One of the most beautiful places I visited in Vietnam was Halong Bay, situated in the Gulf of Tonkin in Quang Ninh province, northeastern part of Vietnam and approximately 170 km from Hanoi. It is known for having a beautiful display of more than one thousand limestone mountains raising up from emerald waters formed thousands of years ago.
It is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1994 and it is truly a nature lover paradise.
Photos make no justice, as in many other natural places. Probably the best views to give perspective are from the sky. These were the times I didn´t have a mini dron yet so I owe you that 😉 but this is a photo from Lonely Planet.
How to visit?
The most common way to visit the area is with an overnight cruise departing from Tuan Chau port. I chose a two-day, one-night cruise only, and retrospectively I would recommend spending one more day so you can cover more islands or even do some hiking whenever possible to have some views from the top of one of the islands you can actually climb. Still with limited time, the one-night cruise is absolutely worth it and does give you a pretty good idea of the region. Apart from this, it is easy 2-day trip from Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
There are plenty of cruises to choose from, the one I booked was Secret Halong Cruise and I was very happy with the quality and the size of the ship, small enough but comfortable. As you may know by now I always try to avoid the masses 😉 but in this region the type of tourism is typically by decent size river-cruises.. so no, don´t expect to see a big cruise liner there, thankfully. See below the detailed map of the journey. One more night would allow to explore even more to the right part of the bay.
The cruise experience
The cruise departs in the middle of the day and that gives more than enough time to be transfered from any nearby city (in my case, Hanoi) so that is something to consider. You don´t need to be at the port city in advance but it´s very common to transfer people in the morning, either by the cruise company itself or many other tour operators that cover the transfer, so it is really easy to plan. You start directly with lunch on board, and then you have a full evening to navigate, and just enjoy the nature from the sundeck. Some photos from my experience:
Kayaking
My cruise included doing kayaking, this always gives another perspective and sense of freedom. Needless to say this was also a reason for me to choose this company 😉 There is nothing like kayaking in such sceneries and here the waters are very calm because it´s a huge bay, basically. Even for people without kayaking experience this is a very chilled activity in my opinion.
Caves
We visited Ho Dong Tien Cave, for some part of it we needed a flashlight and I don´t have pictures inside. To be fair I have never been so crazy about caves, but it is interesting if you like that kind of natural wonder. I liked some views from the cave though to give you the idea.
Short video, once again my friends, video blogging is not my strongest feature 😉 and it´s typically done only for personal purposes. In other words, this is the only I have from that day. This gives you the idea about the surroundings.
Spending the night
This cruise offers some access to less crowded areas of the bay to dock the ship and spend the night. At least based on what I saw, there was one one more cruise at sight (pic below), but otherwise we could enjoy the place in peace and quiet with an amazing sunset view behind the mountains. Based on my return, the closer to the main shore the more ships and more crowded scenary, therefore it is worth finding those companies offering the more exclusive places to go to so you don´t end up seeing many other ships next to yours. Again, it´s NOT always about the highest price, size or luxury, rather choosing the right combination that maximizes the experience of THAT place in particular.
The sunset was just amazing..
Below a photo of the captain and part of the crew. Vietnamese people are friendly, a common characteristic of South-Eastern Asian countries. On the right, a photo with a vietnamese woman after they showed us their fishing techniques on the bay. We could not make it all the way to the floating villages during a one-night cruise, but the fishermen and women get on their boats and sometimes go fishing near the ships as part of the experience. These people live on floating villages on the bay itself, and as said it ca be visited as well.
Picture paradise!
More photos below from the cruise, as said even though 2-nights would be less rushed and gives possibility to explore further, the 1-night option still gives a lot of quality time. You don´t have to navigate that far away from the port to see already the limestone formations emerging from the water, each one of them different than the other. After some time everything you see is something like the sceneries below (rememeber the more than 1,000 islands?) so the fun never ends from that perspective. Unless you go to your room 😉 there is really no other option than seeing this! -ok and even from your room strictly speaking-
Anti-fun fact
The food on the cruise looked very fancy, however… keeping my Asian trips tradition, I got really poisoned ;( After dinner I started feeling bad and had to go early to my room. Luckily a girl from Pakistan had very strong pills and they helped me but it was definitely not my best night. By the morning I was ok again but at least for a couple of hours I was in the middle of the sea just feeling like trash. I did skip the extremely early tai-chi session though 😉 in favor of full recovery.
More photos… Evidently this is a trip fully dedicated to NATURE, in this case the best way to share is via pictures rathern than words 😉 I hope I managed to capture at least a small fraction of the beauty of this place.
Bonus pics, the view from my room!
Something to be done differently?
Less time in Hanoi and experience much more Halong Bay! It´s always subjective but as a nature lover this is where you would like to spend more time on 😉 Absolutely worth the visit, If you are into natural places this is a must in Vietnam! The landscape is very unique..
Cheers from a nature lover..
