Halong Bay is one of the most visited places in Vietnam. It’s such an incredible place on earth where you sail in-between a maze of towering limestone cliffs while taking in the extraordinary scenery.
However, it can be difficult to decide exactly how you should visit Halong Bay. Is it worth it to pay the extra amount of money and do an overnight cruise or is a day trip to Halong Bay enough?
That’s the question we’ll address in this travel guide.
We’ve been lucky enough to visit Halong Bay twice – once on an overnight cruise and once on a day trip. So in this blog post, we’ll dive into the two different ways to visit Halong Bay and discuss itinerary, pros and cons, and prices.
Afterwards, you can hopefully make an informed decision on whether you should spend the extra money on an overnight cruise in Halong Bay or if you should just visit on a day tour.
Either way, we really hope that you get to experience this fantastic place in Vietnam!
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About Halong Bay in Vietnam
Before we begin this blog post about how to visit Halong Bay, we want to share a little bit of information about this incredible place in Vietnam, and what you can do to be a better visitor.
Halong Bay is situated in the North of Vietnam. It’s about 170 kilometers away from Hanoi, and the drive takes between 2-3 hours, which is why you can easily do a day tour.
Halong Bay is a true natural wonder.
Since 1994 it has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It’s a large area in the ocean that consists of a seascape made from 1600 islands. It’s truly an incredibly beautiful place, but it’s also highly touristed.
Sustainable tourism in Halong Bay
Every year, millions of tourists are visiting Halong Bay, which makes it one of the biggest tourist attractions in not just Vietnam, but all of Southeast Asia.
And if there’s one thing we’ve learned from traveling the world, then it is that with mass tourism comes destruction.
On both our day tour around Halong Bay and on the overnight luxury cruise, we saw disgusting garbage streams in the ocean. It was really sad to see. So, please don’t throw any garbage in the bay!
While we recommend everyone to go and experience Halong Bay in this blog post, we don’t find the high numbers of visitors sustainable in the long run. Hopefully Vietnam will limit the numbers of visitors in the future, so the bay gets less polluted.
We’ve also tried to research (latest in 2023) whether there are any electric boats or cruises in the bay that offer tours, but with no luck. If we ever find any eco-friendly options, we’ll make sure to recommend them in this guide.
Now, let’s get to the main essence of this blog post: How to visit Halong bay – on a day tour or luxury cruise?
Day trip in Halong Bay – The cheap option
If you’re staying in Hanoi, then you can easily book a full day tour to Halong Bay. This day tour picks you up at your hotel in Hanoi in the morning, takes you on a cruise in Halong Bay with Vietnamese lunch included and has several sightseeing stops on the way, and then drops you back off at your hotel in the evening.
We also recommend you to go to Cat Ba island and do a day tour from here. Cat Ba island is situated right in the middle of the beautiful bay. Since most tourists head straight to Halong Bay, it’s a quiet tourist destination.
On top of that, Cat Ba island is a national park! it’s beautiful, green, and lush – so grab a scooter and go explore the wilderness. If you are not into exploring the jungle, then you can also head off to the beach, grab a cold beer and just relax.
There are several daily buses going to Cat Ba island and Halong Bay from Hanoi. You can easily get your bus ticket online at 12go.asia.
Halong Bay day tour price
The Halong Bay day trip from Hanoi that we mentioned earlier will set you back $55 per person (notice prices are always subject to change). we can see most day tours on Viator range between $55-$65 per person, unless you go directly from Ha long City or Cat Ba island, then the day trip will be much cheaper.
We ended up paying 540.000 VND per person for a day tour around Lan Ha and Halong Bay from Cat Ba in 2019 (prices may have gone slightly up). This is just to show that going to Cat Ba first is a super cheap option. However, we understand not everyone have the time to go here first.
Our Halong Bay day tour itinerary
- Pick-up at Cat Ba city center in the morning
- Sail around Lan Ha Bay
- Visit a fisherman’s house, learn about their culture, and see their 100 kilo big fish
- Lunch time!
- Swim in the bay
- Sail around Ha Long Bay
- Kayak in the bay
- Swim to a secluded beach
- Return to Cat Ba through a fishermen village
Pros & Cons about the Halong Bay day trip
The best thing about the day tour was to kayak around Halong Bay because it was fun, and it made you feel even closer to the beautiful nature.
We even got to jump into the ocean from the kayak! Although, I’m not sure our guide had planned on this because he didn’t look super content about all of his guests suddenly jumping in the ocean – but we did have a lot of fun getting up into the kayaks again.
The worst thing about the tour was the social atmosphere on the boat.
Glenn had a few beers and tried to socialize, but most of the people on the boat chose to read a book or acted uninterested in us when we tried to engage in conversation. This is one of the problems with booking tours – you never know who you get to spend the day with.
But in the end, we both agreed that the day trip in Halong Bay was really nice – now we just had to experience the overnight cruise and see the different.
Overnight cruise in Halong Bay – the luxurious option
A few months after our day tour, we decided to return to Halong Bay and do an overnight cruise this time. Glenn’s best friend was visiting from Belgium and it was his first time in Vietnam, so of course a trip to the limestone pillars in the ocean was inevitable.
We completely blew our budget by booking this overnight cruise, but we got a lot in return. At first, we were a bit confused about which cruise to book and how to book it. But it turned out to be very easy. We actually just made our booking through Booking.com.
The hard part was to choose between the millions of overnight cruises (okay, maybe a bit exaggerated, but you’ll see if you try and book a luxury cruise in Halong Bay). Eventually, we just picked one.
The cruise crew picked us up in Hanoi, and from that moment on, we didn’t have to do anything for the next 24 hours. We just had to relax and be completely pampered. As budget travelers, we are not used to this… but it was a nice change from some of the lousy hostels we’ve often stayed in.
Halong Bay overnight cruise price
We had a big double room with a bathroom and balcony to ourselves, we were served 4 meals during our time on the cruise, and all activities were already planned and paid for. The only thing that wasn’t included was drinks.
All of this cost us 6.093.000 VND for two people for just one night stay on a luxurious overnight cruise in Halong Bay, which is around $250 depending on the currency rate.
Halong Bay overnight cruise itinerary
- Pick-up in Hanoi
- Check in to our rooms on the cruise
- Lunch time!
- Kayaking and swimming in the bay
- Sunset and Cooking Class
- Dinner time!
- Squid fishing
- (Sleep)
- Sunrise and Tai Chi
- Breakfast time!
- Row boat tour
- Lunch time!
- Check out
Best and worst things about the overnight cruise
The best thing was to see Halong Bay at night.
And we absolutely loved watching the sunset from the cruise! When it got pitch-black, you could see a ton of lights from the other cruises that were also anchored for the night. It was a really calm and beautiful sight.
The next best things was the food on the cruise, which was really good!
The worst thing about the cruise was that the beers was super overpriced. I know, it sounds a bit silly to complain about drink prices. But seriously, everything on the cruise that wasn’t already paid for was super expensive.
The last thing on the itinerary, the row boat tour, was also very disappointing. We literally went 20 meters into a “cave” to just get out to the other side and row back. Seemed pretty pointless.
Conclusion: Day trip or overnight cruise in Halong Bay
All in all, both experiences were great. But if we were to do it again, we would definitely go back to Cat Ba island for another day tour around Halong Bay! Cat Ba island has so much to offer and we would like to go explore it some more.
We prefer the cheaper and alternative way of visiting Halong Bay because a cruise is just a bit too formal for us.
On the day tour in Halong Bay we got a cultural experience. We felt like we got a lot closer to understand the Vietnamese people living at sea than we did on the overnight cruise. On the cruise it was more about pleasing us guests than learning about Halong Bay.
We also assume that a small day trip boat pollutes Halong Bay less than a big overnight cruise. That might be something to consider if you want to be more eco-friendly. However, we would be hypocrites to tell you not to do the overnight cruise since we did it ourselves and actually had a pretty good time.
One of the absolute highlights of both trips was definitely kayaking around the bay! But we must admit the kayaking in the day tour was way more fun because we even got to kayak through two caves.
That being said, we do not regret doing the cruise in any way. It was a great experience that we’ll cherish. I guess it’s all personal preference. You should ask yourself what you want out of your trip to Halong Bay, and then decide whether you want to do a day tour or an overnight cruise.
Here is the price difference of our two visits to Halong Bay:
Day Tour from Cat Ba: 1.080.000 VND/2 people
Luxury Overnight Night Cruise from Hanoi: 6.093.000 VND/2 people
All we can say is, whether you want to go on a budget day tour or spend a lot of money on an overnight luxury cruise, then you should definitely pay Halong Bay a visit. It’s such a wonderful place on earth!
So what’s it gonna be? Do you want to visit Halong Bay on a day tour or an overnight cruise? We hope this blog post got you a little closer to deciding.
Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below if you have any questions about this blog post. Thanks for reading and happy travels!
Other blog posts from wonderful Vietnam:
I was supposed to travel to Vietnam in April but that unfortunately didn‘t happen due to the Virus.
Your blog just really makes me look forward to finally going on that trip once everything has somewhat calmed down! Thank you for your tips, they will be very helpful.
Oh I’m sorry to hear that Denise. Vietnam is definitely one of my favorite countries. I hope you get to go soon! 😊
Umm yes please to the luxury cruise in Halong Bay lol. I feel like that would be well worth the money. This is an amazing guide!
Thanks Alexandra! 😊
Awesome tips and info comparing the two experiences! I can definitely see benefits to both but like how you get more of the cultural part with the day excursion. Or if it’s in my budget maybe do both too! I’ve never been to Vietnam but would love to!
Exactly, I did the day tour and a few months later I was back in Vietnam and thought… what the heck, I’ll spend the money and do the cruise. Both of them were amazing! 😊 I hope you get to go Vanessa!
I like what you said about not over paying for simple things! We’ll have to remember this post for our trip to Vietnam.
Thanks Rachel! Enjoy Vietnam 😊
First trip to Cambodia and Vietnam cancelled due to lockdown. in process of planning trip for Feb/Mar 2023. It is a minefield deciding where to to and what to do. Got main itinerary sorted…I think !! Came across you blog this morning and it is going to be my ‘go to’ page for both Cambodia and Vietnam. Will undoubtably spend hours reading of your adventures..just wish we were as young and fit as you two(in 60’s) !!. Robert not looking forward to living out of a suitcase for 3 weeks as potentially staying in 6 places plus hopefully Ha Long cruise. Thankyou for all your information and wish you many more happy adventures. Linda xox
Dear Linda, thank you so much for your lovely message. I’m so very glad you found my blog helpful! And I’m sure you’re going to have an amazing trip – there is so much to see, taste, and experience in both Cambodia and Vietnam.
However, it can also be some exhausting countries to travel in, so I understand Robert’s concern. For example, if Google Maps says it takes 3 hours to get somewhere with a car in Cambodia, it’s often double the time because of poor infrastructure. So make sure to count in extra time for overland travel in your itinerary.
I’d love to hear your main itinerary if you don’t mind sharing.
Enjoy your trip – I hope the long wait you had will only make it better 🙂
Best, Cecilie