Things to do in Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is a seascape of limestone pinnacles best seen from a boat, listed by UNESCO in 1994 and extended in 2023 to the Cat Ba Archipelago. Do not confuse it with its neighbours: Ha Long is the busiest, Bai Tu Long to the north-east is calmer, and Lan Ha is visited from Cat Ba Island, which has its own page.

From Hanoi it is a road trip of roughly 150 to 180 km, so a day excursion means a lot of time in a vehicle for a few hours afloat. Your real choice is between a day trip and an overnight cruise with a night on board, where prices span a wide range, from budget day tours of a few dozen euros to several hundred euros per person for upscale cabins (2026).

Typhoons, roughly July to September, can cancel departures, so keep a flexible buffer in your schedule.