Halong Bay: What You Need To Know

Connect with me!

Legend has it that the islands of Halong Bay were created by a great dragon from the mountains. The dragon plunged into the sea from the mountains which created the valleys, filling with water to create what you see today.

Getting to Halong Bay

Halong Bay is 3 hours drive from Hanoi, Vietnams capital. Once you book one of the many Junk Boats, your tour provider wil organise to transfer you in an air conditioned bus down to Halong Bay – with a stop at a conveniently located Marble Factory.

Once you arrive at Halong Bay, it’s a scramble down to the boats, with tours finishing whilst new tours begin, all in a flurry along the shore. It’s a bit of madness, but if you pay attention to your Vietnamese guide, you will make it onto a small boat, which takes you to your Junk Boat!

Junk Boats

These are the box shaped dragon boats that you will sail and see around Halong Bay. They often have large gorgeous red sails (emblazoned with the name of the Junk Boat Operator) and have sleeping quarters for many tourists.

The boat we sailed on had only 5 or 6 rooms, for 2 people per room. Each room came with a small bathroom with shower and toilet and are all set within one level on the boat. The upper deck was used for lounging and viewing the magical scenery. It’s also a great place to sit at night during the wonderful thing called HAPPY HOUR!

Our Junk Boat was a mid-range priced boat and not one of the party-boats you can book. We got very good food, an English speaking guide, great happy hour and were taken to a few tourist locations (traps) around the expansive bay.

I think we did well for the money that we spent for our 2 day boat cruise. However, if you are after something a bit more romantic, you should choose a small operator for a higher cost which is furnished at a higher standard than our boat, which was quite a nice boat anyway!

Halong Bay Activities

We visited in March, which made for the bay to be misty and a little chilly. This wasn’t a disappointment because it made the bay stunningly ethereal. It had a real air to it and it felt pretty special being there.

On our first afternoon, we were able to go kayaking on the Bay, through a cave and into a secluded inlet.

While we paddled around, checking out the flora we could hear screeches up above and realised there were monkeys playing in the trees and branches hanging out of the limestone cliff-sides! We paddled quickly over to where we could get a good look at the monkeys and watched them until our time was up.

Food Glorious Food

The food on the Junk Boat was EPIIIIIIIC! We were fed like Kings and Queens at every meal, with at least 5 options of dish to have with rice, soups, starters. However, my favourite dish was the evening meal starter of Spring Rolls. We’ve all had spring rolls before, but on this occasion, the inhabitants of the Junk Boat were taught how to make the spring rolls that we would eventually eat!

The cooking lesson was brief; wet paper-like rice thing; spoon some of the ready-done mush into a little paper rice thing; roll. We all took turns seeing who could make the best looking spring roll, which then, with having a few beers under our belt, became a game of who could make the biggest and fattest spring roll without it tearing.

After the fun was over and all spring rolls had been rolled, we were back to happy hour. When dinner time came, I was jazzed to see our spring rolls on the tables looking so professional! And the taste test was just as impressive – DEEEELICIOUS!

Tourist-ing: The Downside To The Bay

The biggest drawback to this site is the mass tourism. We ventured to Halong Bay at the end of tourism season, and we felt surrounded by boats and tourists everywhere.

Once on the boat, it felt like we did not have a choice of activities and were ferried around from location to location with all of the other tourists.

We went to a large cave, which would have been cool, except we felt like it was Disneyland and you walked the pathway in single file the whole way around.

We were then taken to an island to sit on the beach with thousands of others, swim in the bay, and hike to the top for the view of the island. While I enjoyed this – again, it felt like every Junk Boat had decided to take their inhabitants to this island all at the same time.

The Tourism didn’t stop there, with a visit to the Pearl Farm.

While an interesting visit, learning how pearls are found/farmed etc, it was covered in tourists which I found took away from the experience.

I did however enjoy watching the handlers open up the clams/oysters to find the pearl. And also learning about how they man-make pearls.

Tips

• Do your research on which boat you want to take! There are huge boats with 60 people on them, which I can imagine would be awful. We had a small group of 13 who all got along really well for a 2 day trip together.
• Try to find out ahead of time if your boat can take a different route to the majority of boats ahead of time to avoid the disappointment of being one of so many trying to ‘enjoy’ this beautiful place.
• Eat all the spring rolls.

Vietnam Video

I created a video of our 2 week trip to Vietnam on the Magisto App, watch it here: Vietnam Video

Halong Bay is a darling and a bucket list item ticked off. Have you sailed Halong Bay?

Connect with me!

About Lesley

Australian expat, married to a Dutch guy, living in Amsterdam. Previously lived in London for 3 years, too! Lover of travel, coffee, brunch, beaches, fresh flowers, and family. Now a new mum, navigating life with a baby!