Before you board
Practical writing about this bay: the weather month by month, the road from Hanoi, the difference between the three bays, and what you actually see at each stop.
Guides
Bai Tu Long Bay cruises: the small, quiet end
Eleven of the seventy boats we track sail Bai Tu Long. They are half the size of the fleet next door, four of the eleven are wooden, and most of them leave from a different pier. It is the one bay where the choice changes almost everything.
Choosing a boatBest Ha Long Bay cruises by 7,454 guest reviews
This ranking is built from the reviews we read ourselves, one boat at a time, and nothing else. No operator paid to be near the top, and the boat that sits there is not the dearest one on the list.
Weather & seasonsWhen to cruise Ha Long Bay, from 8,327 guest reviews
Every guide tells you October to April. We counted what guests actually said, month by month, and found one month that behaves differently from all the others.
MoneyHa Long cancellation terms, and how they vary
There is no standard cancellation policy in Ha Long Bay. We found seven different penalty ladders, and each one is stated by a single seller. They agree on the two ends and disagree on everything in between, which is exactly the part that decides what you lose.
Around the cruiseCat Ba and Ha Long City, around your cruise
The two towns people pair with a Ha Long cruise are Cat Ba and Ha Long City, and the fleet has already chosen for you. Of the boats that say where they board, every one leaves from the Ha Long City side. Not one names a Cat Ba pier. That decides where your spare hours go.
What you will seeThe caves and islands you will actually stop at
Brochures name a dozen wonders. The itineraries of the seventy boats we track name far fewer, and the same handful keeps coming round. Here is what a ticket really buys you.
Life on boardFood on board, and what it does not tell you
Half of all guests write about the food. They write about it just as often after a one star trip as after a five star one, which makes the most photographed thing on a Ha Long boat close to useless for choosing between two of them.
Start hereThe Ha Long Bay cruise guide, from the data
We track seventy overnight boats and have read 7,104 guest reviews about them. This is the short version of everything that came out of that, arranged as the decisions you actually have to make, with a pointer to the longer guide behind each one.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in September: the month to move
September carries double the rate of bad reviews of any other month and the thinnest volume of the year. It is also the month when guests stop writing about the crew and start writing about the room they were sitting in.
Choosing a bayHa Long, Lan Ha or Bai Tu Long: which bay to book
Three names, one body of water, and a decision most people make by accident. What actually differs between them, from the itineraries of the seventy boats we track.
Getting thereHanoi to Ha Long: every route, and the costs
About 160 km of expressway, two and a half hours by road, and four ways to travel it. Three listings out of 139 include the journey in the fare, and the two exotic options are advertised as running by some sources and cancelled by others.
Choosing a boatHow many other people will be on your boat
The boats we track run from four cabins to fifty-six. The price barely moves across that range, which makes the size of your boat one of the few things in Ha Long Bay you can choose without paying for it.
MoneyHow much a Ha Long Bay cruise really costs
The figure in the advert is per person, it is the lowest one the seller could find, and on some boats it is a cabin rate quietly halved. We tracked the price of all seventy boats we hold, on both bases, and the gap between them runs past four times.
Choosing a boatHow old is the boat you are about to book
The boats we track were launched between 2007 and this year, and the middle of the fleet is only a few years old. That sounds reassuring until you ask the one question that actually matters on salt water, which is when the boat was last refitted. Nobody publishes it.
On the waterKayaking in Ha Long Bay: what is really included
All seventy boats we track offer kayaking, so it cannot help you choose one. What varies is whether it is in your fare, how long you get, and which bay you paddle in.
Choosing a bayLan Ha Bay cruises: the biggest fleet, and why
Thirty-six of the seventy boats we track sail Lan Ha, more than the other two bays combined. It is the default now rather than the alternative, and the reason is in the stop lists rather than in the marketing.
What you will seeSung Sot Cave: the famous one and its crowd
Sung Sot is the cave on the postcards, and it is a Ha Long Bay stop only. Thirteen of the twenty-three Ha Long boats we track list it. Choosing it means choosing the busiest water in the bay, and the reviews are clear about why.
Choosing a bayThe quietest Ha Long bay, and why counts mislead
Count how often guests mention crowds and Bai Tu Long comes out worst, at more than one review in ten. Read what they actually say and it comes out best. The gap between those two readings is the whole answer.
Choosing a boatTwo days or three on a Ha Long cruise
Every boat we track sells both a two-day and a three-day trip, so this looks like a price question. It is not one we can answer, because the three-day price is hidden almost everywhere. That leaves a cleaner question underneath, which is what the extra day is actually for.
What you will seeViet Hai village: the stop the most boats sell
Twenty-six of the seventy boats we track list Viet Hai, more than any cave or beach. It also divides the people who go there more sharply than any other stop we read, and the reason is what the booking led them to expect.
MoneyWhat a luxury Ha Long cruise actually buys
Twenty-four of the boats we track call themselves luxury, and the word is doing less work than the price is. We split 7,104 reviews by what people paid, and the money buys one clear thing. It is not the thing the brochures photograph.
Reading the reviewsWhat guests complain about on Ha Long cruises
We classified 7,104 guest reviews by subject and then looked only at the angry ones. The loudest complaint turns out not to be the one that marks a bad trip. Three quieter ones do, and all three are things you cannot see in a photograph and can ask about before you pay.
MoneyWhat a Ha Long cruise fare leaves out
The things a boat is least likely to include are the things that cost you most. We read 139 listings for what they put in writing, then turned the list upside down, because the rarest lines on it are the ones that arrive as a separate bill.
Life on boardWhat you actually get on board a Ha Long cruise
Every boat advertises a jacuzzi, a kayak and a cooking class. We checked all seventy we track, then read what 7,104 guests wrote afterwards. The things the brochures compete on turn out to be the things that never vary.
Life on boardWhat your cabin gets you on a Ha Long boat
There is no such thing as the cabin size of a Ha Long boat. Most boats sell four to eleven grades of room at once, and the sources that seem to disagree about square metres are usually just describing different ones. What the grade buys, and what it does not, is the useful question.
Choosing a boatWhich harbour your Ha Long cruise leaves from
Three harbours serve the overnight fleet, and the one you sail from is not a detail. It sets how far you drive from Hanoi and, on the evidence of the boats we track, it quietly decides which bay you end up in. One harbour is a Bai Tu Long gateway and nothing else.
Choosing a boatWooden hull or steel, and what it really tells you
Thirteen of the seventy boats we track have wooden hulls. They are the cheapest boat in the fleet and also the two dearest. Wood is a shape, not a grade, and the number that would actually matter is published by nobody.