Ha Long

Ha Long is two different things that are easy to confuse. There is Ha Long Bay, almost two thousand limestone islands and rocks in the Gulf of Tonkin, a UNESCO site since 1994 (in 2023 the protected zone was extended to take in the Cat Ba archipelago). And there is the town of Ha Long on the shore, a large industrial and resort centre which for most travellers remains the point where you board a boat. The sense of the trip lies almost entirely on the water, since the bay cannot be seen from land.

How the sightseeing works

The bay is seen from a cruise, either a day trip or with a night on board, and the difference between the two is fundamental.

• A day trip means about six hours on the water, one cave, one island and sometimes kayaks. It covers only the nearest and busiest part of the bay. From Hanoi it works out as a long and tiring day.
• One night on board is the basic format. You get the sunset and the sunrise among the rocks, once the day boats have left.
• Two nights means routes that lead into the further reaches, where there are noticeably fewer vessels. If the bay is the main goal of your trip, take this option.

The programmes are almost identical everywhere: a cave, an island with a viewpoint, kayaks, a swim, a cooking class and evening squid fishing. What differs is the vessel, the route and the density of people.

What the route takes in

• Sung Sot Cave ("the Cave of Surprises") on Bo Hon island is the largest and most visited in the bay: chambers up to some thirty metres high, coloured floodlighting and laid-out walkways. The scale is impressive, but do not expect intimacy. The Thien Cung and Dau Go caves are closer to the shore and are part of the short routes.
• Ti Top island is named after the Soviet cosmonaut German Titov, who came here with Ho Chi Minh in 1962. There is a beach and a staircase of roughly four hundred steps up to the viewpoint. The view from the top is picture-postcard, and so is the queue on the stairs.
• The floating villages, Cua Van among them. The inhabitants were resettled onshore, and today these serve as an exhibit and a place to hire boats.
• The Lan Ha and Bai Tu Long bays are neighbouring waters with the same landscape but less traffic. Lan Ha belongs to Cat Ba and often wins on the feel of the place.

The town of Ha Long

If you are sleeping ashore before or after the cruise, the town has enough to fill an evening.

• The Long Tien Pagoda at the foot of Bai Tho mountain in the Hon Gai district is the largest temple in town, built in 1941. It is a working temple and crowded on holidays.
• Bai Tho mountain ("the Mountain of Poems") carries old inscriptions on the rock; the climb is closed from time to time on safety grounds.
• On the Bai Chay side there is a promenade, a cable car, a Ferris wheel and amusement parks, all resort development of recent years.

Getting there and when to go

It is about 165 kilometres from Hanoi, and since the expressway opened the journey takes some two and a half hours. Buses and minibuses run, picking up from hotels in Hanoi. Many cruises include a transfer, which is usually more convenient, because boarding is tied to the departure time.

• October to November and March to April are the best time: a calm sea, tolerable humidity and decent visibility.
• July to September is hot and good for swimming, but this is the typhoon season; sailings are cancelled by order of the authorities, and it happens regularly.
• January to March is cool, with frequent fog and drizzle; the rocks look mysterious in the haze, but the panoramas suffer.

Allow a spare day, since sailings are halted whenever there is a storm warning.

How much time to allow

One day is enough only to have seen the bay, and that is the bare minimum. The standard and reasonable compromise is two days with one night on a junk. Three days with two nights open up the further routes, where there are noticeably fewer people. Four or five days are worth allowing if you add the island of Cat Ba with its national park and Lan Ha bay.

Who will not enjoy it

Ha Long stopped being a quiet place long ago: in high season there are hundreds of vessels in the bay at once, jams of groups at the caves, and the programme on board is timed to the minute. Anyone who takes badly to rolling seas or to the group format should think twice. The water is not for snorkelling, being on the murky side with practically no coral. And bear in mind that the town of Ha Long itself is an ordinary Vietnamese city with a port and building sites, and there is no resort romance on the shore.