1. Where is Quan Lan Island?
Quan Lan is an island located in Bai Tu Long Bay. It belongs to Quan Lan and Minh Chau communes, Van Don district, Quang Ninh province, Vietnam. It is about 40 km southeast of Van Don district center and about 50 km east of Ha Long city.
2. How is Quan Lan Island unique?
This island has a total area of over 10km2, stretching from the foot of Van Don mountain to Got mountain. With large and small mountain ranges towering high up to the sky. Although the area is quite modest, this place is favored by nature with wild and lyrical scenery.
Many visitors who come to Quan Lan for the first time are “falling in love” with the beautiful beaches. With towering cliffs and long stretches of white sand. Thanks to its pristine and peaceful beauty, Quan Lan is also famous as the rough gem of this beautiful land.
3. When is the best time to visit Quan Lan Island?
The weather on Quan Lan Island has 2 distinct seasons: summer and winter. Summer is hot and humid, winter is cold and dry. You can completely experience Quan Lan Island tourism in Quang Ninh at any time.
According to our experience of traveling to Quan Lan Island, the best time is in the summer, especially from April to the end of June is the most ideal time for you to travel to this island. At this time, the weather is not too hot, there are no storms. So you can comfortably swim, check in and explore the poetic beauty of Quan Lan Island.
Autumn on this island is also quite lyrical, but at this time the weather on the island is rainy and quite cold. If you intend to go to Quan Lan Island from July to September. You need to update the weather continuously to avoid low pressure and storms.
4. How to get to Quan Lan Island?
4.1 Traveling to Ao Tien International Port in Van Don
4.1.1 By plane
If you are from far away provinces such as the Central or Southern regions of Vietnam. You can travel by plane and choose to land at Cat Bi Airport in Hai Phong, Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi or Van Don Airport in Quang Ninh. Then, you choose road vehicles such as buses, taxis, … to get to Ao Tien International Port.
4.1.2 By public transport
From Hanoi, you can take a limousine or bus from My Dinh bus station or Giap Bat bus station to Van Don. The travel time is nearly 4 hours. In addition, you can travel by personal vehicle such as motorbike or car.
If you depart from Hai Phong, you can also choose means of transport such as bus, limousine, motorbike or car. However, the travel time is about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
4.1.3 By personal vehicle
If you are an explorer, you can absolutely travel by motorbike. During the journey, you will be able to admire the beautiful scenery of mountains and forests, and nature on both sides of the road. Please refer to the navigation application to be able to travel most accurately to Ao Tien international port, Van Don. In order to avoid getting lost and wasting time.
If you use your own car to go to Quan Lan Island, you can follow the Hanoi – Hai Phong – Ha Long – Van Don expressway and go straight to Ao Tien international port. You leave your car at the port and then move to Quan Lan island, Quang Ninh.
4.2 Moving from Ao Tien international port to Quan Lan island
After that, you will move to Ao Tien international port in Van Don. From here, you can go to Quan Lan island by speedboat or wooden boat.
- Speedboat: Take a speedboat from Ao Tien port to Quan Lan island, it takes about 40 minutes with a ticket price of 100,000 VND/trip. There will be many boats departing from 6am to 4pm every day for visitors to choose from.
- Wooden boat: The time to travel by wooden boat to Quan Lan island will be longer because a trip must have enough passengers to run. The travel time is about 2 hours and the ticket price is about 60,000 VND/person. The advantage of this means of transport is safety. You can be completely assured in any weather conditions including heavy rain, strong winds, high waves.
4.3 Means of transport on Quan Lan Island
The tourist destinations on Quan Lan Island are quite far apart, so for more convenient travel, you can choose to rent a motorbike, take a tuk tuk or an electric car.
- Traveling by tuk tuk will be suitable for large groups, one trip can carry about 8 people. The price to rent this type of vehicle is quite cheap, only about 300,000 VND/trip.
- The electric car system on Quan Lan Island is quite invested. One trip can carry about 9 to 12 passengers with two ports: Minh Chau and Quan Lan. The route of the car will take about 45 minutes to all the attractions. Ticket prices range from 20,000 VND to 60,000 VND depending on the location.
- Tourists can rent a motorbike if traveling with 1 or 2 people, this vehicle will help you be proactive and explore the tourist attractions on the island yourself.
5. Sightseeings at Quan Lan Island
5.1 Quan Lan Beach
Quan Lan Beach is famous as one of the brightest “gems” of Quan Lan Island. This place has a wild, poetic landscape with a long coastline, clear water and fine white sand. Many tourists who come here have to exclaim that Quan Lan beach is “white as snow”.
In particular, the scenery here still retains its wild beauty. Even in the peak tourist season, Quan Lan beach is not too crowded. This is also an ideal place that many tourists choose to visit and temporarily get away from the noisy and dusty city.
5.2 Minh Chau Beach
When traveling to Quan Lan Island, you definitely cannot miss Minh Chau beach. Minh Chau has the beauty of wildness, intact as in the beginning. So this place is famous as the “floating pearl” in the heart of Quang Ninh. When coming here, you will be able to enjoy sunbathing on the long white sand beach like silk, immerse yourself in the clear blue water and freely swim and dive.
In addition to swimming and sightseeing, when coming to Minh Chau beach, you can also organize camping, participate in many interesting games on the beach such as: kite flying, cycling, … In particular, watching the sunset and enjoying the delicious taste of seafood is also a wonderful experience that you cannot miss when coming to Minh Chau beach.
5.3 Son Hao Beach
Son Hao is also one of the famous beautiful beaches on Quan Lan island. The characteristics of this beach are the towering rows of casuarinas and extremely rich vegetation. Son Hao possesses wild beauty, not much affected by humans, so the peaceful scenery is extremely suitable for relaxation.
When you come here, in addition to enjoying swimming in the sea, don’t forget to visit Da Tron beach to check in. The large and small stones of all sizes formed by the impact of the waves at Da Tron beach will definitely make you extremely excited when you see them with your own eyes.
5.4 Robinson Beach
Robinson Beach can be one of the most pristine beaches on Quan Lan Island. When you come here, you will amaze by the clear blue water and the smooth white sand stretching far and wide. On the coast of Robinson beach is a row of green casuarina trees rustling.
Many visitors when coming here love the feeling of sitting on the sand or swinging, watching each wave crash into the shore, creating white foam. At dawn or dusk, the sunlight reflecting on the sea brings a poetic beauty, making visitors who come here not want to leave.
5.5 Viet My Beach
Viet My is a beach near the pier, which was originally an abandoned project so the people on Quan Lan island rented it seasonally to run tourist services. Viet My Beach is gently sloping with a long coastline and clear blue water. There are many food areas facing the sea with beautiful views, affordable prices, along with many types of entertainment available here.
5.6 Eo Gio Quan Lan
Eo Gio is located in the south of Quan Lan island, this is the place to watch the most beautiful sunrise and sunset on the island. About 6 km from Quan Lan pier, to get here you can rent a motorbike or tuk tuk. Eo Gio is located on a small mountain, the highest peak of the mountain faces the sea, this is also an ideal place for many tourists to check in.
Standing from the top of the mountain, you can look far away to observe the island from above and admire each wave of white foam. The best time of day to visit Eo Gio is early morning, when the dawn has just broken. Each ray of sunlight shines on the shimmering sea, immersing visitors in a breathtaking natural picture.
5.7 European Grassland
Quan Lan European Grassland is an ideal check-in location – a place to create divine virtual photos that are extremely loved by young visitors. True to its name, when you set foot on this grass field, you will feel like you are lost in a land somewhere in Europe. Just raise your camera and you will have a beautiful, sparkling photo.
5.8 Love Rock Beach
This rock beach is located near the center of Quan Lan island and is a check-in location loved by many visitors, especially couples. Love Rock Beach has both a wide sandy beach and many rugged rocky areas jutting out into the sea, with rows of green casuarinas inside. This beach is quite wild and is also an ideal place for visitors to camp.
5.9 River with white sand banks
Moving on the main road on Quan Lan island, you will see a small river with white sand on both sides. When the sun rises high, the reflection on the river surface creates a sparkling, shimmering image. In the late afternoon when the sunset is about to fall, you can stop by the river with white sand banks to capture the most beautiful photos for yourself.
5.10 Quan Lan Communal House
This communal house was built around the 17th century, during the Later Le Dynasty. During the Nguyen Dynasty, the communal house was renovated many times and became a place to worship King Le Anh Tong, General Tran Khanh Du and the village’s tutelary god. These are the people who contributed to the establishment of Quan Lan commune.
Quan Lan Communal House possesses traditional temple architecture with curved red tiled roofs. On the windows, pillars, and moldings, there are many meticulously crafted dragon and phoenix motifs. This place was certified as a national historical and architectural relic in 1990. In particular, visiting Quan Lan Island from the 10th to the 20th of the 6th lunar month, visitors will be immersed in the vibrant atmosphere of the Quan Lan Communal House Festival.
5.11 Ba Mun National Park
Ba Mun Island National Park is located in the heart of Bai Tu Long Bay, known by other names such as Cao Lo Island, Thu Island. This is the only schist island in HaLong Bay. Coming to Ba Mun National Park, visitors will experience the primeval forest system with an extremely diverse ecosystem, many rich and rare species of flora and fauna.
When exploring Ba Mun National Park, visitors will be surprised by the fresh and cool air here. For visitors who love to explore and love wild nature, this is the perfect destination. In Ba Mun National Park, there are many extremely rare types of wood such as: ironwood, Lim wood, yellow incense wood and many large ancient trees standing tall against the sky.
5.12 Quan Lan Central Market
Quan Lan Central Market is one of the early markets located right in the center of Quan Lan island commune. This market only opens in the morning for about 2 hours, from 3 to 5 o’clock, after the night fishing boats return.
Although it opens very early and only for a short period of time, Quan Lan Central Market is always bustling. Here, all kinds of shrimp, crab, fish, squid, … are sold, which are specialties of Minh Chau and Quan Lan sea. If you have the chance, wake up early and experience this market to immerse yourself in the gentle, simple life of the local fishermen.
5.13 Ngoc Vung Island
Ngoc Vung Island belongs to Van Don district, Quang Ninh, about 40 km from Van Don port. This place has a coastline stretching nearly 15km, white sand beaches and rows of casuarina trees stretching out to the sea, rustling, which will be an extremely attractive tourist destination for your family this summer.
To the east of Ngoc Vung Island is the Dragon Eye rock – this is an extremely beautiful, extremely sparkling check-in spot loved by many young people. From the rock, looking out into the distance, you can see the entire poetic Co To island of Quang Ninh. There are many fun activities that you can organize along the coast such as: burning the door, camping overnight, having an outdoor barbecue, enjoying seafood specialties.
5.14 Tran Khanh Du Temple Relic
Tran Khanh Du Temple is one of the temples and shrines that have existed for a long time on the beautiful Quan Lan Island. The architecture of this temple in the past was very spacious and majestic. The entire structure was built of ironwood, the pillars were carved with flying dragons and dancing phoenixes, dragons, unicorns, and phoenixes, and the curved roofs were all carved with dragon and carp heads.
Don’t forget to visit this historical relic to learn more about the heroic historical feats in the fight to protect the sovereignty of the Vietnamese people’s sea and islands.
5.15 Got Beach
Got Beach is a very pristine beach on Quan Lan Island, Quang Ninh. This beach has extremely beautiful white sand beaches. This will be an ideal place to watch the sunset and sunrise every day on the island.
From Got Beach, you go a little further to reach Eo Gio Quan Lan, also known as Eo Gio. This is a truly beautiful mountain peak facing the sea, worth checking in when you come to Quan Lan. To get here, you have to go through the forest and climb to the top.
5.16 Tram Forest
On the island, there is a hundreds-year-old Tram forest that has long been legendary as a sacred tree of the local people. According to the people in Minh Chau commune, the Tram forest was planted by the first generations of people who set foot on the island. No one, including the elderly in the village, knows the origin and formation of the Tram forest.
In the village, there is a story about the Tram forest protecting the fishing village from a big storm in 1945. Although it was devastated and devastated after the storm, the Tram forest was able to revive strongly and become green again. They blossomed and bore fruit at the end of the year, saving people from the famine that raged at that time.
6. Specialties when traveling to Quan Lan Island
It would be a pity if you come to Quan Lan without trying all the special dishes here. Not only does it have a breathtaking natural landscape, but this place also fascinates visitors with countless delicious dishes. From shrimp, crab, snail, crab to fish, squid, … all are processed in their own way.
6.1 Grilled clams and oysters with scallion oil
This seemingly rustic dish has made many diners remember it forever after their trip to Quan Lan. Fresh, plump clams grilled with scallion oil look so attractive. It’s wonderful to enjoy this dish with a few glasses of fresh beer in the cool weather on the island.
6.2 Quan Lan sea worms – precious and nutritious seafood
Apart from the people and gourmets in the Quang Ninh sea, few people know about sea worms – a dish that is considered expensive. The worms can be processed fresh, or dried and then roasted, fried, boiled, cooked in soup, porridge, etc.
The meat of the worms is very sweet, rich, chewy and delicious. Because it is a super delicious and nutritious dish, the price is also high and difficult to find in other localities.
6.3 Grilled shrimp – Rich sea flavor
The characteristics of Quan Lan shrimp are soft shells, green when alive and very sharp lines on the head. After catching, the chef will wash and marinate them with suitable spices, then skewer them on an iron bar or grill over hot coals.
The preparation method is actually very simple, but the delicious flavor of this dish is sure to make you fall in love.
6.4 Cu Ky – a delicious specialty of Quan Lan
At first glance, Cu Ky looks like a crab, but this is a type of sea crab with two large claws and more meat. Like the worms, this is also a special seafood in the Quan Lan sea area. Because the price is cheaper than crab, but the taste is still delicious. People made these dishes from cu ky are popular with tourists.
People with experience traveling to Quan Lan share that this type of seafood is processed into many delicious dishes such as cu ky noodles, charcoal grill or tamarind sauce. If you have the opportunity to travel to Quan Lan island, you must definitely eat this dish.
6.5 Sea Cucumber – nutritious seafood
Sea cucumbers often appear in the Minh Chau sea area, considered a delicious and nutritious dish. People used sea cucumbers to cook porridge, stew or cook soups. Not only a food, sea cucumbers also have the ability to strengthen the kidneys, nourish blood, nourish yin. And slow down the aging process.
6.6 Sea urchin
This is a very healthy seafood that you should try when coming to Quan Lan island. Sea urchin meat is firm, looks like rambutan shell, black and has many thorns. People enjoy sea urchins raw or grilled with scallion oil, cooked into porridge or soup, all delicious.
6.7 Geoduck clam- elephant snail
This is a type of seafood similar to snails that is extremely good for health and is abundant on Quan Lan island. Geoduck clam has an elliptical shell, thin snail skin, and is easy to peel. The main feature is the very large spout protruding from the shell. They can processed this type of snail into many delicious and attractive dishes. Don’t forget to enjoy it when you come to Quan Lan island.
6.8 Steamed squid
If you can buy fresh squid from the local fishermen’s market, steam it and dip it in chili sauce, it is delicious. The squid is crispy, sweet to the bite.
7. Accommodation when traveling to Quan Lan island
When traveling here, you can refer to some of the following accommodations:
- Minh Chau Beach Resort. Address: Ninh Hai village, Minh Chau commune, Quang Ninh province.
- Hung Lam Resort Quan Lan. Address: Son Hao village, Quan Lan commune, Van Don district, Quang Ninh
- Phoenix Minh Chau Hotel. Address: Island, Quan Lan, Van Don, Quang Ninh.
- Minh Chau Pearl Hotel & Spa – Quan Lan Island. Address: Ninh Hai village, Minh Chau commune, Van Don District, Quang Ninh.
- Angsana Quan Lan Hotel. Address: Son Hao Hamlet, Commune, Quan Lan, Van Don, Quang Ninh.
- Tri Cuc Homestay Quan Lan. Address: Island, Quan Lan, Van Don, Quang Ninh.
- Bean Homestay. Address: Minh Chau, Quan Lan, Van Don, Quang Ninh.
- Nha Cam Homestay. Address: Ninh Hai village, Minh Chau commune, Van Don, Quang Ninh.
- Friendly Homestay Quan Lan. Address: Alley 3, Tran Khanh Du street, Thai Hoa village, Quan Lan, Van Don, Quang Ninh.
8. Some important notes when traveling to Quan Lan Island
To make your tour Ha Long Bay to explore Quan Lan Island more complete, remember to refer to some necessary notes below:
- To catch the boat to the island during the day. You should travel from Hanoi early in the morning to rest at noon in Ha Long. Then travel to Ao Tien port before dark. Otherwise you will have to wait until the next day to catch the boat to visit the island.
- Check the boat schedule information, and book tickets online in advance. In order to avoid the situation of no boat or sold out tickets.
- Summer is the peak tourist season in Quan Lan. So at this time the boat to the island is often full. In particular, the boat moves as soon as there is enough space, not by the hour. Therefore, you need to proactively arrive at the port very early.
- The locations on Quan Lan Island are quite close to each other. So you should rent a motorbike for convenient travel.
- You should book a homestay or hotel on Quan Lan Island near Minh Chau beach, Son Hao beach. Because these are the most beautiful beaches on the island, there are many entertainment services.
- Electricity on the island is quite expensive and people only use it for lighting. Therefore, you should bring a spare charger to use.
Quan Lan Island is an interesting destination that you cannot miss on your Vietnam tour to explore Quang Ninh. This is one of the rare islands in our country that still retains the wild beauty of nature.
If you are planning to travel to Quan Lan Island on your upcoming vacation. Don’t forget to contact Origin Vietnam – a professional tour operator. We will accompany you on your journey to explore Vietnam with exciting activities and memorable experiences.
