THE BEST ROUTE TO VISIT HALONG BAY

Apr 24, 2018

The summer is coming; taking a Halong bay cruise to spend your summer holiday is a great option. Halong bay is an UNESCO Heritage site, it’s famous with the beauty of the limestone tower, islands and islets boats caves, caverns and grottoes.  If you are wondering which cruise to take and what route to follow, here is some information you may find helpful

The length of the trip

The first thing you want to think of is how long you want to spend on cruising through the bay. The routes also depend on the length of the trip. Most of the cruises operate the itinerary around these options:

Day trip cruises (4-6 hours)

2 Days – 1 night Cruises (2D1N)

3 days – 2 nights Cruises (3D2N)

For the day trip in Halong, you will travel from Hanoi to Halong on a shuttle bus and arrive at the port around noon.  Then you will embark on the cruise and do a half-day (4-6h) cruise in the bay. It takes 3.5-4 hours driving from Hanoi to Halong making it’s an 7-8 hour return journey. The itinerary will guide you through some of the most beautiful high points in and around the water of the UNESCO Heritage site. However it’s might be too rush and tiring to travel that long journey to just a few hours on the water. You will be able to reach to more attractive parts of the bay when taking overnight cruises.

Overnight cruises are more classic choices and allow passengers more time to relax and enjoy the scenery of the bay. In addition, sleeping on the boat and waking up to a gorgeous view of sunrise in the morning is a fantastic experience. Even the cruiser has the same length, the itineraries between them varies a little. The most common route is visiting the Sung Sot Cave ( Surprising Cave) and Titop Island on the first day, and then visit Luon Cave on the second day before disembark the cruise. These destinations are also the most beautiful and precious quintessence of the bay.

The Sung Sot Cave is in the center of the UNESCO Heritage site.  This is the biggest and the most beautiful grotto in Halong. The pathway to Sung Sot is quite sharp and is lined with shady trees. The cave has 2 chambers. The outer chamber is square and is often referred to as the waiting room. The cave’s ceiling is approximately 30 m high. The walls are almost perfectly smooth as if it was built by man. The walls generate a variety of colors that blend with the setting of the area.

Ti Top is a tiny island that owns a small beach for itself. The pristine water, small waves and the white sand make it perfect for many beach sports like swimming and football. On the peak of the limestone, it’s an ideal spot to view the bay from above.

Last destination in this route is Luon Cave and it brings a totally different experience with the Sung Sot Cave. It has been the one of the most appealing stops for travellers when going on Halong Bay trip. The entrance to the cave is a tunnel created by the hollow under the mountain. The feeling of kayaking under the nature gate and get into the lake is very interesting.  You will meet a calm circular lake surrounded by luxuriant vegetation, craggy cliffs, shady ancient trees, and charming blooming orchids. In particular, under the calm blue water surface is the vibrant life of the marine species such as shrimp, fish, crab, squid… Thanks to its diverse flora, tourists comfortably immerse natural landscapes which are completely preserved.

Halong Bay tourism in general will certainly offers exciting experiences on the journey of discovering one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world.