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
Which airport for a Ha Long Bay cruise?
By road, Cat Bi at Hai Phong is the closest airport to every harbour our 92 boats leave from, 42 km from Tuan Chau and 47 km from the Bai Chay port. Noi Bai in Hanoi has the long-haul flights and 169 km of road. Van Don's board, read on 22 October 2026, showed one route.
Choosing a bayBai Tu Long Bay cruises: the small, quiet end
Fifteen of the 92 boats we publish sail Bai Tu Long. They are smaller than the fleet next door, five of them are wooden, and thirteen 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 15,466 guest reviews
This ranking is built from the reviews we read ourselves, one boat at a time, and nothing else. The boat at the top starts at $366 a person, two sharing, but second and third start at $165 and $168.
Weather & seasonsBest time to cruise Ha Long Bay, by guest reviews
The usual advice is October to April. We counted what guests actually said, month by month, and July has the smallest share of one and two-star reviews whichever way you count.
MoneyHa Long cancellation terms, and how they vary
Thirty-six Ha Long operators print their own cancellation ladder. The free window runs from 72 hours to 45 days before departure, cheap rates are often non-refundable, and a bay closure has rules of its own.
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 nearly always chosen for you. Of the 92 boats we publish, 91 leave from the Ha Long City side. Only one boards at 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 92 boats we publish name far fewer, and the same handful keeps coming round. Here is what a ticket really buys you.
MoneyChristmas and New Year on Ha Long Bay: surcharges
We read the Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve charge for 69 Ha Long boats on 15 October 2026, from the boat's own site or its halongbaytours.com listing. Eighteen of those lines are plainly for this season; the 16 in dollars run from $30 to $100 an adult. Many of the rest still carry last season's dates.
Life on boardFood on board, and what it does not tell you
Half of all guests write about the food. They write about it in 57% of one and two star reviews and 47% of five star ones, a gap far smaller than the subjects that mark a bad trip, which makes the most photographed thing on a Ha Long boat a weak guide for choosing between two of them.
Choosing a boatHa Long Bay cruise companies and the boats they run
The 90 boats in this guide belong to 59 cruise companies. Seventeen of them run two to four boats each, often with near-identical names in different bays, so here is which Paradise, Bhaya, Orchid or La Regina boat is which.
Start hereThe Ha Long Bay cruise guide, from the data
We publish 92 overnight boats, and we have classified 10,568 guest reviews of 70 boats by subject. 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 April: warm sea, holiday crowds
April is when Ha Long Bay warms up, with days of 26.5°C, a sea of 25.7°C and two and a half more hours of sun a day than March. It ends in a four-day national holiday, from Friday 30 April to Monday 3 May 2027, when the bay fills with Vietnamese visitors and some boats charge extra.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in August: the wettest month
August is the wettest month on Ha Long Bay, at 456 mm of rain, and the month whose reviews most often mention a cancellation. The scores sit at the yearly average all the same, with 4.5% of 1,469 August reviews at one or two stars.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in December: cool, dry, why reviews dip
December on the bay means cool days, cold evenings on deck and very little rain. Its reviews look weak on the yearly chart, but the last two Decembers came in level with or better than their own years, and its low scores mention the food and the transfer more often than usual.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in February: Tet, drizzle, surcharges
Lunar New Year 2027 falls on Saturday 6 February, inside a public-sector holiday from 4 to 10 February, and 15 boats' reseller listings already carry a Tet surcharge, from $15 to $60 a person or 20% of the rate. The rest of the month is cool and grey, with some rain on about 16 days, seven of them a millimetre or more.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in January: the coldest month
January is the coldest month on Ha Long Bay, greyer than December, with light rain on eight or nine days. The cruises run, the sea at 18.6°C is cold for a swim, and January's one and two star reviews hardly mention the weather.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in July: best reviews, storm season
July has the best guest reviews of any month, 3.0% of 1,147 at one or two stars, and the warmest sea, 31.8°C. It also averages 354 mm of rain and holds more of the decade's windiest days than any other month; in 2026 the province asked for overnight boats to stop from 12:00 on 3 July.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in June: hot nights, gusty days
June has some of the best guest reviews of the year, with 3.7% of 897 at one or two stars, level with October and behind only July and September, and the warmest nights on average, 27.7°C, with 29 of 30 at 25°C or above. It also has more gusty days than any other month, and a storm stopped overnight boats on 13 June 2025.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in March: mist and weaker reviews
March on Ha Long Bay is mild and damp, at 23.1°C by day and 19.0°C at night, with the calmest water of the year in our marine record. It also has the highest share of one and two star reviews of any month, just ahead of December, and the food comes up in most of them.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in May: sunniest month, turning wet
May is the sunniest month in our weather record, with 9.4 hours of sun a day and a sea of 29.3°C. It is also much wetter, at 177 mm of rain against 68 mm in April, and 1 to 3 May 2027 are still part of the Reunification Day and Labour Day break.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in November: least cloud, a cooler sea
November has the least cloud of the year on ten years of weather data and, on 2023 to 2025, one of the lowest shares of one and two star reviews. When November trips go wrong, guests often say the itinerary was cut, changed or thinner than sold, and a few describe a boat that hardly sailed.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in October: an ordinary month, two traps
On every review we hold, October scores better than the average month. On the three complete years it looks like the third-worst until you take out one day of complaints about a single boat. What is left is an ordinary month with two traps you can check before you pay.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay in September: the month to move
On the three complete years from 2023 to 2025, September has the worst rate of bad reviews of any month, 8.5% against 5.6%. Its one and two star reviews bring up the cabin more often than bad reviews in other months.
Around the cruiseHa Long Bay rules in 2026: routes, storms, fees
Four licensed routes now carry overnight boats from Ha Long into Lan Ha, storms closed the bay to cruise boats on 3 July and 22 August, and the sightseeing fees have a new collector. Here is what each change means for the trip you are booking.
Weather & seasonsHa Long Bay weather by month: ten years of numbers
We pulled ten years of daily weather for one grid point in the bay and set it beside 13,074 guest reviews. Rain falls where the usual calendar puts it, May to September. The strong-wind days spread from July to October, and September holds fewer of them than you would guess.
Choosing a boatHa Long cruise with kids: child fares, boat by boat
A young child usually sails free in the parents' cabin, and the full adult fare starts at 9, 10, 11 or 12 depending on the boat. Here are the child fares printed on the operators' own sites for 32 boats, and which cabins actually take four.
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 92 boats we publish.
Getting thereHanoi to Ha Long: every route, and the costs
About 160 km of expressway and two and a half hours by road. Twelve of the 92 boats we publish include the ride from Hanoi on their own terms, and 21 others publish a shared-shuttle price, mostly US$20 to US$45 a person return. The commonest pick-up time in the Old Quarter is 08:00. The seaplane stopped flying in April 2026, and the rail line was suspended in 2020.
Choosing a boatHow many other people will be on your boat
The boats we track run from four cabins to fifty-six. The price moves little across most of 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, and it is the cheapest cabin for two quietly halved. Across the 83 boats we publish with a two-day rate it runs from $105 to $423 per person, two sharing, and boats under $150 draw the most bad reviews; above that, price predicts little once one boat is set aside.
Choosing a boatHow old is the boat you are about to book
The boats we publish were launched between 2003 and this year, and the middle of the fleet dates from 2019. The number that tells you more on salt water is the last refit, and seven boats put one in print.
On the waterKayaking in Ha Long Bay: what is really included
Ninety of the 92 boats we publish offer kayaking, and no boat is recorded as having none, 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
Forty-six of the 92 boats we publish sail Lan Ha, as many as 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 seeLuon Cave: which boats go in, and how
Luon is a low tunnel through the foot of an island into a lake walled by cliffs, and you go through it by kayak or in a rowed bamboo boat. We list every boat that goes in, the hour it does, and which of the two boats costs extra.
Choosing a boatThe most luxurious Ha Long Bay cruises, measured
The stars on a listing are the boat's own word. We ranked the dearest boats on the one number the market sets, the price of the cheapest cabin, and put everything else we can check beside it.
Getting thereNinh Binh to Ha Long: transfers and timing
About three and a half hours by road from Tam Coc or Trang An to the cruise piers, with no need to go back through Hanoi. Twelve of the 92 boats we publish offer a Ninh Binh pick-up on their operators' own websites, mostly at about US$20 a seat each way.
PlanningHa Long cruises for older or less mobile guests
Older guests rate Ha Long cruises highly in the reviews we hold, and the shore stops are optional. The hard parts are getting aboard, which often means a small boat, and the stairs between decks. Six of the 92 boats we publish have an operator who describes a lift on that boat.
Life on boardWill you get seasick on a Ha Long cruise?
Probably not. Across four years of modelled sea data the highest wave of a typical day on the open water off Ha Long was 0.38 m, and only 7 of 11,497 written guest reviews describe feeling unwell on the boat. The motion people do notice comes in the tender and the first hour under way.
MoneyCruising Ha Long Bay solo: what a single cabin costs
Ha Long cabin prices are quoted for two people sharing. Eighteen of the 92 boats we publish have operators who set out terms for a single guest, and what one person pays runs from about two thirds of the cabin price to all of it.
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. Twenty-eight of the thirty-one Ha Long boats we publish stop there. 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 eight. Read what they actually say and Ha Long's are the unhappy ones: more than one in five is a complaint. The gap between those two readings is the whole answer.
What you will seeThien Canh Son Cave on a Bai Tu Long cruise
A small cave about seventy stone steps up an island in Bai Tu Long, with a white-sand beach at its foot. Thirteen of the 15 Bai Tu Long boats we publish take you there on a one-night trip. Here is who goes, at what hour, and what comes after the climb.
On the waterThings to do in Ha Long Bay, counted boat by boat
We read the day-by-day itinerary of 70 of the 92 boats we publish and marked every activity on it. Kayaking is on all 70 and a cave on 69. Most of the rest depends on the bay you sail and whether you stay a second night.
What you will seeTi Top Island: which boats stop, and when to go
Twenty-nine of the 31 Ha Long boats we publish stop at Ti Top, so you will almost certainly climb its steps or swim off its beach. The choice that changes the visit is the hour, and only seven boats go in the morning.
Choosing a boatHow many days in Ha Long Bay: two or three?
Two days and one night is enough for most people, and three days is worth it if the bay is the reason you came. On the rates we read for 66 boats, the second night costs almost as much as the first, so the longer trip is close to double the price.
Life on boardVegetarian, vegan and allergies on Ha Long cruises
A Ha Long kitchen will cook vegetarian, vegan, halal and allergy-safe meals if it hears in time. What counts as in time depends on the operator, from six weeks on one fleet to a word on the pick-up bus on another.
What you will seeViet Hai village: the stop the most boats sell
Thirty-two of the 92 boats we publish 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.
What you will seeVung Vieng fishing village by bamboo boat
Vung Vieng is seen from the water, from a bamboo boat or a kayak, among fish and pearl farms in Bai Tu Long. Eight of the 15 Bai Tu Long boats we publish include it on a one-night trip, almost all of them early on the second morning; the other seven take you there only on a two-night trip.
MoneyWhat a luxury Ha Long cruise actually buys
Plenty of the boats we track call themselves luxury, and the word is doing less work than the price is. We split 10,395 reviews by what the cheapest cabin costs per person, and the money buys less than the bands first suggest. Half of the drop in bad trips at the top belongs to one boat.
Reading the reviewsWhat guests complain about on Ha Long cruises
We classified 10,568 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 a photograph will not show you and you 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.
Getting thereWhat time Ha Long cruises board and return
Most Ha Long boats want you at their lounge by 11:30 and put you back on the quay at about 11:00 the next morning. Here is the clock for a one-night trip, from the timetables operators publish for 89 of the 92 boats we list.
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 92 we publish, then read what 10,568 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 eight 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
Two harbours serve all but one of the 92 boats we publish. The one you sail from sets your meeting point and, on our records, it largely decides your bay. Tuan Chau is the Lan Ha and Ha Long hub; the international port at Bai Chay serves most of Bai Tu Long. One boat starts on Cat Ba and none from the Hai Phong mainland.
Choosing a boatWooden hull or steel, and what it really tells you
Fourteen of the 92 boats we publish have wooden hulls. The wooden boats are older, smaller and mostly cheaper than the steel ones, and the fact that matters most on any hull is the last refit.