittings: twenty cabins means twenty kayaks going into the same cave at the same time. We would rather put people on a smaller boat in a quieter bay than a larger one with a better bathroom, and that is usually the recommendation whatever the budget.

A traditional junk boat with sails silhouetted against the sunset among limestone karsts in Ha Long Bay.

Two women paddle a blue kayak on emerald water beneath forested limestone cliffs in Lan Ha Bay.

The main bay · Lan Ha Bay

Shape of the trip

Why the day trip is the wrong shape

A day trip from Hanoi is five hours of driving for about four hours afloat, and those four hours fall between eleven and three, which is exactly when every other day boat is out. The overnight exists for one reason: between four in the afternoon and nine the next morning the bay empties. Anchored in a side channel at dusk with nothing moving is a different place from the one in the brochure photographs, and it is the only version worth the journey.

One night is enough for most people and covers the good hours at both ends.
Two nights gets you further out, into water the single-night boats do not have time to reach.
Cat Ba island is the land alternative — a national park, a rough hill road and no schedule at all.
Kayaking is the best hour of the trip. The cave tours are crowded and none of them needs more than twenty minutes.

Seasons

The months, and the days that get cancelled

October to December is the best window: dry air, flat water and visibility that the rest of the year does not offer. January to March is the bay at its greyest, with a low sea mist that can sit for a week — atmospheric in photographs, disappointing when you wanted the horizon. Summer is hot and clear enough but it is also typhoon season from July to September, and the harbour master closes the bay outright when a storm is forecast. That closure is not negotiable and no operator can work around it, which is why we keep a spare night in Hanoi on either side of a summer boat rather than booking a tight connection.

Misty limestone karst towers rise above green water in Ha Long Bay.

Ha Long Bay, November

Transfers

Getting there, and what it costs in hours

The expressway from Hanoi changed this journey. It is now about 2.5 hours to the Ha Long or Tuan Chau piers and around 3 hours to Got pier for the Lan Ha and Cat Ba boats. Boarding is around midday in both cases, so you leave Hanoi after breakfast and are on the water by lunch. Disembarking is mid-morning on day two, back in Hanoi by early afternoon — which means the whole excursion costs you a single night out of the itinerary.

Hanoi to Ha Long pier2.5 hours, 170 km

Hanoi to Got pier for Lan HaAbout 3 hours

Bay to Hanoi airportRoughly 3 hours; we never plan an international flight for the same afternoon

Bay to Ninh BinhAround 3.5 hours, which makes a neat loop that avoids doubling back through Hanoi

Wooden boats dock beside limestone karsts rising from the emerald waters of Ha Long Bay. — Ha Long Bay

Onward

Where it sits in a longer route

Ha Long is a one-night insert rather than a destination in its own right, and it almost always attaches to Hanoi. The two orders that work are Hanoi – bay – Sa Pa, or Hanoi – Sa Pa – bay, and we prefer the first: the boat is more enjoyable before two days of walking than after. Onward from the bay, everything goes back through Hanoi — the flight south to Hue or Da Nang, or the flight west to Luang Prabang. There is no border here and no crossing to make; the bay is the part of a northern trip where nothing is being decided except which channel you anchor in.

One night on the water.

Plan My Trip

Tell us your dates

We will tell you which bay is quiet in your month, and how many cabins is too many.

Plan My Trip

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

Ha Long Bay or Lan Ha Bay?

Lan Ha, in almost every case. The rock is the same, the traffic is a fraction of the main bay, and there are small beaches under the cliffs. The trade is a slightly longer drive from Hanoi — about three hours instead of two and a half.

Is one night enough?

For most people, yes: a single night covers the late afternoon and the early morning, which are the only two periods the bay is quiet. Two nights is for travellers who want to reach water the one-night boats cannot get to and back from in time.

What happens if a typhoon closes the bay?

Nothing sails. The harbour master closes it and every operator is grounded, usually for one to three days. Between July and September we leave a spare night in the plan so that a closure costs you a boat rather than a flight home.

Journey ideas