Ha Long Bay in July: best reviews, storm season

July has the best guest reviews of the year and more of the decade’s windiest days than any other month. Of the 1,147 reviews posted in July, 34 give one or two stars, 3.0%, the lowest share of any month, and July stays first on the three complete years from 2023 to 2025, at 16 of 520. Ten years of modelled weather give days of 31.0°C and the warmest sea of the year, 31.8°C. The catch is the storms. Fifteen of the decade’s 50 windiest days fell in July, more than in any other month, and in 2026 the province asked for overnight boats to stop being licensed from 12:00 on 3 July.

Review figures come from the 1,147 reviews posted in July, of 13,074 dated reviews for 76 boats counted on 28 October 2026. Three boats whose full Google history we hold count only their 700 most recent reviews, so no single boat outweighs the rest. A review’s date is the day it went up, which can be days or weeks after the trip.

What is the weather like in July?

Hot, with rain that builds through the month. These are July averages for 2016 to 2025 from ERA5 reanalysis, a model grid about 25 km wide.

July, 2016–2025	Average
Daytime high	31.0°C
Night-time low	27.4°C
Coolest night in the ten years	24.7°C (18 July 2023)
Hottest day in the ten years	36.7°C (17 July 2023)
Days with 1 mm of rain or more	22.2
Days with 10 mm of rain or more	11.2
Rain in the month	354 mm (128 mm in the driest year, 687 mm in the wettest)
Wettest day in the ten years	127.1 mm (23 July 2024)
Sunshine	9.1 hours a day
Sea-surface temperature	31.8°C (three Julys)

Rain grows as the month goes on: about 89 mm falls in an average year’s first ten days, 120 mm in the middle ten and 145 mm in the last eleven. The heaviest days come with storms. Three July days in the decade passed 100 mm, and July 2018, at 687 mm, is the second-wettest month in the whole record, after September 2024. Heat is steadier. Nights hold at 25°C or above on almost all 31, and the model gives 9.1 hours of sun a day, second only to May.

Rain comes up in only 2 of the 1,000 July reviews with text. One guest, posting on 1 July 2026, arrived after a long transfer in the rain half regretting the decision, and left thoroughly impressed.

Can you swim in July?

Yes, in the warmest water of the year. The sea averaged 31.8°C over three Julys, from 30.4°C on the coolest day to 33.4°C on the warmest. Jellyfish are the risk to ask about. Ten reviews in our set describe jellyfish in the water, six of them posted from June to August 2026.

A guest posting on 21 July 2026 warned that April to August is the peak jellyfish season, though their group saw only a few and nobody was stung. Another, posting on 12 July 2026, says nobody warned them about jellyfish before the swim, and that staff then tried to treat the stings with toothpaste and sugar. Ask the crew about jellyfish before you go in, and what first aid is on board.

The sea stays calm between storms. On open water the highest wave of an average July day was 0.42 m across four Julys, but the biggest of the 124 days reached 1.3 m and two reached a metre. Our guide to seasickness on Ha Long Bay sets those waves against what guests felt.

How likely is a storm to stop a July cruise?

Likely enough to plan for: eight of the ten Julys from 2016 to 2025 had at least one of the decade’s 50 windiest days, and on our count July is as stormy as any month. Fifteen of those 50 days fell in July, and the 20 windiest include four separate July storms, as many as August or October. The windiest July day was 22 July 2025, at 103.7 km/h. Days with gusts of 50 km/h or more thin out late in the month, 26, 21 and 10 per ten-day stretch over the decade, but the strongest days do not: five of the 15 fell in each third.

In 2026 the call came on the third day of the month. For storm no. 1, Quang Ninh’s Department of Agriculture and Environment asked for overnight boats and evening sightseeing to stop being licensed from 12:00 on 3 July, and other vessels from 17:00, as Báo Quảng Ninh reported that day. Across the 86 operator timetables that print a boarding time, the median is 12:00, so that stop landed at boarding. Each stop lasts until the final bulletin on the storm. Our guide to what changed on Ha Long Bay in 2026 lists each stop on record.

One guest’s three-day cruise was ended by a storm alert on the afternoon of the second day. Posting on 8 July 2026, they say they were offered 15% of what they paid back, which they thought far too little for one night and half the meals; the company would not raise it, though they found the rest of the cruise great. Terms differ by boat. Stellar of the Seas says on its own site, read on 14 October 2026, that it refunds in full if bad weather cancels the trip on check-in day, and charges a three-day trip cut to two as the shorter trip plus the services used. Our cancellation policy guide compares the operators that print a weather clause.

Is July busy?

July is fifth of the twelve months by reviews posted, 1,147, behind October, August, September and April, a count that tracks guest numbers only loosely. Crowd words turn up in 29 of the 1,000 July text reviews, 2.9%, against 2.3% across the year, a gap small enough to be chance. One guest posting on 15 July 2026 shared the cruise with a school group of 30 teenagers and five young children, noisy all day and night. Nobody had warned the three other families on board, guests had to ask the group themselves to keep the noise down, and the boat’s answer was to seat the families in a separate dining area. The same guest found the boat beautiful and the food good.

More July reviews than usual are written in Vietnamese: 260 of the 1,147, 22.7%, against 1,209 of 11,927, 10.1%, in the other months, a gap far too large to be chance.

Are July reviews better or worse than average?

Better, by more than chance would explain. As posted, 34 of the 1,147 July reviews (3.0%) sit at one or two stars, against 553 of the 11,927 from other months (4.6%). June is 0.7 points behind, about eight July reviews’ worth, a gap too small to separate them; July’s lead shows on the three complete years, where June falls to 6.2% of 370. Our guide to the best time to cruise offers a reading of why a wet month scores so well.

July posted in	Reviews	One or two stars	That whole year
2023	66	3 (4.5%)	9.4%
2024	140	6 (4.3%)	6.2%
2025	314	7 (2.2%)	4.8%
2026	571	11 (1.9%)	2.9% (to 25 October)

Seven thinner Julys, 2016 to 2022, add 56 reviews and seven low scores, five of them in July 2022.

Every July from 2023 had a lower share of low scores than its own year. July 2025, at 7 low scores in 314 against 192 in 3,815 for the rest of 2025, did so by more than chance; July 2026’s lead on the rest of its year is within chance.

Which boats did well in July?

In our view Stellar of the Seas, Nostalgia and Ambassador Signature, each with at most one low score in July, counted on 28 October 2026 in the reviews we count. Each has 100 or more reviews counted over at least a year, and a five-star share well above the median of those 34 boats.

Boat	July reviews	One or two stars in July	All reviews counted	Five stars, all reviews counted
Stellar of the Seas	17	0	700	99.4%
Nostalgia	37	0	446	93.5%
Ambassador Signature	73	1	547	97.1%

None of Stellar of the Seas’ 262 July reviews on its Google listing gives one or two stars; the 17 we count, all from July 2026, are five-star. A guest on the three-day trip, posting on 14 July 2026, ate dinner on deck, was surprised by a private fireworks display, and went paddle boarding and kayaking before a home-cooked lunch in a village.

A Nostalgia guest posting on 4 July 2025 recommends the two-night stay for its full-day excursion, which includes a bike ride into a village. Ambassador Signature’s July record is mostly recent, 65 of its 73 from July 2026; a guest posting on 21 July 2026 noted that the activities depend on the weather.

What should you ask before booking a July cruise?

Four questions, by email, so the answers are in writing.

1. If storm licensing stops on my date, do I get a refund or a new date, and how will you tell me?
2. If a three-day trip is cut short by weather, how is the refund worked out?
3. Is a large group booked on my date?
4. Does the crew check for jellyfish before a swim, and what first aid is on board?

June, the month before, has nearly as good a record; our June guide covers it, and our August guide covers the wettest month of the year.

July cruise questions

Is July the best month for a Ha Long Bay cruise? On guest reviews, yes. July has the lowest share of one and two star reviews of any month, 34 of the 1,147 counted on 28 October 2026, or 3.0%, and stays first on 2023 to 2025 alone. It is also wet, with 354 mm of rain on average, so book a fare with weather terms you have read.

Is July typhoon season on Ha Long Bay? Yes. On our ten-year weather record, 43 of the 50 windiest days fell between July and October, and 15 of them in July, more than in any other month. In 2026, for storm no. 1, the province asked for overnight boats to stop being licensed from 12:00 on 3 July; each stop lasts until the final bulletin on the storm. Ask by email what a stop on your date means for your money; our cancellation policy guide compares the terms.

How hot is Ha Long Bay in July? Hot by day and night. Days average 31.0°C and reached 36.7°C at the hottest, on 17 July 2023, and nights average 27.4°C. Rain averages 354 mm over the month, with 22.2 days of 1 mm or more. The sea is the warmest of the year at 31.8°C on average. Pack light clothes, sun protection, swimwear and a rain jacket for the downpours.