Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Halong Bay, Halong Bay, Quang Ninh Province
Recognized by UNESCO twice as a World Heritage Site, Halong Bay is among top-notch destinations in Vietnam for domestic and foreign tourists with a fantastic blend of pristine natural beauty and effervescent city vibe.
Halong Bay owns a complex of limestone islands located within the Gulf of Tonkin, in the city of Halong, Quang Ninh province, which is about 170km from Hanoi. Halong Bay is surrounded by Bai Tu Long Bay in the Northeast, Cat Ba Archipelago and Lan Ha Bay in the South and the East. To plan your trip wisely and wondrously, check out this guide to get all the must-have information for the upcoming journey to “the land of descending dragon".
Duration: 6 hours
Stop At: Lan Ha Bay, Hai Phong, Cat Ba Vietnam
Day 1: Hanoi – Halong Bay – Lan Ha Bay
08:30: Hotel pick up with our shuttle bus. Short break half way.
12:00: Arriving Tuan Chau marina. Welcome aboard the cruise. Refresh with our welcome drink. Meet the captain, crew in the cruise briefing, safety instruction.
13:00: A special lunch in Vietnamese cuisine of fresh seafood and an assortment of appetizing favorites are served while sailing through Islets of Con Vit.
15:30: The Cruise sails through Lan Ha Bay. The area is surrounding of extraordinary limestone karsts landscapes. We progress to Ong Cam Area of Lan Ha Bay- a separate part of Halong bay. This is a quiet tourist paradise in Vietnam, enjoy kayaking and/or enjoy swimming in the crystal clear waters of the Bay.
17:30 Back to the Cruise, drop anchor for staying overnight. Enjoy the complimentary Sunset Party on the sundeck with local wine and fresh fruit.
After dinner, retiring to your cabin or join the fishing excursion, watch a movie, have a drink at the bar, wifi access.
Duration: 12 hours
Stop At: Dark & Light Cave, Cat Ba National Park, Halong Bay Vietnam
Day 02: Dark & Bright Cave – Halong Bay – Hanoi (B, L)
06:00: Enjoy sunrise and admire the never ending miraculous scenery of the Bay. Practice an invigorating Tai Chi session on the sundeck.
07:00: Light breakfast, coffee and tea served.
08:00: Visit Dark & Bright Cave and islets by local rowing boats which is a wild and mysterious beauty in the middle of the World Heritage.
09:15: Back to our Cruise, relax before checking out.
10:15: Join cooking demonstration (teaching you how to make our speciality, Spring rolls) on the cruise.
10:45: Lunch is served on board.
12:00: Disembark at the Tuan Chau marina by tender. Take our shuttle bus to return to Hanoi
15:00 – 15:30: Arrival back at your hotel in Hanoi Old Quarter. End of the tour.
Duration: 6 hours
See Availability.
Traveler pickup is offered
We will pick up at your hotel in Hanoi Old Quarter from 7.30-8.00am
Ports
08:00 AM
2 days(approx.)
Not wheelchair accessible
Most travelers can participate
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 50 travelers
Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Posted By : U7662MMjenniferb
Really enjoyed our Halong bay trip. Particularly the kayaking and swimming in such an amazing area. It was very well organised and the staff were all lovely. The food was delicious and fine for a non meat eater. Drinks are of course not included in the fee but were usual western prices. It would be nice to have some kind of itinerary written out for customers. For example Tai chi was at 5.45am and breakfast at 6am. We weren’t quick enough to make it to the cave trip after breakfast so missed it. Had we known the times of things we could have made the trip or not got up for breakfast. The trip is pretty exhausting/a lot of travelling but it isn’t a trip you’d want to miss.
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Posted On : 2024-04-09
Posted By : handav2024
Excellent tour way beyond our expectations and much better than similar tours we have taken in other countries.
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Posted On : 2024-01-08
Posted By : deepalcm
Tour was really good, food good they arranged vegetarian, courteous helpful driver, entire team superb
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Posted On : 2024-01-04
Posted By : 211Jo
Booked via Halong Bay Tours 2 nights ELITE of the Seas 5/6Apr23. Whilst the experience is amazing CHOOSE YOUR ITINERARY VERY CAREFULLY.
A 2 nights cruise did NOT take us further out into the Bay but felt more like a 5 star ferry shuttle picking up/dropping off more 1 & 2 nights passengers between our 2 nights stay. This meant we saw the virtually the same as if doing two 1 night cruises. For a UNESCO Heritage Site it is also shocking to see the drifts of rubbish & huge area of garbage in some area. Had we cruised further out our experience wout not have been one of such disappointment. This was voiced by many 2 night guests on board.
The ELITE itself is superb, cabins spacious & beds v comfortable. DINING experience is by way of a set multi course menu so there is no choice. Food was presented & served with style (albeit the waiting staff are almost overly polite in their desire to please) One point, if on a 2 night cruise please note that lunch on your 2ND DAY cannot be taken at a lunch time as the restaurant is taken over by 1 night guests having their first meal of their cruise (same as you do) I guess they expect all guests to go on the excursion which I chise not to.
Cocktail bar & sun decks top class. A crew member with a drone took some brilliant photos & presented them to us FOC that evening. Plenty of other nice touches too along the way.
CONS:
Itinerary, can't urge you enough to check it to ensure you cover different water if on 2 nights +
Tourism is definitely having an negative impact regarding aforementioned rubbish issue.
Lunch day 2
PROS:
Elite is fabulous & all staff were polite, charming & utterly delightful. TOP MARKS HERE!
Transfers went well.
Lastly, would I recommend? Yes, it's worth the visit but based on the itinerary NOT the ELITE or any other boat that doesn't get you to see the real beauty of Halong Bay.
TOP TIP!!! DO YOUR HOMEWORK CAREFULLY!!
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Posted On : 2023-05-05
Posted By : Moorbys123
Staff were very attentive.. boat needed some TLC but over all was ok.. the food was the biggest thing for us it was very local cuisine so mainly fish and if you didn’t eat fish you got the vegetarian option.. we are both big meat eaters so food didn’t work too well. It’s a beautiful location and I’m glad we visited.
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Posted On : 2023-03-28
Posted By : Holly1324
This cruise ended up being really disappointing. It started off negative because we were informed that we needed to meet the bus at 8.30am. We were in the lobby at 8.20am. Hotel staff then told us that someone had come in looking for us 10 minutes before we came down. We then had to email the company to find out what was happening to which we were told "the guide is looking for you." 5 minutes later a tour bus parks itself outside our hotel. We assume its for us and we go to board it. My boyfriend asks the driver if the bus is for the cruise and the driver said it was. As I'm then getting on the the bus to join my boyfriend I have a man who was obviously the tour guide behind me, waving a clipboard at me and shouting, if not screaming very loudly for us to get off the bus. It turns out it wasn't our bus. He continues to shout at us once we are back on the pavement. This left us very shaken up and we went back to the hotel lobby. I then send an email out to whoever was meant to be organising the cruise to explain what's happened. Later on when we actually get on the boat we do not get an apology for the mix-up. However when we finally get picked up, the person collecting us looked annoyed and told us to "come on" as if it was our fault they were behind when we were actually on time. They made no attempt to ring either of us to let us know they were going to be earlier than the agreed time. Halfway through the journey we get told to come off the bus and we get put on another. Again we had no explanation as to what was happening. We just had to hope we were heading the right way. Once it's all sorted and we're on the tender boat to get to the cruise, a large family joins us. They're extremely loud, over-excited and moving all over the boat. They were like this for the 2 days. They were often late for activities, which held everyone else up. Saying that, we were very happy with our room, and the tour organiser was friendly and enthusiastic. It's just the little things that build up that make it a negative experience. The crew members on the boat didn't seem happy at all and the prices of drinks on the boat were extortionate. There was no WiFi at all despite being told there was. It was then suggested that we may not have transport for the way back to hanoi which panicked us but we couldn't do anything about it because of the lack of WiFi. When we get back to the port it turns out we do have transport back but we're not told for another 10 minutes. I could go on more but I'm aware of how long this review is. Perhaps we just got unlucky as the other reviews seem positive.
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Posted On : 2023-03-20
Posted By : 896cynthiaw
Lee, the cruise director, was awesome and went out of his way to make sure we had a great time. He was so personable, speaks excellent English and was extremely helpful, accommodating any special requests or needs. The whole staff was friendly, smiling all the time and super nice.
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Posted On : 2023-01-26
Posted By : 411harip
We had a fantastic time, the crew were superb, very helpful, excellent service and made us very welcome. Food was fantastic and the boat was first class.The guide was excellent and made our trip very nice and did everything he could for us. This was the highlight of our trip to Vietnam
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Posted On : 2023-01-19
Posted By : ash010676
Did a 2 day 1 night trip to Halong Bay... The day was busy with 2 excursions scheduled on the 1st day and one early next morning. I strongly recommend you book a 5 star cruise only, incase you intend doing a budget trip its advisable to do a day trip from Hanoi, as a 3 star cruise is a real dampner...
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Posted On : 2022-10-19
Posted By : eddiechua
A must go destination when you are in Hanoi. Spent one night on board the cruise. Spent a quite day and nite watching the landscape. even though it was raining but there is a beauty in just enjoying nature. Would love to stay one more night. Food wise ok. Nothing fantastic.
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Posted On : 2022-10-10
