Cat Ba Island
I came to Cat Ba island to see the limestone formations in the sea that have made Halong Bay so famous. Halong Bay is an icon of Vietnam and overcrowded with tourist cruise ships. However, just below Halong Bay is Lan Ha Bay. The limestone formations there are the same as in Halong Bay, however there are barely any tourists. You can access Lan Ha Bay from Cat Ba island.
Cat Ba island is difficult and inconvenient to get to. You have to take two buses from Hanoi, then a ferry and then another bus. The journey takes about 5 hours, but the trip was well worth it! There is just a tiny little town on Cat Ba island with one single street deserted of tourists. All of the beaches also have barely any tourists on them and the overall scenery is absolutely stunning.
I did some kayaking and climbing in Cat Ba. Both of these were fantastic! I’m usually not a big fan of kayaking, but it was different in Lan Ha Bay. The water was extremely calm and the scenery beautiful. But what made the experience so special is that there are plenty of caves in the Bay that then turn into lagoons that can only be accessed via the cave. Once you reached one of these lagoons, you are totally cut off from the world and can lie on the beach and take a swim. In general, I did not see any other tourists in Lan Ha Bay than our little group of kayakers. The only people around were fishermen.
The climbing was also excellent. There are many climbing routes on the various beaches, but you can also do deep water soloing. It basically means that you can climb on a rock formation in the sea and then jump from it. Of course you can only do this in designated areas where the water is deep enough.
In general, Cat Ba was a great place to end my stay in Vietnam and just chill and relax.
See more photos here.
Practical Information: You can buy a combined bus/boat ticket for Cat Ba island from Huong Lang for 210,000 vd. I stayed at Thu Ha Hotel which I can also recommend. I had a room on the 7th floor with view on the sea, AC and wifi for 210,000vd/night. The price seemed really low for what I got, but perhaps it was because it is low season and there are really not that many Western tourists on Cat Ba. I did all my outdoor activities with Asia Outdoors which I can highly recommend. Asia outdoors is run by Westerners and is extremely professional.
