Ha Long Bay in the north of Vietnam

One of the most famous and certainly most beautiful destinations in Vietnam is Ha Long Bay in the Gulf of Tonkin, east of Hanoi. Unfortunately, the weather makes a big difference to the beauty of Ha Long Bay. And this is particularly unreliable in the winter months. When the sun is shining and the sky is blue, the light gray rocky ridges covered with green carpets of bushes form a wonderful contrast in the turquoise sea. If the weather is rather hazy and the sky is a European November grey, this picture-book impression loses much of its color.

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A three-day tour to Ha Long Bay

Organized tours, e.g. from Hanoi, are picked up at the hotel or booking office by coach and make a stopover at a “marble-cutting factory” halfway along the route, where toilets and a quick snack are on offer. Of course, they also try to sell the guests products from the factory or other typical Vietnamese goods. The “cruise terminal” of Ha Long City is reached at midday. It really is set up like a classic passenger terminal in a large port.

On board a Ha Long cruiser

From there, the groups are taken by tender to the anchored ships. The cruise then sets off in the direction of the rocky islets. All guests are given their cabins and soon afterwards lunch is served in the saloon. The food is really plentiful and the small crew on board make every effort to offer a varied menu. Vegetarian meals are also usually included, so it’s best to make a request when booking.

Meanwhile, the boat chugs through the bay at a maximum of 2 knots. In the end, it is barely 6 nautical miles to the anchorage for the night, with the town of Ha Long still in sight. There are between 20 and thirty tourist boats in this anchorage in the evening, so you should be prepared for a special form of mass tourism. On the other hand… how could it be, when there must be around 30 buses on their way to Ha Long Bay every morning from Hanoi alone. From the anchorage, guests are taken by dinghy to two or three “attractions” – e.g. a cave in the karst rock with huge underground halls.

Karst cave and kayaking in a rocky lagoon

As basically all the tourists from all the boats go to the cave, there is a huge crowd at the entrance and sometimes you can only continue after queuing for a few minutes. But the cave is impressive due to its size and the relatively young stalactite structures. The imagination of the “tour guides” often exceeds that of the guests in recognizing figures and animals in individual rock formations. “Rattling is part of the business”, something that has long been understood in Vietnam.

After the cave, the dinghy chugs along with the collected guests to a floating jetty for kayaks, where everyone changes and can kayak under a rock into a bay for 3/4 of an hour. This rocky cauldron is enclosed on all sides, can only be reached through the cave and gives an impression of the playfulness of nature in Ha Long Bay. Families of monkeys frolic on the shore. Unfortunately, my pants were wet after this kayak tour and needed a temporary wash because of the seawater. The design of the kayak meant that any water that got in tended to collect on the seat of the person behind.

Later, the tender takes the group back to the mother ship and that’s basically the excursion program for the first day. At dinner, the cooking crew really go all out again. For many of the “cruise providers”, the program also includes preparing own spring rolls for immediate consumption. The rest of the evening is left to the guests, although a bartender will be happy to mix up all the drinks you want (at extra cost, of course).

The next morning, guests are woken up at around 7:00 a.m. and invited to breakfast. If you’ve made too much of the bartender the night before, you’ll have to make quite an effort. Fortunately, coffee is available early as a flat rate at no extra charge.

The extra tour for three-day guests: caves and pearl farm

A cave to crawl into

Then everyone gets back into the tender. This is where the chaff divides…. Those who have booked three days should get a daypack ready before or after breakfast, as this (usually small) group now leaves the boat until late afternoon. Various “multi-day travellers” from different boats are grouped together on one boat and are given an extra program from here on. This includes another cave – this time a narrow, small one without artificial lighting, so it is advisable to take a flashlight with you.

The guide has a lamp with him, most of the others make do with their smartphone light. The ceiling height is so low in places that we have to crawl through the corridors on our knees.Behind it is another large room – only accessible through the narrow corridor.Not for claustrophobic adventurers. In another place, there is a gap like a balcony over the sea, so that you can look into another bay.

Later, kayaking is offered again. A piece of cave here too. Behind it is a beach – if you are prepared and have a towel and a change of clothes with you, you can go swimming in good weather. There’s plenty of time, most people just sit in the sun for an hour (if it’s shining… Ha Long weather!).

Jewelry from the sea – the pearl farm

Then the journey continues at a snail’s pace through rocky canals until we reach a pearl farm in a spacious bay. There is a short introduction to the cultivation of artificial pearls, which is very interesting. The process was developed by a Japanese man at the end of the 19th century. A young girl at the work table opens a shell and “inoculates” it so that hopefully a pearl will grow later. The success rate is only about 30%. A fresh pearl is presented in another “mature” mussel. Floating on the bay are frames from which hundreds of shells hang. It takes years for a pearl of a respectable size to grow in an inoculated mussel.

Of course, everyone can then buy as many earrings, pearl necklaces, finger rings etc. in the huge sales room as their credit card account will allow. Yes, out here, on this offshore platform in Ha Long Bay, you can even pay by credit card. The trip then continues to complete the round. And depending on the boat, step by step guests are taken back to their “mother ships”.

Between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. we reach our steamer again, which is moored in the same place as the day before. The only difference is that the two-day guests have been replaced and are still “kayaking wet pants”. For us few three-day guests, the day’s program is over and we doze on the “sun deck”. Later, we have our first meeting with the new short excursionists and dinner.

Ti-Top viewpoint on the third day and return journey

In the footsteps of the second cosmonaut

The program on the third day (for 2-day guests on the 2nd) is even shorter. Wake up as usual at 7:00 am. Then a quick dinghy ride to the “Ti-Top”, a rocky peak where Ho Chi Minh once invited the world’s second cosmonaut, German Titow. (At the age of 26, German Titow is still the youngest person ever to have visited space).

This “viewpoint” can be reached by climbing many, many steps… thanks to the free coffee with breakfast. As the island has a small beach (even with a lifeguard and baywatch!), anyone who wants to is allowed a quick dip.

Back to Hanoi

And we are already being urged to return to the mother ship. Packing is the order of the day there – the rooms are cleaned for the next guests during the return journey. Meanwhile, the anchor is weighed and the short but slow return journey begins. Lunch is already served at around 11:00! Sumptuous, but far too early. Before noon, we are back in the bay of the port of Ha Long (city) and are sailed to the large passenger terminal. There we sit in the hall for over an hour waiting for the bus from Hanoi, which brings new cruisers and takes us back to the metropolis on the Red River. On the way back, the bus also makes a stop at the toilet/ a marble cutting shop.

This is roughly what the three-day program looks like, which is offered for 130 – 170 dollars (depending on negotiating skills and demand). Let everyone judge for themselves whether this short impression on the edge of Ha Long Bay is enough for them or whether they would like to invest more time, but also more of their own organizational effort. Incidentally, those who had booked one of the two nights with a stay on Cat Ba Island were more or less persuaded to stay on the boat. The island of Cat Ba was closed at short notice at that time due to Corona.

You need a watercraft in any case

If you want to explore Ha Long Bay on your own, you will still need to book a boat tour. Only then on site as day tours. Because without a boat trip, the experience is more of a view from afar. The day tour boats from the Ha Long passenger terminal will more or less do the program, which is offered as a two-day tour with an overnight stay, in one day. No problem in terms of time, as they can leave earlier – the approx. 3-hour journey from Hanoi is no longer necessary. Alternative offers from Cat Ba Island might be a good addition. With more time and suitable equipment, I could also imagine longer kayak tours in the island landscape.

Travel tips for Ha Long Bay

Discover Ha Long Bay – individually or organized?

You can find more information about traveling to Vietnam and an overview of attractions in the north of the country in the article “Stipvisite in North Vietnam”

Ha Long Bay is situated in the North east of Vietnam at the Gulf of Tonkin.

One option is to make your own journey by bus or train. Ha Long (city) is one of the places reached by the Vietnamese railroad. However, it is much easier to travel by bus – a large number of public and private buses run throughout the day, both as scheduled services and with tourist offers.

Individually to Ha Long by public bus

Individual travelers usually try to spend part of their time in Ha Long City and travel by tourist boat to the rocky landscape and then to Cat Ba Island. This is done from Ha Long. However, the majority of travellers come to the bay on organized tours from Hanoi. If you only have two weeks on a short trip or a lot planned in Vietnam, I would also advise you to do this – despite all the ifs and buts that I have already described above. The options for organizing a really great Ha Long experience on your own cost time and are limited or fall back on parts of the tour offers – such as the tourist boats that sail through the bay.

Organized excursions from Hanoi

Many excursions from Hanoi are now only one-day trips* without an overnight stay. Have travel habits changed to such an extent that people really only want to do everything in one day under total stress? That means getting up very early and a long bus ride in the morning and back late at night. Because the bus takes between 2.5 and 3.5 hours from Hanoi to Ha Long. It would all be far too stressful for me and instead of a travel experience, it would just be a quasi-Olympic points chase.

The better offers are standardized 2-day* or 3-day* tours, i.e. with one or two overnight stays. I also recommend the two overnight stays for short travelers so that you get something out of the tour. The second day of the three is the most beautiful, as half of the other two days are pure bus rides anyway.

The weather in Ha Long Bay