Ha Long Bay

A bay within the Gulf of Tonkin holding roughly two thousand limestone islands and rocks that rise straight out of the water. This is a drowned karst landscape: the towers and stacks are built of limestones that were eroded over tens of millions of years and then flooded by the sea. Since 1994 the bay has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list, and excursion junks with overnight stays sail across it.

On the map