1. Where is Ti Top Island?
Ti Top Island is located in Ha Long Bay, Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam. About 12 km from Tuan Chau Port and about 8 km from Bai Chay Tourist Area to the Southeast. This island is located in an extremely favorable position, with its back leaning against Cua Luc Bay, in front of Sung Sot Cave is Bo Hon Island, on the right is Dam Nam Island.
2. How is Ti Top Island unique?
This place is known as one of the most beautiful islands in HaLong Bay. Seen from above, Ti Top Island has a steep bank, a sloping bank and a long, flat sandbank. The beach is shaped like a crescent moon, embracing the foot of the island. This is also an ideal stopover for tourists on their journey to visit HaLong Bay.
When visiting Ti Top Island, you will be amazed by the wild, romantic and peaceful beauty of this place. This place has a long and very clean sandbank due to the frequent tides. The sea water is clear all year round, and you can see the pebbles on the sand bottom.
3. History of Ti Top Island
Ti Top Island was previously known by many different names such as Cat Nang Island or Hong Thap Tu Island. This name originated in the late 19th century, when a French cargo ship entered Ha Long Bay. It could not avoid the reef and sank in Con Coc lagoon. All crew members on board died and were buried on this island.
On January 22, 1962, President Ho Chi Minh and Soviet astronaut Gherman Titop visited the island. To commemorate this important event and mark the friendly relationship between the two countries, Uncle Ho decided to change the island’s name to Ti Top.
4. When is the best time to visit Ti Top Island?
With the cool, pleasant climate of Northern Vietnam. You can visit Ti Top Island at any time of the year. However, according to travel experience, there are two times that you should avoid coming here:
- June to July: This is the summer season on Titop Island, the weather is extremely suitable for you to participate in swimming and relaxing activities. However, during this time, the island will welcome a lot of tourists. Because it is the peak season, the prices of services at this time will also be quite high.
- December to February: At this time, the weather on Ti Top Island changes, it becomes colder and often foggy.
Therefore, the best time to travel to Ti Top Island is from March to May. During this time, the weather is sunny but not harsh, especially with little rain and no tropical storms. Moreover, the Ha Long Carnival often takes place on the island with many impressive performances.
5. How to get to Ti Top Island?
Are you wondering what means of transport to use to get to Ti Top Island in Ha Long? Here are some suggestions for means of transport that you can refer to.
5.1 Renting a boat
A boat is one of the popular means of transport to Ti Top Island. If you go by boat, you cannot buy a single ticket but must book the whole boat to Titop Island, including the tour around the bay. The ticket price for this tour ranges from 500,000 – 700,000 VND/hour/ship, depending on the type of ship you choose.
5.2 Taking a cruise
A cruise is also an ideal choice when visiting Titop Island. With an overnight cruise on the bay, you will have the opportunity to admire the beauty of Titop Island and HaLong Bay from a new perspective, completely different from going by boat. The cost for this cruise ranges from 1.5 – 2.8 million VND/person, depending on the type of cruise, length of stay and room class you choose.
5.3 Taking a seaplane
An extremely interesting travel experience that you should try is taking a seaplane. Traveling by seaplane, soaring at an altitude of 300m, you can admire the wonderful beauty of HaLong Bay from above. This “flying boat” will land at Ti Top Island for visitors to relax, explore, swim, or climb mountains as they please. The cost for each seaplane flight ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 million VND/person/trip.
6. Activities and experiences on Ti Top Island
You are planning a trip to Ha Long and are looking for interesting activities on Ti Top Island. Below is a list of the top unique experiences that you should definitely try when coming to the island.
6.1 Admiring the unique beauty of Ti Top Island
First, as soon as you arrive at Ti Top Island, you will admire an extremely unique island. This island impresses with its unique shape, resembling a “lying side” position with one side steep and one side slanted. This island is covered by a long, smooth, white sand beach, curving like a crescent moon, hugging the foot of the island.
6.2 Immersing yourself in the cool, clear blue sea water
An experience that cannot be missed when coming to Titop Island is swimming. This island owns a beautiful Vang Trang beach with smooth white sand, clear, cool sea water. Although this beach is not large, it is extremely peaceful, airy and clean. In particular, in the summer, this island becomes a favorite place to escape the heat and “cool down” for both local and foreign tourists.
6.3 Participating in interesting sea games
When coming to Ti Top Island, in addition to swimming, immerse yourself in the cool water to “cool down”. You also have the opportunity to participate in many other interesting underwater activities. Some typical games that are loved by many tourists when coming here. Such as kayaking, jet skiing, beach volleyball, buoy pulling, parachuting, etc.
6.4 Trekking to the top of Ti Top Mountain
When coming to Titop Island, you can spend time climbing 400 steps leading to the top of the island. From the top of the island, looking far away, you will see the surrounding scenery of the ocean, the immense and majestic waves of Ha Long Bay. Large and small islands and majestic mountains, boats gliding on the sea have created an impressive landscape.
6.5 Checking – in amid the beautiful blue sea and white sand scenery
With the beautiful blue sea and white sand scenery of Ti Top Island, it is definitely indispensable to take check-in and virtual photos. At any location on the island, you can easily find super beautiful photo angles. Especially on sunny summer days. Try taking photos from many different angles, poses, … to create a lifetime photo collection, to record memorable memories of this trip.
7. Specialties when traveling to Ti Top Island
When traveling here, in addition to admiring the wild beauty of the island or participating in interesting underwater activities. You also have the opportunity to enjoy Ha Long specialties.
7.1 Sea “Ngan”
This species has the shape of a clam but is larger, a delicious specialty in Ha Long. There are many different ways to prepare sea cockles, such as: grilled, steamed, cooked in soup, stir-fried with noodles, etc. It brings you irresistible delicious flavors.
In addition, sea cockles are also used to soak in wine with a unique sea flavor. Therefore, if you have the opportunity to come here, do not hesitate to order a portion to enjoy and evaluate for yourself.
- Suggested delicious food address: Thien Anh Seafood Restaurant – Cai Dam urban area (Bai Chay).
- Reference price: 100,000 – 440,000 VND/person.
7.2 Ha Long squid cake
This dish has the main ingredient of pounded or ground squid meat, shaped into round cakes and fried. In particular, the squid cake here has a sweeter taste than other regions, so it is loved by many diners.
In addition, there is also a sticky, fragrant squid cake sticky rice dish thanks to carefully selected glutinous rice grains. Combined with that are pieces of fried squid cake, cut into bite-sized pieces. Just looking at it and mentioning its name is enough to make you crave it right away.
- Recommended delicious food address: Quang Phong Restaurant – Lot C112A, Old Quarter, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh.
- Reference price: 35,000 – 50,000 VND/portion.
In addition, don’t forget to enjoy the hot steamed squid spring rolls while blowing on them. Each portion of the cake is arranged evenly on a plate wrapped around the minced meat and wood ear filling. Accompanied by a golden, fragrant squid spring roll, poured evenly with delicious fish sauce.
7.3 Sea Sam (sea cucumber)
Ha Long Bay’s specialty also includes sea sam with many different ways of preparation. You can order yourself a portion of sweet and sour stir-fried sam, sam salad, stir-fried sam with vermicelli, stir-fried sam with lemongrass and chili, fried sam eggs, grilled sam cartilage. The Sam meat is sweet, chewy, delicious, easy to eat, conquering even the most difficult diners.
- Suggested delicious food address: Hung Mit Sam 7 Mon restaurant, Bach Dang, Ha Long, Quang Ninh.
- Reference price: 50,000 – 75,000 VND/piece.
7.4 Mantis shrimp vermicelli
Mantis shrimp vermicelli is one of the famous dishes in Quang Ninh. When enjoying it, you will taste the deliciousness of seafood and the chewiness of the vermicelli. Combined with a light broth, served with herbs, making diners more satisfied the more they eat.
- Suggested delicious food address: Lang Chai mantis shrimp vermicelli restaurant – 1 Le Thanh Tong, Hong Gai, Ha Long, Quang Ninh.
- Reference price: 20,000 – 50,000 VND/bowl.
7.5 Milk oyster porridge
Milk oyster porridge is a specialty in Ha Long that is both delicious and nutritious. Trying this dish is also the time when you take in more vitamins and nutrients for the body. At the same time, porridge also helps treat diseases related to blood pressure, headaches, and diabetes.
- Suggested delicious food address: Khanh Ly restaurant – Hung Vuong street, Ka Long, Mong Cai, Quang Ninh.
- Reference price: 30,000 – 50,000 VND/bowl.
8. Accommodation when traveling to Ti Top island
When traveling here, you can refer to some of the following accommodations:
- Mithrin Hotel Ha Long. Address: Hoang Quoc Viet street, Bai Chay, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh.
- Soleil Ha Long Hotel – Trademark Collection by Wyndham. Address: 82-84 Ha Long, Bai Chay, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh.
- Delasea Hotel Halong. Address: Lot 1 Ha Long Marine Boulevard, Bai Chay, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh.
- Novotel Hotel Ha Long. Address: 160 Ha Long, Bai Chay, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh.
- Ha Long Starlight Hotel. Address: 1A Anh Dao, Str, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh.
- Marina Ha Long hotel. Address: 05 QL20, Dong Khu Du Du, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh.
- Song Loc Luxury Hotel. Address: D. Tien Ong Street, Bai Chay, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh.
- Peace Ha Long Hotel. Address: 76 Vuon Dao, Bai Chay, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh.
9. Some important notes when traveling to Ti Top Island
To make your cruise to Ti Top Island more complete, please refer to some necessary notes as follows:
- Bring food and Ha Long specialties when going to the island: Titop is a natural island, not much affected by tourism activities. There are very few food and accommodation services on the island. Therefore, when visiting Titop, you should bring food to recharge your energy. Or preparing some seafood to have a barbecue party on the beach is also a good suggestion for those who go with family or friends.
- Pay attention to the system of stairs when climbing up to the observation deck on the top of the mountain: the road to Titop peak is relatively difficult with 400 steps. To ensure safety, you should pay attention to follow the road, hold on to the handrails while climbing up or down.
- Bring some necessary items: the weather on the island is very sunny, you should bring sunscreen to avoid sunburn. In addition, necessary items to “pocket” when visiting Titop island are: swimsuits, virtual life accessories, spare batteries…
- Book a hotel room or cruise in advance: during the peak tourist season, Ha Long welcomes a lot of domestic and international tourists. To avoid the case of no rooms or no boat tickets, you should book a hotel room and book a boat in advance.
- When visiting the island, be careful not to damage the landscape and environment here. Such as: cutting trees, destroying, writing and drawing on rocks, etc.
- Throw garbage in the right place and do not bring or use disposable plastic products when visiting the island.
- Do not disturb public order, do not bring weapons, explosives or illegal propaganda materials.
- Do not wash your hands and feet at the steps of the pier to ensure the safety of all visitors.
It is worthy visiting Ti Top island
Ti Top Island is known as a precious gem in Ha Long Bay. When visiting here, you will have the opportunity to admire the majestic and beautiful natural scenery. You can also immerse yourself in the cool water, relax on the long stretch of white sand and participate in many activities, impressive and memorable experiences.
With the detailed, updated and useful information that Origin Vietnam – a professional tour operator, has just provided and shared in the above article. Hope you will have a safe, fun and complete tour to HaLong Bay to explore Ti Top Island.
