All things need to know before travelling to Lan Ha Bay
It is a complex of more than 400 large and small islands and many fine white sand beaches. This place also possesses a rich and diverse ecosystem and landscapes of pristine beauty, which will make you come and never want to leave. Let’s explore this beautiful bay with Origin Vietnam.
1. Where is Lan Ha Bay?
Lan Ha Bay is located in the east of Cat Ba Island and the south of Ha Long Bay with an area of up to 7000m². Belonging to the administrative boundaries of Hai Phong city, Lan Ha Bay is about 27.5 km south of Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province, about 30 km from Hai Phong city and about 150 km east of Hanoi capital.
2. How is Lan Ha Bay unique?
Lan Ha Bay is over 7000 hectares wide, of which 5400 hectares is the management area of Cat Ba National Park. This is a very calm, arc-shaped bay with about 400 large and small islands. It creates a giant picture depicting the amazing natural landscape. The trees and vegetation cover all large and small islands in Lan Ha Bay, even though they are extremely small islands.
A peaceful sea with small fishing villages living separate from the rest of the world. Looming under many peaceful island clusters are raft villages raising regional specialties. All of these things make Lan Ha Bay tourism one of the top tourist choices when coming to Cat Ba.
3. When is the best time to visit Lan Ha Bay?
Lan Ha Bay belongs to the Cat Ba archipelago, Hai Phong city. This place located in Northern Vietnam with four distinct weather seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Each tourist season has its own beauty, sometimes lively, sometimes poetic and charming. Depending on your interests and schedule, you can arrange to visit Lan Ha Bay at any time.
The time to attract tourists is from April to June. At this time, the weather is clear, sunny and the sea is calm, suitable for boating, swimming and exploring the bay.
In addition, from September onwards the weather begins to change to fall and winter. This is not the peak tourist season, so Lan Ha Bay is quite peaceful and quiet. This is the right time for tourists who want to have a perfect vacation in a peaceful space. This time is also very suitable for sea activities such as boating, surfing, mountain climbing,…
Thus, the ideal time to travel to Lan Ha Bay is from September to April next year.
4. How to get to Lan Ha Bay?
4.1 Moving to Hai Phong city
- By bus: there are many bus trips from Hanoi to Lan Ha Bay, Cat Ba, running continuously every 15-20 minutes per trip. You can easily catch a bus at My Dinh bus station or Gia Lam bus station. You should choose a bus with the destination at Binh wharf to conveniently catch the boat to Cat Ba.
- By airplane: most domestic airlines operate flights to Cat Bi airport (Hai Phong). You can choose the airline according to your preference.
- By train: if you have more time and want to see the scenery along the way, you can choose to go by train. Every day there will be 4 trains to Hai Phong, travel time is about 2.5 hours – 3 hours.
4.2 Moving to Cat Ba island
- Take a boat to the bay: you can buy tickets directly to the bay at Binh wharf. Please prepare your health well to avoid seasickness.
- Speedboat and car to the bay: the boat travels on the river to the last stop at Cai Vieng, then you take the bus to the center of the island. With this way of moving, you will be less likely to get seasick.
4.3 From Cat Ba Island To Lan Ha Bay
From the center of Cat Ba island, if you want to visit Lan Ha Bay, boats and yachts are the only means of travel. You can buy tickets to visit Lan Ha Bay according to predetermined routes, usually 4 hours and 6 hours. If you want to fully experience the beauty of Lan Ha Bay, booking an overnight cruise is an ideal choice.
5. Exploring the beauty of Lan Ha Bay
5.1 Lan Ha Bay floating market
If you have ever traveled to the West, you will probably imagine the floating market of the people here. However, Lan Ha Bay floating market is smaller in scale, mainly owned by fishermen who look after fish and shrimp rafts. You can visit this place to buy seafood as gifts.
5.2 Cua Van fishing village
Cua Van fishing village is next to the Van Gia limestone mountain, in a calm area. This place attracts tourists with its bright and colorful floating houses undulating in the middle of the bay. The lives of fishermen are extremely peaceful with more than 300 families working in the fishing industry. With its charming and poetic beauty, Cua Van fishing village on Lan Ha Bay, is on the list of 16 most beautiful ancient villages in the world.
5.3 Nam Cat Island
Nam Cat Island is about 15 minutes by boat from Lan Ha Bay. The wildness, serenity and charm fill this island. There are 3 wooden stilt houses and 6 bamboo guesthouses, helping you fully enjoy the fresh air from the coastal nature.
5.4 Monkey Island
Monkey Island is famous as Cat Dua Island because there are many pineapple trees on the island. However, the island is currently called Monkey Island because it is home to more than 20 monkeys brought by rangers of Cat Ba National Park.
They are quite friendly and often like to have fun with visitors. Monkey Island has 2 beaches: Cat Dua 1 beach and Cat Dua 2 beach. The sea water here is extremely clear, suitable for swimming, kayaking, etc.
5.5 Luon Cave
Luon Cave on Lan Ha Bay is a famous tourist destination with extremely beautiful check-in photos. If You Try kayaking to explore the beautiful scenery around Luon Cave, you will be satisfied. Luon Cave is known as a masterpiece on the bay.
5.6 Van Boi beach
Van Boi Beach is located along the protruding part of a mountain range, where many tourists often come here to explore boating, swimming, etc. Van Boi Beach has beautiful natural scenery with sandy beaches. Long stretches of smooth white, clear blue sea water, quiet and peaceful space.
6. Activities and experiences in Lan Ha Bay
6.1 Swimming and watching coral
With many beautiful beaches outside Lan Ha Bay in Cat Ba, you can enjoy swimming and immersing themselves in the cool sea water. The diving spots here have a depth of 4-5m, very suitable for viewing coral and other marine life.
6.2 Kayaking
You should buy a kayaking tour, cruise ships will take you to calm seas and beautiful landscapes so you can both do sports and admire the scenery here. Tourists often kayak in the areas of Dark Cave, Bright Cave, Me Kong Cave,…
6.3 Mountain climbing
Climbing on Lan Ha Bay is currently a favorite sports activity of many tourists. There are many climbing spots around the Cat Ba area with steep cliffs, attractive to those who like adventure and the feeling of conquest.
7. Specialties when traveling to Lan Ha Bay
Not only does it have beautiful natural landscapes, it also has many delicious dishes, typical of coastal flavors.
7.1 Abalone
The abalone can be found in many other places, but the most delicious must be in Lan Ha Bay. It is processed into abalone grilled with onion fat, abalone steamed, grilled, or cooked in porridge. The abalone meat is fragrant, crispy, and chewy. Because it is a very delicious and rare seafood, the price of the abalone here is quite high, from 50,000 – 70,000 VND/fish.
7.2 Mantis shrimp
Mantis shrimp is a very popular dish on Lan Ha Bay. Any restaurant has this dish. The mantis shrimp is prepared in a variety of ways, steamed, grilled, roasted with salt, porridge, etc. The mantis shrimp here is large, smooth and shiny. When steamed, it retains its fragrant, fresh taste and does not break.
7.3 Blood cockles
Blood cockles are best grilled over a charcoal fire and enjoyed right on the spot. This is a nutritious and very delicious dish. The most important thing is to choose very fresh blood cockles. After being grilled, you can serve them with cold beer. Blood cockles are also processed into dishes such as stir-fried blood cockles with tamarind, blood cockle porridge,…
There are more specialities…
7.4 Blue crab
Blue crabs are often processed into steamed dishes, tamarind sauce,…Blue crabs live in saltwater with a depth of 4-10m. Crab meat is very delicious, cool and nutritious, steamed with a little beer and crushed lemongrass to enhance the flavor. Cooked crab, separated meat and dipped in chili sauce or seafood dipping sauce is great.
7.5 Octopus
Octopus in Lan Ha Bay, Cat Ba is very delicious and nutritious and can be processed into many dishes. You can try a variety of dishes made from octopus here. But the most delicious is steamed and grilled octopus.
8. Accommodation when traveling to Lan Ha Bay
8.1 Staying overnight on Cat Ba island
If you only want to explore Lan Ha Bay during the day, choosing to return to Cat Ba Island to sleep will be reasonable because the number of hotels/motels on the island will be more, and the services will be more comfortable for you to use. use. Choosing to sleep outside the bay will be more suitable for those who like quiet to rest.
- Cat Ba Family Hotel. Address: Cat Ba Town, Cat Hai, Hai Phong.
- Cannon Fort Cat Ba hotel. Address: 243 Nui Ngoc, TT. Cat Ba, Cat Hai, Hai Phong.
- Minh Hieu Hotel. Address: 46 Tung Dinh, TT. Cat Ba, Cat Hai, Hai Phong.
- Secret Garden Hostel. Address: 169 Nui Ngoc, TT. Cat Ba, Cat Hai, Hai Phong.
- Green Homestay. Address: DT356, Xuan Dam, Cat Hai, Hai Phong.
8.2 Staying overnight in Lan Ha Bay
On some islands such as Monkey Island, Nam Cat Island, Van Boi Island, and the floating raft area near Viet Hai, you can choose as a destination if you want to spend the night in the bay. There are all types of accommodation here such as resorts, bungalows, homestays on floating rafts for you to choose from.
- Nam Cat Island Resort. Address: Nam Cat Island, Cat Hai, Hai Phong.
- Monkey Island Resort. Address: Cat Dua Island, Cat Hai, Hai Phong.
- Pretty Floating House. Address: Viet Hai, Cat Hai, Hai Phong.
8.3 Staying overnight on a cruise ship
Similar to Ha Long, on Lan Ha Bay there are also a number of yachts designed with bedrooms on board for tourists who want to spend the night on the bay. Although the scale is not as large as the ships on the Ha Long side, it is still an interesting experience for visitors to Cat Ba who want to try.
- Little Cat Ba Boat House. Address: Lan Ha Bay, Cat Ba, Hai Phong.
- Cat Ba Cruise. Address: Lan Ha Bay, Cat Ba, Hai Phong.
You can also choose for a luxurious vacation 4-5 star cruises such as: Heritage Cruises, Cat Ba Archipelago, Era Cruises,…
9. Some important notes when traveling to Lan Ha Bay
Let your trip to Lan Ha Bay be fun, safe and complete. Please refer to some necessary notes below:
- Before traveling by plane or speedboat to the island. You should prepare your identification documents and keep them in an easy-to-access place so you can easily check-in.
- Because you have to constantly travel between islands by boat or motorboat. If you are prone to seasickness, prepare seasickness medicine before going to have complete fun.
- The evening weather at Lan Ha Bay is quite cold, so you should bring warm clothes or thick jackets to avoid catching a cold.
- The beaches and tourist areas in the Lan Ha bay will also have fishermen offering night squid fishing. You should carefully ask the price in advance and bargain if necessary to avoid being charged too high. Normally the price for this activity will be 500,000 VND/group of 6 people.
- If you want to experience a cruise, you should book 3-7 days in advance to ensure room availability.
Lan Ha Bay not only attracts tourists by its beautiful natural scenery and attractive beaches but also by its unique dishes only available here. Hopefully the detailed information above has given you more love for this land, as well as thickening the Lan Ha Bay travel guidebook for your upcoming trip.
Please contact Origin Vietnam immediately – the leading tour operator in Vietnam. With a team of consultants, tour operators and experienced and dedicated local guides. We will accompany you on your journey to discover the travel beauty of Lan Ha Bay with exciting activities and the most wonderful experiences.
