Ha Long Bay in January: the coldest month

January is the coldest month on Ha Long Bay, and a fair one for a cruise as long as you want the view more than the water. Ten years of modelled weather give January days of 19.5°C, nights of 15.6°C and a sea of 18.6°C. No month has colder days or nights, and only February matches that sea. Rain is light and frequent: eight or nine damp days in an average January, almost none of them heavy.

The review figures in this guide come from the 734 guest reviews posted in January, out of 10,058 dated reviews we hold for 74 boats, counted on 15 October 2026. A review’s date is the day it went up, which can be weeks after the trip.

How cold is Ha Long Bay in January?

Cold enough at night for a coat on deck. The numbers are January averages across 2016 to 2025 from ERA5 reanalysis, a model grid about 25 km wide that smooths out the extremes, so read them as a typical January.

January, 2016–2025	Average
Daytime high	19.5°C
Night-time low	15.6°C
Coldest night in the ten years	5.1°C (24 January 2016)
Nights below 12°C	4.2 a year
Days that never reach 18°C	7.3 a year
Rain in the month	45 mm (4 mm in the driest year, 129 mm in the wettest)
Days with 1 mm of rain or more	8.5
Sunshine	5.8 hours a day
Cloud cover	65%
Sea-surface temperature	18.6°C (three Januaries)

February runs almost level, at 20.0°C by day and 16.0°C at night. December is a degree or more warmer on both. Cold words turn up in 7 January reviews, 1.1% of those with text, against 0.7% across the year.

What the cold changes is the evening. A Catherine guest posting in January 2025 accepted that it was cold but found nothing at all to do after dinner. A Paradise Grand guest a year earlier had the opposite luck: a cooking class and live music indoors, and a squid caught off the side. A Vietnamese guest on Emperor, sailing on 24 and 25 January 2026, when the north had dropped to about 10°C, expected the programme to be cut; every activity ran, and the two-way air conditioning, left on day and night, kept the cabin warm. That last detail is worth a question to your own boat.

The catch is that cold reaches the warm water a winter guest is counting on. An Athena Royal guest posting on 6 January 2024 found the hot tub nowhere near hot. An Indochine guest posting four days later noticed the main pool was heated from about 5 pm and that, while it warmed, the cabin baths and showers ran cooler, so the long hot bath had to wait. A Nostalgia guest posting on 30 January 2024 found its sundeck hot tub tepid and the deck open to wind and rain. Three operators describe warmed water on board, on their own sites:

Boat	Bay	What the operator describes
Calista	Ha Long	A 225 m² heated infinity pool, open all year
Ginger	Lan Ha	A heated pool with jacuzzi jets, open all year
Nostalgia	Lan Ha	A heated outdoor jacuzzi on the sundeck

On any boat, ask before you count on a warm soak.

Can you swim in January?

Only if you are hardy. The sea averages 18.6°C in January, and the coldest single January day in the marine record came in at 17.2°C. A summer sea runs at 31.5 to 31.8°C. Even December, at 21.1°C, is noticeably warmer.

The water is calm, though. Across four Januaries the highest wave of an average day was 0.39 m out on open water, and not one January day reached a metre. Seasickness comes up in 5 January reviews, under 1%.

Does it rain or get foggy in January?

Often, but lightly. An average January gets 45 mm spread over 8.5 days, and only one January day in two years reaches 20 mm. That is more than twice December’s count of damp days (3.9), which our weather by month sets beside the rest of the year. Rain words appear in 0.8% of January text reviews against 0.3% for the year, and the guests who mention it mostly enjoyed the trip anyway. A Unicharm guest posting on 17 January 2025 had rain and still got through every activity on the programme.

January is also grey. Cloud covers 65% of the sky on an average day and the sun shows for 5.8 hours, against 52% in November, the least cloudy month. Days turn quickly, too. A Nostalgia guest posting on 31 January 2026 had a cold, overcast first day and sunshine on the second.

Storms are not a January worry. Our wind record holds 31 January days with gusts of 50 km/h or more across ten years, about three a year, close to December’s 2.9 and November’s 3.3. Only one of the 50 gustiest days in the decade fell in January, on 25 January 2020 at 70.9 km/h. Cancel words appear in 2 January reviews and storm words in none. The weather guide explains who decides whether boats sail on a rough day.

Is January busy, and does Tet fall in it?

Not especially, and in 2027 Tet falls in February. Crowd words appear in 1.8% of January text reviews against 2.9% across the year, and January ranks ninth of twelve months by number of reviews posted, which tracks guest numbers only loosely. Crowding as a subject comes up in 7.1% of classified January reviews against 6.6%, so the excursions are still shared.

Lunar New Year (Tet) falls on 6 February 2027, so January sits just outside the holiday. The surcharges are worth checking anyway. Of the 138 boats whose inclusions and exclusions we have extracted, 115 list a peak-season surcharge, 68 of those name Tet, and 87 name New Year, most of them (62) in wording that points to New Year’s Eve on 31 December. One published list, for La Casta’s day boat, adds 1 January to its holiday dates, and its Tet surcharge runs over four days around the holiday. If your trip starts on 1 January or runs into February, ask for the total in dollars for your exact night; our Christmas and New Year guide lists which boats charge for 1 January and for Lunar New Year 2027.

Are January reviews worse than average?

A little, and less than the ranking suggests. As posted, 42 of the 734 January reviews (5.7%) sit at one or two stars, against 520 of 10,058 (5.2%) across all months, which makes January the fourth weakest month, after December (7.0%), March (6.8%) and May (5.8%). The average rating is 4.66 against 4.69.

January posted in	Reviews	One or two stars	That whole year
2023	30	5 (16.7%)	8.8%
2024	76	8 (10.5%)	5.8%
2025	204	6 (2.9%)	5.5%
2026	391	22 (5.6%)	3.4% (to 10 October)

Six thinner Januaries, 2017 to 2022, add 33 reviews and one low score.

The two most recent Januaries pull in opposite directions. January 2025 was far better than its year and January 2026 noticeably worse than 2026 so far. Taken together they hold 595 of the 734 reviews and 28 low scores, 4.7%, against 4.4% for all twelve months of those two years. Most of the gap comes from 2023 and 2024, when 13 of 106 January reviews were low.

One subject moves clearly: value for money. These rows compare the 29 low January reviews with classified text against the 353 low reviews across the year. A subject counts once it is mentioned, praise or complaint alike.

Mentioned in a one or two star review	January	All year
Value for money (at least)	48.3%	31.4%
Extra charges on board, drinks included	27.6%	28.3%
The food	58.6%	56.4%
Cleanliness	37.9%	34.0%
Itinerary changed or cut	34.5%	29.5%
The crew	31.0%	46.2%
The cabin	24.1%	37.4%

Reading the 42 low reviews themselves, eight complain about paying for drinks, each on a different boat, posted between 2023 and 2026; extra charges come up in low reviews about as often across the whole year. An Orchid guest posting on 5 January 2026 lists $20 for a piña colada and $7 for sparkling water on a two-night trip that cost the couple $1,200. Two others, on Hera and La Pandora, say they were charged for water at meals. Weather hardly figures. One guest, on a three-day trip, mentions walking round a village in the cold. The value row rests on 14 reviews. Our guide to what guests complain about covers the year as a whole.

Drinks are an extra on most boats. Of the 138 boats in our policy file, 98 list drinks among the exclusions, and 102 include bottled water in the cabin, which says nothing about water at the table.

What should you ask before booking a January cruise?

Four questions, by email so the answers are in writing. First, is the pool or jacuzzi heated, at what hours, and does the cabin air conditioning heat as well as cool? Second, can the seller send the bar’s price list, and is drinking water free at meals? Third, if your night is 31 December, 1 January or close to Tet, what is the surcharge in dollars and is it already in your quote? Fourth, what happens to your money if the boat is stopped from sailing on your date. Our cancellation policy guide shows how much the ordinary terms differ, and what is not included lists the other extras to check.

January cruise questions

Is January a good month for a Ha Long Bay cruise? Yes, for the scenery, if you can live with grey skies. January is the coldest month, at 19.5°C by day and 15.6°C at night, and drizzle falls on eight or nine days. Only one of the 50 gustiest days in ten years fell in January. Its share of one and two star reviews, 42 of 734 counted on 15 October 2026 (5.7%), sits just above the 5.2% average for the year, and the month by month comparison shows where it falls against the others.

What should I pack for January? Proper warm layers, more than for December. Average January nights are 15.6°C, four or so nights a year drop below 12°C, and the coldest in ten years reached 5.1°C; an open top deck after dinner feels colder still. A light waterproof covers the drizzle. Pack swimwear only if your boat confirms a heated pool or jacuzzi, since the sea averages 18.6°C.

Does Lunar New Year affect a January 2027 cruise? Mostly not. Tet falls on 6 February 2027, so January nights sit before the holiday. Of the 138 boats in our policy file, 115 list a peak-season surcharge and 68 of those name Tet. If your dates reach into February, ask the seller which nights carry the surcharge and how much it is in dollars before you pay.