Our day cruise from Cat Ba Island was wonderful. After spending a couple days in Hanoi (Vietnam’s capital). I knew that I wanted to see the famous Ha Long Bay. But after talking to a couple locals and hearing about how much it has been overridden by tourism and the water is often littered with trash, I decided to take their recommendation and visit Cat Ba Island instead.

I booked a bus ticket to Cat Ba through my hotel – Hanoi Sweet Family Homestay. It cost $12 per person (infants free) and took about 4 hours. The bus picked my family and I up at the hotel and dropped us off at our hotel in Cat Ba. The bus company was Daiichi Travel. It was nothing spectacular, but they stopped for a bathroom break, gave us bottled water and a moist towelette, and got us there safely. I’m not sure what more I could have asked for.

How to book a cruise from Cat Ba Island

In Cat Ba, we stayed at Le Pont Hotel. We booked our tour through them, and I think that is the easiest way to do it whether you want a 1 day, 2 day or 3 day tour. There are so many different tour companies out there that it is very hard to choose otherwise.

Every hotel will have a provider that they work with. This will more often than not cost you less than going through a tourist kiosk or travel agent. You may be able to find slightly cheaper options online, but I would still recommend booking through your accommodation because the tour company will pick you up at the hotel/hostel and bring you back rather than you having to make your way there by yourself at your own cost.

Each tour will be on a classic wooden junk boat that leads you around the bay.

Where does the cruise from Cat Ba Island go?

Most cruises from Cat Ba will take you around Lan Ha Bay. It is part of the Ha Long Bay region, but the sister island of the iconic Ha Long Bay. Don’t worry – it is just as beautiful!

Each tour might take you to slightly different destinations, but my itinerary looked like this:
– Floating Fishing Village
– Dark and Light Caves
– 3 Peaches Beaches
– Monkey Island

How much does a Lan Ha Bay cruise cost?

Each tour company will charge something different, but the tour we did booked through our hotel was $14 per person (infants free). When shopping around keep that price in mind and try not to pay more than that.

What should you bring with you for the cruise?

It depends on the time of year. We went in March when it was warm outside, but a little bit chilly on the water.

I would recommend bringing pants, a sweatshirt, your swimsuit, a towel, sunglasses or a sun hat, sunscreen and a change of clothes for the way back. If it is piping hot when you go, adjust the recommendations as necessary.

They will sell light snack and drinks on board, but if you want to save money I would bring your own (especially if you want to have a couple of adult beverages).

Our Experience

Getting from the hotel to the junk boat

An old hippy van came to our hotel bright and early to pick us up (8am). The driver opened the door for us to get in and I immediately got very nervous because the van was absolutely jam packed. I didn’t know how we were all going to fit in there. In total there were 18 of us in the van (including the driver and baby Isabel on my lap).

I thought we had made a mistake and that the van was going to take us to some 100 person tour group for the day. But, when we got to the port I was happy to see that the only people on our junk boat were the 17 people from the van. We had an extremely nice local guide who spoke very good English and an equally lovely cabin crew.

Shipping off – cruising through the fishing villages of Lan Ha Bay

The first thing we noticed as we started sailing was how absolutely beautiful the scenery was. It’s blue-green water with secluded sandy beaches in the distance, and limestone rock formations are all around. I remember thinking to myself, “I could spend the whole day out on the water on a boat like this”. Then laughed when I realized that it was exactly what I was doing. You get to spend the whole day on a classic boat surrounded by beautiful landscapes.

As I mentioned before, I had heard a lot about the trash in the water of Ha Long Bay, and that there was some trash in Lan Ha Bay as well. I’m happy to say that I didn’t really see any. It was beautiful clear water for me. At the end of the trip, I did see a trash boat which I assume comes around to clean trash out of the water. So, it must be true that there is trash in the water, but at least in Lan Ha Bay they do a good job about cleaning it up. It was very nice for our tour.

As you continue to sail through the bay, you’ll come across the fishing village. Dozens of ‘huts’ or ‘homes’ are spread throughout the area. It’s fascinating to see the native people doing their craft. Some of them even have dogs and cats out there with them!

Kayaking through Dark and Light Caves

We then arrived at a little floating kayaking stop. We had 1.5 hours to kayak through the different caves to discover little lagoons and tunnels. It was a bit busy because other tours have similar itineraries and I think there were 3 different tours there at the same time we were. But, don’t worry, 1.5 hours is plenty of time to see everything.

Note: they do not provide life jackets (some of the tour boats might have them, but don’t count on it). I never felt unsafe even with a 1 year old, but I thought I should mention it).

There were some traffic jams when trying to get through some of the caves, so I would recommend steering clear of what everyone else is doing. Explore some of the other stuff first, and then go and do the caves after. Like I said, there is more than enough time to see everything. Doing it opposite the crowd will save you from annoying kayak bumping.

If you want to get a good picture while on the water, ask another kayak to take a picture of you. It will turn out much better than the selfie you try to get.

Kayaking with Isabel was so fun. She absolutely loved it. She reached her hands over the sides to touch the water, and liked to stick her feet in. She kind of started to fall apart near the end, she was hungry and wanted a change of scenery. So, we went back to the boat a couple minutes before everyone else. But, that was okay, like I said there was more than enough time on the kayaks.

Traditional Vietnamese lunch on the junk boat

After kayaking we got back on the boat and were served a traditional Vietnamese meal prepared by the crew (many of whom were/are fisherman). It was served family style and shared between 6 people. There was more than enough food to go around and it was delicious!

They served spring rolls, fried rice, vegetables, fishcakes and a whole fish. We brought Isabel “baby food” since she wasn’t included, butt there was more than enough for us to share the meal with her as well.

If you are bringing your baby on one of these tours, be prepared for others on the boat to be a little squeamish around you. People were hesitant to sit with us for lunch because of the baby, but once we all sat down and got to talking it ended up being fine and people really liked her.

After lunch, the crew came around and cleaned the tables and swept the floors. They were friendly and made sure the space was nice for us.

Swimming at 3 Peaches Beach

After lunch, we cruised 3 Peaches Beaches to take a swim. This beach was hardly a beach at all. Really it is just a tiny patch of white sand with rocks and shells. Again, there was another boat there at the same time so there were some other people to swim with. They market this part of the trip as a snorkeling spot, but they don’t provide any snorkeling gear, so unless you bring it yourself, you are just swimming or jumping off the boat.

On the bright side, they do provide towels. This time of the year the water was cold. Isabel wanted to swim but as soon as her legs went in it was too cold for her, so I stayed on the boat with her while Dan did some swimming. Because of the chill, quite a few people on our boat chose not to get off.

After we were done swimming the crew came and moped up the floors so that they weren’t slippery and again cleaned up – they were really on top of it.

Relaxing on Monkey Island

Next, we headed to Monkey Island. It is a pretty place, but all of the tour boats ended the day here so it was pretty crowded. Some tours have little boats that transfer you from your boat to the island, while others (like ours) put out a wooden plank from the boat to the shore and the crew holds a metal rod that’s meant to be a handrail. Isabel was sleeping at this time, so it was a little tough to get off for me while wearing her. I held my flipflops and rolled my pants because you have to step in about a foot of water to reach the shore. Beware that when you do, the shore is filled with sea shells and rocks so it’s a little rough on the feet.

You can do 2 things on this part of the trip: hike to the viewpoint or relax on the beach. Be careful what shoes you decide to wear though. If you want to see the viewpoint, you will need gym shoes. It’s about a 15-20 minute hike up sometimes spikey limestone rocks to get a great view of Lan Ha Bay. If you don’t bring gym shoes, you probably aren’t going to make it to the top. If you go barefoot or with flipflops you can probably make it about half way up, but you really need real shoes if you want to make it to the top.

If you don’t care about that, then you can bring whatever shoes you want and relax on the beach or grab a bit to eat or a drink and sit in the pavilion. I stayed with Isabel on the beach because she was sleeping and I only had flip flops. Dan did the hike and he said it was absolutely worth it and that the views were amazing. So, bring shoes if it interests you.

The monkeys

If you read the pamphlet for this tour, it says that you just might get to see one of the monkeys. This is a marketing ploy. You WILL see a monkey. They are all over. And they are not nice. Be careful, they will steal anything. When our boat first arrived, a monkey came and grabbed a beer from someone, chugged the whole thing, and then ran away. There was another person with an apple who the monkeys jumped on top of to try and get it. The person swung around to swing them off, but that wasn’t always the case.

So many people visit this island that the monkeys are not scared of humans at all, and will take everything – your food, your beer, your phone, your hammock. And if they get a hold of something, they will not give it back. I watched every single one of those things get stolen from someone for the hour we were there. I made sure to stay away because I had Isabel and I didn’t want anything to happen to her and was wary of scratches and potential diseases.

Heading back to port and Cat Ba Island

After the monkeys, it was a straight cruise back to the port through the same beautiful landscape. I was glad to have my sweatshirt as it was even more chilly as the sun started to fade.

When you arrive back at the port, you’ll get back on the same bus that brought you there in the first place and they will drop you back off at your hotel.

The Verdict

We had an absolutely amazing time on this day cruise, and I would definitely recommend doing one to anyone. I sometimes get asked about the 2 and 3 day tours, and although I didn’t do them, I wouldn’t. For me, the day was plenty of time, and I think I would have gotten bored with the 2 or 3 day cruises. But, you choose for yourself!

I hope you got a good idea of what cruising from Cat Ba Island looks like. For more information like this, or to get more updates from our round the world trip, make sure to subscribe!