Ha Long Bay 

Overview:   

The jew­el of Viet­nam – and one of the cra­dles of mankind the stun­ning Hạ Long Bay stetch­es for more than 600 sq metres and is home to emer­ald green waters, sparkling beach­es, majes­tic caves, tow­er­ing moun­tains and thou­sands of giant lime­stone islands that come togeth­er to make this nat­ur­al par­adise. With for­ma­tions that date back 20 mil­lion years – and home to civil­i­sa­tion for thou­sands of years, the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay is twinned with fas­ci­nat­ing cul­ture and is home to world class kayak­ing and one of the most stun­ning sun­rise and sun­sets on the plan­et – as the entire bay lights up in a kalei­do­scope of mag­nif­i­cent colours which tru­ly reflects the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is Hạ Long Bay.  

Found in the emer­ald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin in the north of Viet­nam just a few hours away from the hus­tle of Hanoi – the beau­ti­ful bay is known local­ly as the “Bay of Descend­ing Drag­ons” with the mys­tic and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty around it enhanced by the leg­end that the bay was formed when a Drag­on, sent by the gods to pro­tect the peo­ple of Viet­nam, descend­ed and dropped trea­sure and jew­els into the great Bay which formed the many beau­ti­ful islands that we know today,  

Eas­i­ly explored on a vari­ety of cruise shops – and with sin­gle and mul­ti-day explo­rations – you’ll find no short­age of fun and beau­ty on Hạ Long Bay – with the emer­ald, green waters being both a divers and kayak­ers par­adise – as the many caves house rare marine life and stun­ning scenery. It’s also a fan­tas­tic place to relax on white sandy beach­es, explore islands – and for those who have the sta­mi­na ascend moun­tain top sum­mits where you are treat­ed to stun­ning panoram­ic views of the great bay below you.  

Still home to rough­ly 1500 peo­ple who live on float­ing vil­lages that are eas­i­ly explorable and who wel­come explor­ers to join in their fish­ing expe­di­tions using tech­niques that have been passed down through gen­er­a­tions, you’ll find the expe­ri­ence of sail­ing through the many islands – some of which resem­ble icon­ic ani­mal shapes — a tru­ly peace­ful expe­ri­ence. With the beau­ty of the islands only topped by the incred­i­ble sun­set – that see’s the whole bay trans­form into a glow­ing par­adise, that makes for a per­fect way to cap off a day spent explor­ing the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is Hạ Long Bay. 

Where:  

The jew­el of Viet­nam, the mag­nif­i­cent par­adise of Hạ Long Bay is found in the north of Viet­nam with the near­est major city being Hanoi – with the won­der being found in the Gulf of Tonkin on the edge of the stun­ning Quang Ninh province. 

Getting there:  

With Hạ Long Bay being locat­ed so close to the bus­tle of the city of Hanoi – access to this majes­tic nat­ur­al par­adise is incred­i­bly easy and straight­for­ward.  

To get to the won­der, first­ly you’ll have to get your­self to the city of Hanoi – and to do this you can either take the long way round by either tak­ing the long train or dri­ving by scoot­er from Ho Chin Minh City all the way up to Hanoi – or for a much sim­pler and direct route tak­ing a flight either domes­ti­cal­ly or inter­na­tion­al­ly to the mod­ern Van Don  or Noi Bai Inter­na­tion­al Air­ports – both of which offer direct access into the heart of down­town Hanoi – from where you can begin the approach to Hạ Long Bay.  

Hav­ing got your­self to Hanoi – you again have mul­ti­ple options to reach Hạ Long Bay to begin your explo­ration – the eas­i­est of which is to book a tour that includes pick-up from a hotel in Hanoi – and which will see you eas­i­ly trans­port­ed from the steps of your hotel all the way to Hạ Long Bay har­bour on a 3–4‑hour dri­ve and onto a boat to begin your tour.  

How­ev­er for those who are on a bit of a bud­get – or who fan­cy a self-explo­ration of the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay – you’ll want to make your own way to the har­bour – and for this you have mul­ti­ple options, with our rec­om­mend­ed being to book a mini bus – which should save you a cou­ple of pen­nies and which can be board­ed at the main bus ter­mi­nal of Hanoi – look for the one’s marked Hạ Long Bay- and which while may add on an hour or two will see you safe­ly arrive at the har­bour and hope­ful­ly save you a bit of mon­ey on the way.  

Along­side the mini bus­es you’ll also find a range of coach and motor­cy­cle or scoot­er options avail­able as well – which while hav­ing the poten­tial to save mon­ey – also car­ry with them the risk of being uncom­fort­able or see­ing you brave the Viet­namese traf­fic which at the best of times can be chaot­ic.  

So hav­ing got your­self to the har­bour of Hạ Long Bay either through a tour – or through your own organ­i­sa­tion – it will then be time to explore the bay – and the best and most prac­ti­cal way to do this is on a ship – with there being mul­ti­ple prices and com­fort ranges and mul­ti­ple tour dura­tions avail­able.  

While all tours take you across the bay – we’d strong­ly rec­om­mend a mul­ti-day tour which will allow you to expe­ri­ence the mag­i­cal sun­rise and sun­set of Hạ Long Bay – and give you more chance to explore the won­ders of this par­adise, and you’ll find three main cat­e­gories of cruise shop to do this – either on a junk boat tour, a mid-lev­el com­fort cruise and a lux­u­ry cruise.  

While the lev­el of com­fort and lux­u­ry (and cost) varies based on the cruise you choose – what is guar­an­teed is that once you set sail and begin to explore the stun­ning won­der of Hạ Long Bay you’re for in an absolute­ly incred­i­ble jour­ney on this stun­ning par­adise.  

Best time to Visit: 

The enjoy­ment of a trip to Hạ Long Bay can real­ly be made or bro­ken by con­di­tions you get – with this incred­i­ble par­adise caught in the dry warm sea­son offer­ing stun­ning scenery, clear blue skies and gor­geous sun­sets – where as the rainy and trop­i­cal storm sea­son offers clouds, damp and wet con­di­tions.  

For this rea­son we’d strong­ly advise tim­ing your vis­it to Hạ Long Bay in the dry warm sea­son which is in the months of July – August – where you can expect blue skies and warm days a plen­ty – although scat­tered with the risk of the occa­sion­al show­er. 

How­ev­er, this warm sea­son also brings with it intense crowds – and see’s traf­fic build upon the Gulf of Tonkin as cruise ships flock to this nat­ur­al beau­ty. So, for this rea­son we’d advise giv­ing con­sid­er­a­tion to the peri­od of late Octo­ber – mid Novem­ber for a trip to Hạ Long Bay – where the tem­per­a­ture will be cool­er, the prices low­er and so long as you check the fore­cast in advance you may hit some incred­i­ble clear and beau­ti­ful days with min­i­mal crowds.  

Regard­less of where you opt for peak sea­son or the late autumn, we’d strong­ly advise avoid­ing the peri­od between Decem­ber – April – where the days are fog­gy, chilly and rain is fre­quent – which can real­ly take the edge of your trip to this incred­i­ble won­der.  

Explore:   

A place of myth and immense beau­ty – the tow­er­ing more than 3000 islands that make up the won­der of Hạ Long Bay are an explorer’s par­adise. With the beau­ti­ful islands, which descend deep into the emer­ald sea and crys­tal-clear waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, being home not only to some stun­ning marine life, but a series of spec­tac­u­lar grot­tos, caves, beach­es, forests and even some of the world’s most unique cities and bars.  

 Eas­i­ly explorable on a cruise ship – or on the more tra­di­tion­al junk boat, the beau­ty of Ha long bay is awe-inspir­ing dur­ing the day, before turn­ing into a tran­quil and roman­tic par­adise at night – as explor­ers relax beneath the glis­ten­ing star filled night that is per­haps only eclipsed by the stun­ning morn­ing sun­rise or evening sun­set where the lime­stone cliffs glow and reflect against the beau­ti­ful waters of Hạ Long Bay. 

With incred­i­ble spots for kayak­ing, rock climb­ing, trekking, sail­ing, swim­ming and hun­dreds of incred­i­ble stun­ning land­scapes and beau­ty spots – there tru­ly is some­thing for every­one at this incred­i­ble and mag­nif­i­cent won­der.  

Below is our guide for the best way to explore and the things not to be missed when cruis­ing around the awe-inspir­ing and pic­turesque Hạ Long Bay: 

Cruising Hạ Long Bay:

A stun­ning won­der, Ha Long Bay is undoubt­ed­ly best explored by sea – with there being a range of tours, trips and cruis­es avail­able to explor­ers.  

So hav­ing got your­self to Hanoi, the next step you’ll need to decide on before explor­ing this won­der, is the method and dura­tion that you want to explore Hạ Long Bay by, with the fol­low­ing three cruis­ing options avail­able:  

Traditional Junk Boat: 

Our pick for a tru­ly adven­tur­ous and tra­di­tion­al expe­ri­ence on Hạ Long Bay – the Junk Boat is a mod­ern boat – decked out to look like a tra­di­tion­al fish­ing boat from Viet­nam from years gone by and designed to give explor­ers a rus­tic and vin­tage expe­ri­ence of explor­ing Hạ Long Bay.  

For those going by Junk Boat, you can expect a cosy inte­ri­or with an open deck on the top – which makes for an incred­i­ble way to cap­ture stun­ning panoram­ic pho­tos of the lime­stone cliffs and which more than com­pen­sates for the occa­sion­al rocky expe­ri­ence avail­able on the Junk Boats.  

Tra­di­tion­al­ly tak­ing no more than 12 pas­sen­gers, Junk Boats are now equipped with all the mod­ern con­ve­niences – and you have the option of both day tours – or our rec­om­men­da­tion of a mul­ti­ple day tour which allows you to sleep either with­in or on top the Junk Boat  — for an incred­i­ble expe­ri­ence under the stars.  

The undoubt­ed pick for trav­ellers on a bud­get, you can expect a day trip to come in at $75 usd and a mul­ti-day trip to come in at $200 usd — $300usd – and for those who do opt for a junk boat we’d advise book­ing one that comes with free trans­port from Hanoi to take the stress of get­ting to the bay out of your trip.  

Cruise Ship:

For those who aren’t tak­en by the tra­di­tion­al junk boat – and who want to explore the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay in com­fort and leisure – par­tic­u­lar­ly for those who don’t fan­cy sleep­ing in a cramped envi­ron­ment of the Junk Boat then the next best and com­fort­able option is to explore Hạ Long Bay in a cruise shop.  

A depar­ture from the tra­di­tion­al cruise ship – a cruise ship at Hạ Long Bay con­sists of a fast engine pow­ered small boat that can weave between the islands, whist fea­tur­ing high stan­dard ameni­ties, din­ing areas and enough room to cater for all adven­ture activ­i­ties – includ­ing scu­ba div­ing and kayak­ing, whilst offer­ing stun­ning views from the stern of the ship.  

Depart­ing ear­ly from Hanoi, you can expect cruise shop tours to be booked up ear­ly in advance and see you trav­el with a larg­er crew and around 20–30 pas­sen­gers, with prices nor­mal­ly start­ing from around $250 usd and stretch­ing up to $400 usd for a mul­ti­ple day trip – which will allow you take in the incred­i­ble sun­rise and sun­set and sleep beneath the stars in ulti­mate com­fort.  

Luxury Cruise:

For those who want to tru­ly take in the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay in ulti­mate com­fort and take in some of the more unique and stun­ning panoram­ic views then a lux­u­ry cruise – which see’s you sail across the beau­ti­ful Hạ Long Bay in a top-of-the-line cruise lin­er is the best option.  

Best booked depart­ing from Hanoi – from where you can expect a pick­up in an air-con­di­tioned com­fort bus, you’ll find your­self cruis­ing round the tens of hun­dreds of islands on a lin­er that offers you 360 panoram­ic views of this stun­ning nat­ur­al won­der – with the boat includ­ing top of the line facil­i­ties – with some includ­ing Jacuzzi’s and spa’s for the ulti­mate com­fort while look­ing out over the lime­stone cliffs of Hạ Long Bay.  

Com­ing ful­ly equipped with all the nec­es­sary equip­ment for adven­ture trav­el – includ­ing scu­ba div­ing, kayak­ing and rock climb­ing, most lux­u­ry cruis­es along Hạ Long Bay will typ­i­cal­ly come in at $800 usd – $1000 usd and be a mul­ti-day expe­ri­ence – with each evening fea­tur­ing an open bar – even on the boat itself or at one of Hạ Long Bay’s float­ing bars which makes for an incred­i­ble spot to toast the majes­tic Ha Long sun­set, before tuck­ing in for a stun­ning night before the stars in this mag­nif­i­cent won­der.  

Sleeping under the stars of Hạ Long Bay:

Regard­less of the qual­i­ty and com­fort that you opt for, one of the options that is avail­able for all explor­ers across all three of the cruise options is the oppor­tu­ni­ty to spend the night sleep­ing beneath the peace­ful stars in the majes­tic Hạ Long Bay – which in our view is an absolute must do expe­ri­ence to ful­ly appre­ci­ate and expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay.  

Giv­ing you an oppor­tu­ni­ty to real­ly con­nect with this stun­ning nat­ur­al won­der, a chance to sleep under the stars is avail­able across either a sin­gle night or a mul­ti-nigher expe­ri­ence, with the lev­el of com­fort of your sleep direct­ly tied to your choice of cruise – with the junk boats often see­ing peo­ple sleep on deck for those who fan­cy a true night under the stars.  

An awe-inspir­ing and beau­ti­ful expe­ri­ence, night sleep­ing can on occa­sion be a lit­tle rocky based on the winds so for those who do get eas­i­ly sea-sick we’d advise opt­ing for a more expen­sive sleep­ing quar­ters, but on a clear night you can expect to sleep under a blan­ket of incred­i­ble con­stel­la­tions and peace­ful sky – with a good night’s sleep the per­fect prepa­ra­tion to catch the stun­ning ear­ly morn­ing sun­rise – anoth­er stun­ning jew­el of the won­der of Hạ Long Bay. 

Sunrise:

Undoubt­ed­ly one of the most stun­ning and beau­ti­ful sun­ris­es on the plan­et, wak­ing up to the incred­i­ble sun ris­ing over the lime­stone cliffs of Hạ Long Bay is not only a stun­ning pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty but is one of the most spe­cial and spec­tac­u­lar ways to see this incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­der.  

Ris­ing at around 5:30am each day, the sun rise is best seen after a night sleep­ing on a boat with­in the bay, and you can expect the many lime­stone cliffs to glow and shine with the ascend­ing sun – as the emer­ald, green waters of the Gulf of Tonkin reflect back the mag­nif­i­cence of Hạ Long Bay – mak­ing for an incred­i­ble way to start your day.  

Typ­i­cal­ly accom­pa­nied by a hearty break­fast for those enjoy­ing a cruise, we’d advise mak­ing sure you get up around 5am to bag a good spot on the front or top of the boat to wit­ness this incred­i­ble sun­set – which real­ly is one of the majes­tic and beau­ti­ful ways to cap­ture Hạ Long Bay in all its glo­ry.  

Sunset at Hạ Long Bay: 

Twinned with the sun­rise, the sun­set at Hạ Long Bay is equal­ly as stun­ning and offers anoth­er incred­i­ble option to take in the panoram­ic beau­ty of this nat­ur­al won­der lit up thanks to the descend­ing sun.  

In con­trast to the sun­rise, it’s pos­si­ble to enjoy the sun­set from a vari­ety of van­tage points, includ­ing atop the Ti Top Moun­tain or from the base of Cat Ba island – with our per­son­al favourite rec­om­men­da­tion being to enjoy the mag­nif­i­cent sun­set from the bars of Cat Ba Island, from where you can enjoy this stun­ning sun­set with a ice cold drink – for a per­fect way to cap off your day at this won­der.  

Wher­ev­er you choose to take in the sun­set, you can expect a glis­ten­ing and peace­ful expe­ri­ence, as the sun slow­ly descends over the vast Hạ Long Bay – turn­ing the emer­ald waters and the hun­dreds of lime­stone cliffs in view into a kalei­do­scope of warm rogue colours, that makes for a stun­ning place to both pho­to­graph the best of this won­der and reflect on its immense beau­ty and pre­pare your­self for a per­fect night spent sleep­ing under the stars.  

Ha Long Bay’s Islands & Mountains:

Along­side the stun­ning sun­rise, sun­set and the chance to sleep under some of the most clear and beau­ti­ful night skies on the plan­et, the incred­i­ble land­scapes and lime­stone islands of Hạ Long Bay offer stun­ning scenery and the unique and incred­i­ble beau­ty that makes up this mag­i­cal won­der of the world.  

Stretched over more than 500 miles of the Gulf of Tonkin, the giant lime­stone islands, which num­ber more than 3000 are tru­ly the jew­el of Viet­nam – and you can expect them to vary in size and shape, with the larg­er islands hav­ing suf­fered from ero­sion which has led to some incred­i­ble king­dom like caves, which are ful­ly explorable, form­ing with them, while oth­ers have been carved away to resem­ble dis­tinct ani­mal shapes mak­ing for unique pho­tos.  

Nes­tled among select islands are also a series of com­plete­ly acces­si­ble clear sand beach­es, which give way to sparkling emer­ald waters – which makes way for a per­fect place to take a dip, as well as a series of islands and moun­tains which are cov­ered in dense and beau­ti­ful for­est that are both trekkable and which lead to a sum­mit where far-reach­ing panoram­ic views of the whole of Hạ Long Bay await you.  

While cruis­ing through the stun­ning islands is a true joy in itself, and one that lets you explore and take in the many unique shaped islands and beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay, there are some islands which offer both incred­i­ble views and offer explor­ers a unique chance to explore caves, hike to their sum­mit and kayak around and through them – and which in our view encap­su­late the best of Hạ Long Bay.  

Cat Ba Island:

The biggest and arguably the best of the 3000 islands of Hạ Long Bay, Cat Ba Island is both a stun­ning oasis of incred­i­ble island green­ery and also a great place to base your­self for tak­ing on the extra adven­tures on Ha Long Bay.  

Once a key fisherman’s port Cat Be Island is also a key spot and reminder of the Viet­nam war, with the noto­ri­ous under­ground Hos­pi­tal Cave being found here. Along­side being a point­ed spot of Viet­namese his­to­ry, Cat Ba Island is also home to a series of hotels and as close as you’ll get to a mod­ern city on Ha Long Bay – mak­ing it a great spot to refresh and refu­el after a long day on the bay.  

You’ll find no roads on the island – instead trans­port is on foot or by bike – with there being a series of idyl­lic bike and hik­ing trails and a stun­ning 18 kilo­me­ter hike to the main sum­mit of the island – that takes you over not only rolling hills but to a spe­cial van­tage points from where you can take in stun­ning and wide sweep­ing views of the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay – mak­ing for an incred­i­ble pho­to and a beau­ti­ful place to take in the sun­set.  

Home to a vari­ety of friend­ly and inquis­i­tive mam­mals – includ­ing some curi­ous mon­keys, Cat Ba Island also has three top qual­i­ty beach­es – which offer a great spot to snorkel to get up close to some of the marine life of Hạ Long Bay – you’ll also find a busy port on Cat Ba Island with tours offer­ing scu­ba div­ing, Kayak­ing and a chance to explore the won­der. 

But per­haps best of all you’ll find one of the world’s most unique and spe­cial bars on Cat Be Island – that offers an incred­i­ble spot to toast sun­set over the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay as you stare out over the stun­ning scenery to tru­ly enjoy island life and relax while enjoy­ing one of the great­est sun­sets on the plan­et.  

Monkey Island:

Along­side Cat Ba Island anoth­er top pick for an island to both base your­self at and explore is the well named Mon­key Island. 

More exclu­sive and pricey than Cat Ba Island, Mon­key Island also offers a great spot to begin your adven­ture – with a series of white sandy beach­es lead­ing down to the emer­ald cool waters of Hạ Long Bay mak­ing for a great place to relax, swim and sun­bathe as you admire the many islands and beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay before you.  

You’ll also find some great hik­ing trails on Mon­key Island, that lead you through rolling hills and stun­ning nature, offer­ing both a unique and adven­tur­ous expe­ri­ence that is reward­ed with views not just of the daz­zling beach­es of the island but over the whole of Hạ Long Bay – for a tru­ly spe­cial moment.  

Filled with mul­ti­ple options to jump on a tour to fur­ther explore Hạ Long Bay – Mon­key Island is a tru­ly spe­cial place and cer­tain­ly one not to be missed in your explo­ration of this won­der.  

Dau Be Island:

While Cat Ba and Mon­key Islands offer stun­ning beach­es and great places to jump on a tour to fur­ther explore Hạ Long Bay – Dau Be Island is an explor­er and specif­i­cal­ly a snorkellers and divers par­adise.  

Offer­ing stun­ning vis­i­bil­i­ty, the best of Hạ Long Bays emer­ald green waters and also some of the finest, colour­ful and explorable coral on the plan­et, a snorkel or dive trip off the coast of Dau Be Island is an absolute must for explor­ers – with the vast corals being home to gor­geous marine life and a series of explorable and deep caves – which are par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial for those who dare to take on night div­ing.  

Eas­i­ly reached by boat and a pop­u­lar spot for div­ing – we’d rec­om­mend tim­ing your dives for either ear­ly morn­ing or sun­set and after dark where you’ll have to best chance to enjoy the reefs before being able to sur­face, come ashore and relax on the gold­en beach­es of Dau Be Island – reflect­ing on the beau­ty that lies before you and in the waters below of the stun­ning won­der of Hạ Long Bay.  

Fighting Cocks Island / Trong Mai Islet: 

Across all the islands and bays that make up the stun­ning won­der of Hạ Long Bay – per­haps more is no icon­ic and encap­su­lates its beau­ty that the famous Fight­ing Cocks or Hon Ga Choi island.  

Despite its name you’ll recog­nise the islands either as two fight­ing cocks emerg­ing out of the sea to begin com­bat – or for the more roman­tics the islands rep­re­sent two lovers com­ing togeth­er to kiss, mak­ing the twin islands a pop­u­lar place for hon­ey­moon­ers and roman­tics who can grab a pho­to in front of the rocks to make sure their trip to Hạ Long Bay stays with them.  

Found right in the heat of Hạ Long Bay, the Fight­ing Cocks are a stop on almost every explo­ration and tour of the bay – and for those tak­en in by their beau­ty and sym­bol­ism it’s anoth­er stun­ning beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay that is best cap­tured at sun­set, where the descend­ing sun illu­mi­nates and high­lights this stun­ning nat­ur­al island that is a true icon of Hạ Long Bay.  

Mountain Views: 

With­in the roman­tic, adven­tur­ous and beau­ti­ful islands you’ll also find a series of moun­tains — and best of all a series of moun­tain sum­mits that offer incred­i­ble panoram­ic and wide-rang­ing views of the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay below you.  

Tak­ing you through treks across rolling hills, wide rivers and lush green forestry, a trip to the top of one of the stun­ning moun­tains is an absolute must to expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of this won­der and to cap­ture the full beau­ty and essence of Hạ Long Bay. While there are hun­dreds of moun­tains, there are two that in our view stand above all oth­ers for their beau­ty and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties and are a must vis­it at the bay: 

Ti Top Mountain:  

Sat deep with­in the heart of Hạ Long Bay the tow­er­ing Ti Top Moun­tain stands proud­est amongst the many beau­ti­ful lime­stone cliffs with some 450 steps tak­ing you the daz­zling and sparkling beach at its base all to way to its sum­mit – from where you get one of the best views of the beau­ti­ful bay, cliffs and beach­es stretch­ing out to the Hori­zon for one of the great­est views of this incred­i­ble won­der.  

A hot spot for tour trips, Ti Top moun­tain is best sum­mit­ed in our view in the late after­noon – where you will get the incred­i­ble sun­set view from its peak and get to take on the trek in the cool­er peri­od of the after­noon – with plen­ty of water – and a cou­ple of snacks always good to have on hand on for the climb, which can be a strug­gle owing to the unique and steep con­struc­tion of the path­way to the top. 

But for those who do sum­mit, regard­less of how long it may take, the views from the top are tru­ly mag­i­cal and offer the absolute best of the incred­i­ble bay – with at trip to the sum­mit of Ti Top Moun­tain being some­thing not to be missed out for those who want to expe­ri­ence the best of Hạ Long Bay.  

Bai Tho Mountain:

Tucked away amongst tra­di­tion­al hous­es and Viet­namese streets in the heart of the Halong city area of Hạ Long Bay is a small entrance to a stair­case that winds slow­ly up the great rolling green moun­tain of Bai Tho – from where you are treat­ed to incred­i­ble and wide-reach­ing views of both Hạ Long Bay and the city of Halong – for a tru­ly spe­cial pho­to shot and view point.  

A pop­u­lar place for wed­ding pho­tos, you’ll find the stair­case leads up to a series of tough ridges and riv­ets – which can make the jour­ney up to the top of the moun­tain a chal­lenge – you’ll find your­self climb­ing for a good half an hour to 45 min­utes before after a few breath­less moments you’ll find your­self stood atop the sum­mit of this 200 metre tall moun­tain for a pic­ture per­fect view of the great won­der and city below you.  

A great spot to sum­mit for a spe­cial sun­rise view – and a view you can enjoy from the city itself – the view from the top of Bai Tho Moun­tain is tru­ly spe­cial and an adven­tur­ous and unique explo­ration – that is reward­ed with an incred­i­ble view that lets you take in the ful­ly beau­ty of the bays, beach­es and lime­stone cliffs that make up the won­der of Hạ Long Bay.  

Kayaking & cave exploration in Ha Long Bay:

While cruis­ing through the bays and hik­ing along the incred­i­ble lime­stone cliffs to take in the stun­ning sweep­ing views are both fan­tas­tic ways to expe­ri­ence the won­der and beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay – Hạ Long Bay is also one of the great­est and most scenic spots in the world to explore by kayak, as you slow­ly pad­dle across the gor­geous emer­ald waters to dis­cov­er off the beat­en beau­ties of the beach­es, lagoons and caves. 

Avail­able through most tours and as a self-hire trip, kayak­ing in the calm waters of Hạ Long Bay across and past the thou­sands of lime­stone islands along­side var­i­ous mam­mal life is a tru­ly spe­cial expe­ri­ence and one made all the more spe­cial by some of the spe­cial islands and bays that you can explore, with our top picks for the top islands, bays and cave to explore by Kayak detailed below: 

The Islands – First up for those who wish to com­bine their kayak trip with some incred­i­ble beach­es and some spe­cial views, then the best spot for kayak­ing is undoubt­ed­ly around the two gor­geous islands of Cat Ba and Dau Be Island.  

Giv­ing you a chance to reach both islands to take on their treks and div­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, you can expect a kayak­ing trip around both islands to offer unique shots of stun­ning wild jun­gle, sparkling beach­es and see you pad­dle through the clear waters accom­pa­nied by inquis­i­tive and friend­ly wildlife.  

For those who choose to kayak around Dau Be Island you also have a unique chance to take on a spot of cave explo­ration – as the west of the island allows explor­ers to take their kayak care­ful­ly inland though the famous Ho Ba Ham Cave, where kayak­ers can care­ful­ly manoeu­vre through a series of tight gaps and then emerge into three incred­i­ble lakes that offer some of the most secret beau­ty spots of the whole won­der.  

A chance to get away from the hus­tle and bus­tle of the cruise ships that fre­quent Hạ Long Bay – and chart your own path in Hạ Long Bay a kayak around either island if a spe­cial expe­ri­ence and a great and peace­ful excur­sion from either island that lets you soak in and pad­dle through the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay.  

Bai Tu Long Bay:

Along­side kayak­ing along­side the islands of Cat Ba and Dau Be Island – for those who fan­cy a true expe­ri­ence kayak­ing through the majes­tic open bay of Hạ Long Bay then we’d rec­om­mend the bay of Bai Tu Long – a small­er sec­tion of bay that sits just next to Hạ Long Bay.  

Acces­si­ble on only a few select tours – or by self-dri­ve boat, you’ll find the cruise traf­fic here incred­i­bly qui­et in com­par­i­son to Hạ Long Bay with access only fea­si­ble for those on a small­er mul­ti-day boat, as the skip­per first­ly has to nav­i­gate through the many lime­stone cliffs of Hạ Long Bay to reach the clear waters of Bai Tu Long.  

Yet once here, you can expect calm and peace­ful waters that let you soak in the majes­tic beau­ty of this won­der – and for those who pad­dle fur­ther there’s a chance to kayak amongst beau­ti­ful dense rain­for­est, man­grove swamp and a series of incred­i­ble caves – while accom­pa­nied by mon­keys, birds and if you’re lucky the occa­sion­al leop­ard – mak­ing the waters of Bai Tu Long one of the most incred­i­ble places to kayak in both Hạ Long Bay and on the plan­et.  

Bo Hon Island: 

Offer­ing beau­ti­ful kayak­ing in the bay – Bo Hon Island has one star attrac­tion that makes it a con­stant spot on both cruise tours and kayak­ing trip, one of the most beau­ti­ful caves in Hạ Long Bay – the Vir­gin Cave.  

So named owing to a local leg­end where a Viet­namese woman who hav­ing been forced to enter into an arranged mar­riage came to take her life – and thus passed her beau­ty onto the cave – the Vir­gin Cave is an incred­i­ble place to kayak with as series of sharp but nav­i­ga­ble cor­ners and turns with­in the gave even­tu­al­ly lead­ing to a stun­ning lagoon that stretch­es across its own bay accom­pa­nied by a series or ris­ing trees and man­groves. 

Home to a series of mon­keys – who are known to jump aboard the kayaks look­ing for food or com­pan­ion­ship, the vir­gin cave is one of the most stun­ning and spe­cial places across all of Hạ Long Bay and one favoured by locals espe­cial­ly – with a trip to this unique cave being a tru­ly spe­cial way to explore the raw nat­ur­al beau­ty and leg­end of Hạ Long Bay.  

Thien Cung Cave 

Thien Cung cave is nick­named as “Heaven’s Place”  — and for good rea­son ! – with this incred­i­ble cave that sits off Dau Go Island allow­ing kayak­ers of hik­ers to wind through adren­a­line thrilling cave tun­nels through a long and wind­ing pas­sage until open­ing up into a series of three heav­en­ly lakes sur­round­ed by coloured lights which gives an awe-inspir­ing and spir­i­tu­al reflec­tion of this incred­i­ble cave.  

Accessed by boat – and then through either the path­way or water the Thien Cung cave is a rel­a­tive new dis­cov­ery with­in Hạ Long Bay hav­ing only been found at the end of the 90’s – yet despite that it’s also filled with leg­end sup­pos­ed­ly being the spot where both div­ing mar­riage and the gods that cre­at­ed Hạ Long Bay came to bathe, although the exact ori­gin of such leg­ends, espe­cial­ly giv­en the recent dis­cov­ery of the cave, remains a mys­tery.  

Still what is no in doubt is the incred­i­ble beau­ty of this heav­en on earth cave – with the arti­fi­cial lights with­in it cre­at­ing not only twin­kling reflec­tions on the deep blue water with­in the cave – but illu­mi­nat­ing its beau­ty and allow­ing explor­ers to mar­vel at the incred­i­ble crys­tal lake for­ma­tions that lie with­in it – mak­ing Thien Cung cave a tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar spot to explore either on foot or by kayak and mak­ing it one of the jewel’s of Hạ Long Bay that is not to be missed.  

Hạ Long Bay’s floating villages, restaurants and bars: 

As well as being a spe­cial and beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al won­der of the world, Hạ Long Bay is also home to a series of Viet­namese peo­ple, with some 1,500 peo­ple liv­ing on a series of float­ing vil­lages deep with­in this won­der.  

Cen­tre on fish­ing indus­tries and using the nat­ur­al resources of Hạ Long Bay to sus­tain life, the float­ing vil­lages – as we know them today are known to date back to the 19th cen­tu­ry and offer any­thing fas­ci­nat­ing and stun­ning addi­tion to this incred­i­ble won­der – and a fur­ther unique spot to explore and dis­cov­er with­in the won­der of Hạ Long Bay.  

While there are mul­ti­ple fish­ing vil­lages and homes across Hạ Long Bay – the below are our top two picks to explore and dis­cov­er the way of life on Hạ Long Bay, as well as enjoy some top class meals and enjoy a drink or two while look­ing over the beaty of this incred­i­ble won­der: 

Vung Vieng:

A tra­di­tion­al fish­ing vil­lage, Vung Vieng is one of the most pop­u­lar and inhab­it­ed of the vil­lages on Hạ Long Bay and makes for an incred­i­ble intro­duc­tion to vil­lage life – with this charm­ing vil­lage being home to more than 300 peo­ple who live in some 50 huts across the vil­lage. 

Set against the back­drop of some of Hạ Long Bay’s beau­ti­ful lime­stone and with glow­ing emer­ald waters sur­round­ing it, Vung Vieng vil­lage can only be reached on a fish­ing boat – of which they are plen­ty around the island, and you even have the option to stay with­in a hut of the vil­lage and join the fish­er­man if you tru­ly wish to expe­ri­ence life on Hạ Long Bay.  

Offer­ing a unique pho­to spot – Vung Veing vil­lage also gives explor­ers a chance to not only explore this authen­tic vil­lage, but under­stand it as well with a spe­cial ded­i­cat­ed float­ing muse­um open at the far end of the vil­lage – that fea­tures a series of edu­ca­tion­al exhibits as well as a chance to sup­port the float­ing vil­lage by buy­ing some authen­tic sou­venirs.  

A beau­ti­ful spot and one that embod­ies the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay the Vung Veing vil­lage keeps the tra­di­tions of Hạ Long Bay alive and is a unique and incred­i­ble place that offers fur­ther mag­ic to the won­der of Hạ Long Bay. 

Cua Van fishing village:

The sec­ond main fish­ing vil­lage across Hạ Long Bay, the Cua Van float­ing vil­lage is an exam­ple of incred­i­ble tra­di­tion­al archi­tec­ture, with the res­i­dents hav­ing con­struct­ed their hous­es to be con­nect­ed to each oth­er – with their com­bined col­lec­tive float­ing abil­i­ty help­ing to main­tain the struc­ture and foun­da­tions of this charm­ing vil­lage.  

Dat­ing back to the 19th cen­tu­ry, the fam­i­lies that call Cua Van vil­lage home are known to have been here for gen­er­a­tions, with the mul­ti­ple small fish­ing boats that dot the vil­lage and have helped sus­tain a unique way of life across the years also con­sid­ered fam­i­ly heir­looms. 

Set with­in the calmer waters of Hạ Long Bay – that avoids any ocean swell — Cua Van vil­lage is a pop­u­lar spot for fam­i­lies, with chil­dren encour­aged to explore the vil­lage and fam­i­lies and explores wel­come to join tra­di­tion­al fish­ing expe­di­tions dur­ing the day, before return­ing to the vil­lage to cook up their catch in the evening echo­ing a way of life that has exist­ed for cen­turies with­in the pic­turesque Cua Van vil­lage. 

Com­bin­ing his­to­ry and cul­ture with the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay – a trip to Cua Van vil­lage also offers a series of stun­ning pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties – as you get to cap­ture both vil­lage life and the sur­round­ing panoram­ic land­scape of Hạ Long Bay — which makes a trip to this unique float­ing vil­lage one of the high­lights of your vis­it to the won­der of the world that is Hạ Long Bay.  

Dining and toasting on Hạ Long Bay:

Final­ly, for those who opt for a mul­ti-day tour, along­side enjoy­ing the incred­i­ble sun­rise, sun­set and evening night-time sky – we’d real­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing time and vis­it­ing some of the incred­i­ble local restau­rants found across the bay, for what is guar­an­teed to be a fresh and deli­cious way to round off a day explor­ing this incred­i­ble won­der.  

With Hạ Long Bay being set with­in a marine won­der­land and fish­ing being a way of life for gen­er­a­tions with­in this par­adise, there’s a range of seafood meals on offer — which is guar­an­teed to not only be as fresh as pos­si­ble but hand cooked and seared using unique recipes that fed and sus­tained the res­i­dents of Hạ Long Bay for gen­er­a­tions.  

A culi­nary treat, that comes in at a low cost price, you’ll find a range of either barbecue’s or restau­rants avail­able across the bay dot­ted on the many islands – with our pick being to head for a beach restau­rant on Cat Be Island, while you’ll find a great range of restau­rants serv­ing fresh fish that cater for non-local explor­ers.  

Of course any good meal should be washed down with an ice cold bev­er­age – and giv­en the mirac­u­lous and stun­ning sun­set that illu­mi­nates the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay – light­ing up the many lime­stone cliffs and glow­ing the emer­ald waters of the Bay – there’s no bet­ter place in our view than to enjoy one from the beach­side bars (Known as Bai Hoi Stalls) on Cat Ba Island at sun­set — where you can enjoy a relax­ing drink, while soak­ing in the glo­ri­ous sun­set, for a tru­ly per­fect way to cap off your explo­ration of the mar­vel­lous won­der of the world that is Hạ Long Bay.  

How long to stay:

While it’s entire­ly pos­si­ble – and there are a range of tours on offer – to cov­er Hạ Long Bay in a day includ­ing stops at some of the islands, beach­es and tak­ing in the sun­set, we’d real­ly rec­om­mend splash­ing out and spend­ing mul­ti­ple days and nights, includ­ing at least 2 days and 1 night on Hạ Long Bay.  

The mul­ti­ple day trip will not only allow you to cov­er more of the sights – includ­ing the incred­i­ble moun­tain views from the peak of Ti Top and Bai Tho – but also give you ample kayak­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties in the many mys­te­ri­ous caves – and best of all give you an oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence not only the incred­i­ble sun­set but spend a night under the clear stars of Hạ Long Bay – before get­ting up ear­ly to wit­ness the beau­ti­ful sun­rise.  

There­fore, our rec­om­men­da­tion is to spend at least 2 days 1 night on Hạ Long Bay.  

Top Tip:

Along­side mak­ing sure you book a mul­ti-day stay on the island, make enough time to enjoy at least one sun­rise and sun­set and take on the incred­i­ble hikes of Ti Top and Bai Tho moun­tains – to make you stay on Hạ Long Bay all the more enjoy­able we’d advise fol­low­ing a cou­ple of extra top tips.  

First off – be sure to check the fore­cast before book­ing a trip as the weath­er at Hạ Long Bay can be unpre­dictable, so we’d real­ly advise to try and time your trip for warm weath­er if pos­si­ble and then come pre­pared with shorts, a good hat, sun­glass­es, and plen­ty of water, espe­cial­ly for those tak­ing on the treks where the steep steps can real­ly eat into your car­dio tol­er­ance.  

Along­side this we’d urge a lit­tle bit of cau­tion for those book­ing the bud­get tours to explore Hạ Long Bay as some of the tour oper­a­tors are known to skip cer­tain safe­ty checks – so ensure that any boat you book on a bud­get has cer­ti­fied safe­ty stan­dards, that tours are accom­pa­nied by a guide and for those trav­el­ling solo we’d advise being sure to look after your valu­ables and your­self when on a tour.  

Final­ly do be advised that tours are only allowed to fol­low one of five routes – which can see hun­dreds of boats set off fol­low­ing each oth­er on set routes – so if doing a self-tour trip be sure to know the set route you have to fol­low and set off a lit­tle bit ear­li­er that planned to avoid the heavy boat traf­fic than can form on the bay – in order to give your­self the best pos­si­ble expe­ri­ence on Hạ Long Bay.  

Cost:  

A nat­ur­al won­der — Hạ Long Bay has a range of explo­ration options to cov­er all bud­gets allow­ing for a trip to this incred­i­ble par­adise to fit both the time and cost allowance of all explor­ers.  

Start­ing with get­ting to the won­der, for those embark­ing on a mul­ti-day or junk boat day tour you’ll often find that pick-up is includ­ed from areas around Hanoi – mak­ing your approach to the won­der incred­i­bly easy.  

How­ev­er for those who opt for a self-dis­cov­ery tour who want to opt for a tour with­out pick­up includ­ed to save a lit­tle on your explo­ration, you have a range of options avail­able to you to get from Hanoi to Hạ Long Bay. First up, you’ll find a range of min bus tours on option – which you can expect to take 4–5 hours to reach Hạ Long Bay from Hanoi and cost around 5USD – just look for the bus­es marked Hanoi — Hạ Long Bay. 

While there are also coach­es ($10 usd) and a train sys­tem avail­able – which see’s you head from Hanoi – to Gia Lam – to Quang Ning and then Bai Chay ($8USD) – the jour­neys on both can be long and uncom­fort­able, cost­ing the same price as the minibus and not drop­ping you off direct­ly at Hạ Long Bay – so we’d advise to avoid both of these routes.  

If going on a tour – or hav­ing got your­self to the har­bour of Hạ Long Bay – you’ll need to decide on both the lev­el of com­fort and dura­tion you’re opt­ing to explore Hạ Long Bay on.  

For those on a tight timescale – and who can only afford one day on this mag­nif­i­cent won­der, then we’d rec­om­mend opt­ing for a full day junk boat tour – that see’s you hit the main high­lights includ­ing the fight­ing cock islands, some of the islands and get in a spot of kayak­ing, before watch­ing the incred­i­ble sun­set – and for this we’d advise to bud­get some­where in the region of $80 — $100 usd for a full day tour – which should include all your food, kayak­ing gear and good stan­dard onboard facil­i­ties. 

For those opt­ing for an overnight explo­ration of Hạ Long Bay – which is some­thing we’d real­ly rec­om­mend – you’ll find three cat­e­gories of cruise lux­u­ry avail­able which will vary in cost based on the dura­tion you stay on the won­der.  

How­ev­er assum­ing a 2 day 1 night tour, you can expect a bud­get cruise to come in at $200 usd — $300usd, a mid lev­el com­fort cruise to come in at around $250 usd and stretch­ing up to $400 usd and a lux­u­ry cruise to come in at $800 usd – $1000 usd for a mul­ti-day trip in a posh cab­in.  

While all three bud­get options should include food, kayak­ing gear and a good place to sleep – either onboard or at one of the many islands, those opt­ing for a mid-lev­el com­fort cruise can expect more com­fort and an indi­vid­ual cab­in on board – as well as a high­er qual­i­ty of food and to be catered for with a range of activ­i­ties – includ­ing mul­ti­ple hikes and scu­ba div­ing.  

This com­fort increas­es on the lux­u­ry cruise – where along­side an indi­vid­ual cab­in – and mul­ti­ple trips from the com­fort of your boat – you can expect pick-up in an air-con­di­tioned van from Hanoi – and an incred­i­ble view­ing deck from the top of the boat which should give you 360 degree views over the whole of the bay – for tru­ly amaz­ing pho­tographs – allow­ing you to enjoy the ful­ly beau­ty of this spe­cial won­der in max­i­mum com­fort.  

Along­side trans­port and the cruise – each per­son vis­it­ing Hạ Long Bay must pay the entry fee of either $12 usd for a day or $25 for a mul­ti-day trip – which goes towards the up-keep and preser­va­tion of the park – a tru­ly worth cause.  

There­fore allow­ing for $25 Usd for some snacks, sun­screen, water and a sou­venir, the base cost of vis­it­ing Hạ Long Bay starts from around $50 USD – and you can expect this to jump to approx­i­mate­ly $150 Usd for those on a bud­get one day tour, $300 usd for a junk boat overnight tour, $375  for a mid-lev­el com­fort tour and at least $850 usd for those opt­ing for a lux­u­ry cruise – mean­ing there’s a range of bud­gets and tour options to suit all explor­ers when vis­it­ing the incred­i­ble won­der of the world of Hạ Long Bay.  

Fun Fact: 

As well as being home to some 1,500 peo­ple – who have called Hạ Long Bay home for gen­er­a­tions and kept the tra­di­tion­al fish­ing tech­niques alive, the islands and lime­stone cliffs of Hạ Long Bay are more than 20 mil­lion years old  — and were formed accord­ing to leg­end when a drag­on was sent by the ancient gods to pro­tect the peo­ple of Viet­nam – with the drag­ons leav­ing behind trea­sures that makes up the many island and beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay – giv­ing the won­der the local nick­name of “where the drag­on meets the sea.” 

Yet despite their age, many of the thou­sands of islands remain both unin­hab­it­ed and, in some cas­es, unex­plored, with the beau­ty of the bay only com­ing to promi­nence in the late 19th cen­tu­ry – mean­ing that you’ll find many of the islands are named based not on tra­di­tion­al leg­end but on their shape and resem­blance – e.g. fight­ing cocks, ele­phant rock etc.  

 Best Photo Spot: 

A tru­ly stun­ning nat­ur­al won­der, the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay stretch­es on for 600 sq mi – with the thou­sands of stun­ning lime­stone islands com­bin­ing with the daz­zling emer­ald, green waters, the moun­tain tops and spark­ing beach­es to give pho­tog­ra­phers incred­i­ble panoram­ic pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties.  

Eas­i­ly cap­tured on a cruise tour – or from a self-guid­ed ven­ture which gives you time to sum­mit the moun­tains of Bai Tho and Ti Top for wide reach­ing panoram­ic views — as well as explore the incred­i­ble scenery of cat Ba and Dau Be islands, the whole of Hạ Long Bay is filled with beau­ti­ful oppor­tu­ni­ties to grab a mes­mer­iz­ing shot.  

How­ev­er in our view there are in our view a cou­ple of shots and beau­ty spots not to be missed if you want to cap­ture the full scenic won­der of Hạ Long Bay: 

The Islands & Icons of Hạ Long Bay: 

Any jour­ney through Hạ Long Bay will see you pass through the icon­ic islands and thou­sands of lime­stone cliffs that come togeth­er with the emer­ald, green waters of the Gulf of Tonkin to make up this stun­ning nat­ur­al won­der.  

Start­ing with your jour­ney around Hạ Long Bay on a boat or cruise – there’s a cou­ple of incred­i­ble icon­ic islands that stand out and rep­re­sent the best of the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay that are not to be missed for pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties: 

Fight­ing Cocks Island / Hon Ga Choi: The icon­ic lime­stone cliff for­ma­tion of Hạ Long Bay that is one of the most icon­ic pho­to shots across the whole of the won­der – fight­ing cocks islands is either two cocks prepar­ing for bat­tle – or two lovers kiss­ing – depend­ing on the angle and inter­pre­ta­tion of the view­er.  

Shroud­ed in leg­end – with a pho­to of lovers in front of the fight­ing cocks cliffs believed to ensure that love will last for­ev­er – you can expect almost all tours to pass by this stun­ning for­ma­tion which is found in the heart of Hạ Long Bay and for those who want a tru­ly spe­cial pho­to we’d advise wit­ness­ing the lover rocks at sun­set – where the beau­ti­ful sun shines through them cre­at­ing a tru­ly spe­cial moment of this true icon of Hạ Long Bay.  

 Cat Ba Island —  Our pick for enjoy­ing sun­rise and sun­set (see below) Cat Ba Island is also tru­ly spe­cial dur­ing the day, with the many hikes avail­able with­in this incred­i­ble island also giv­ing you the chance to snap some unique and fas­ci­nat­ing shots of both the beach­es and waters of Hạ Long Bay – and its res­i­dents with the island being home to more than 30 dif­fer­ent types of mam­mals – includ­ing mon­keys and leop­ards, mak­ing a stay and explo­ration of this island a great spot to grab some unique pho­tos of the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay.  

The pin­na­cle though has to be the view from the sum­mit – where a trek through a stun­ning 18 kilo­me­tre track will take you through the scenic rolling hills and green­ery of the island and slow­ly up to the sum­mit of the island – where you’ll find one of the best pho­to spots in the whole of the bay.  

Offer­ing incred­i­ble 360 panoram­ic views, the view from the sum­mit is tru­ly stun­ning with the won­der of Hạ Long Bay stretch­ing into the vast dis­tance with the beau­ti­ful lime­stone cliffs, fish­ing vil­lages and daz­zling waters – and it’s here that you’ll find a mes­meris­ing and tru­ly per­fect pho­to shot of this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

Ti Top & Bai Tho Moun­tains: Along­side Cat Ba Island there are two more sum­mits that stand as tru­ly spe­cial van­tage points from where to snap the per­fect pho­to with the full beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay in shot.  

The first of these is the Ti Top Moun­tain sum­mit – which is found right in the heart of Hạ Long Bay a short dis­tance away from the Fight­ing Cocks island and which offers incred­i­ble 360 panoram­ic views from where you can cap­ture the full beau­ty of the many islands, the emer­ald green waters and take in the best of the bay which stretch­es to the hori­zon.  

Accessed by reach­ing Ti Top Beach and then sum­mit­ing 400 steps to the top of the sum­mit – the climb up Ti Top can be tough, so we’d advise to come pre­pared with a good hat, some sun­screen and plen­ty of water – but after a tough ascent you’ll be reward­ed with breath-tak­ing panoram­ic views which let you tru­ly take in the best of Hạ Long Bay – and after a stop at the sum­mit you get the thrill of descend­ing back down to Ti Top Beach with the beau­ty of Hạ Long Bay laid out before you. 

Along­side Ti Top Moun­tain – the peak of Bai Tho stands as anoth­er incred­i­ble sub­mit­table moun­tain that offers equal­ly stun­ning views of the whole of Hạ Long Bay.  

More famous, high­er and thus more pop­u­lar and crowd­ed that Ti Top you can find Bai Tho moun­tain not with­in the bay itself but with­in the city of Halong with its entrance tucked away in a series of back streets and poor­ly sign­post­ed avenues (don’t be afraid to ask locals for direc­tions), but once dis­cov­ered you’ll jour­ney through a small and nar­row stair­case and then up a series of dis­joint­ed stair­cas­es that slow­ly winds up you the side of this stun­ning moun­tain, before it opens out into incred­i­ble views of both the city of Halong on one side and Hạ Long Bay on the oth­er.  

Climb­ing fur­ther and after a rough­ly 30 – 45-minute climb you’ll even­tu­al­ly find your­self at the peak of the moun­tain some 200 metres above sea lev­el – where stun­ning views of Hạ Long Bay await you. Tak­ing a moment to pause on the top of the moun­tain, you’ll be hit by the cool ocean breeze that will help set­tle you after such a tough climb – and from here you can begin snap­ping incred­i­ble pho­tos of the beau­ty of both the city, the sea and the bay that sur­round you.  

The Bay at Sunrise:

Undoubt­ed­ly a true scenic and spir­i­tu­al moment – sun­rise at Hạ Long Bay is tru­ly awe-inspir­ing as the beau­ti­ful bay turns a kalei­do­scope of deep rouge colours reflect­ing back the emer­ald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin whilst also see­ing the many incred­i­ble islands daz­zle under the ris­ing sun.  

For the best views of sun­rise you’ll need to up ear­ly – we’d advise around 5am – to wit­ness the full effect and you have two main options to view the incred­i­ble sun­rise – the first and per­haps eas­i­est is from the bow of a junk or cruise boat which will hope­ful­ly be parked deep with­in the bay giv­ing you the full effect of the ris­ing sun over this incred­i­ble won­der.  

The next option is for those who find them­selves stay­ing with­in the islands of Hạ Long Bay – and for this we’d advise bas­ing your­self at Cat Ba Island, where your eas­i­est option is to head down to one of the sparkling beach­es to watch Hạ Long Bay light up before you – or for those who fan­cy an extra spe­cial shot you can take on an ear­ly morn­ing hike to the top of the 18 kilo­me­tre high sum­mit of the island – for sweep­ing panoram­ic views and a tru­ly breath-tak­ing view of the sun­set. Just be sure to come pre­pared with a flash­light, some stur­dy boots, some water and a snack or two – as the route to the top can be a tough trek espe­cial­ly at night – but the view from the top are well worth it.  

 The Bay at sun­set:

Equal­ly as stun­ning, the sun­set at Hạ Long Bay is both dra­mat­ic and beau­ti­ful – giv­ing explor­ers a chance to catch the absolute best of this incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­der as the beau­ti­ful islands and far stretch­ing waters once again daz­zle — this time under the descend­ing sun.  

Thanks in part to the kinder time that the sun­set occurs over Hạ Long Bay when com­pared to sun­rise – the enjoy­ment lev­els and view­ing options are both raised when com­pared to sun­set. As explor­ers have the chance to take in the sun­set from either the bow of their ship – as they watch the sun­set over Hạ Long Bay from the ground lev­el get­ting a tru­ly immer­sive expe­ri­ence of this beau­ti­ful phe­nom­e­non – or for some­thing more unique – and for stun­ning sweep­ing panoram­ic views you again have the option to scale to the sum­mit of Cat Ba Island, Ti Top or Bai Tho Moun­tain.  

A sum­mit to either of these incred­i­ble moun­tain tops will give you stun­ning panoram­ic 360-degree van­tage points from which to snap the won­der of Hạ Long Bay, light­ing up in all its glo­ry, below you – with the sun­set mak­ing a fit­ting finale for your scal­ing of either moun­tain and giv­ing you an incred­i­ble van­tage point to take in one of the great­est sun­sets on the plan­et.  

Or final­ly, for those who aren’t keen on scal­ing a moun­tain but still want to enjoy the incred­i­ble sun­set on Hạ Long Bay and fan­cy some­thing more relaxed – you have the option of tak­ing in the sun­set from one of the Bai Hoi Stalls or bars on Cat Ba Island – where you will get the chance to snap the full beau­ty of this incred­i­ble won­der at sun­set and also toast the glo­ri­ous sun­set in absolute per­fect sur­round­ings — for a tru­ly spe­cial way to cap off your day at the won­der of the world that is Hạ Long Bay.