Ha Long Bay rules in 2026: routes, storms, fees

Three of this year’s changes can touch a cruise booking. Since 1 April 2026 licensed overnight boats may sail from Ha Long into Lan Ha Bay on four approved routes. Storms shut the bay to cruise boats from a named hour on 3 July and on 22 August. The sightseeing fees now go to a merged heritage board, and the amounts have not moved since the three newest routes were priced in February 2025.

What changed, and when?

Nine dated changes since February 2025, each from an official notice or the provincial press and read on 16 October 2026.

Date	What happened	Source
26 Feb 2025	Fees set for routes VHL6, VHL7 and VHL8, collected from 1 May 2025	Resolution 51/2025/NQ-HĐND; halongbay.com.vn, 3 Mar 2025
31 Dec 2025	Circular 66/2025/TT-BXD issued: technical-safety and environment rules for overnight tourist boats	Ministry of Construction; Báo Quảng Ninh, 1 Apr 2026
5 Feb 2026	Resolution 101/2026/NQ-HĐND names the merged heritage board as fee collector; Ha Long Bay amounts are not amended	Báo Quảng Ninh, 11 Mar 2026
26 Mar 2026	Quang Ninh and Hai Phong sign joint regulation 1133/QCPH-UBND	Báo Quảng Ninh, 5 Apr 2026
1 Apr 2026	Ha Long–Lan Ha routes open to licensed overnight boats	Báo Quảng Ninh, 1 Apr 2026
20 Apr 2026	Cross-bay sailings start officially, with Au Co 1 and Ambassador Signature named on the routes	VietnamPlus, 20 Apr 2026
Reported 10 May 2026	Hang Nha Tro announced as the first overnight anchorage in Bai Tu Long	Lao Động, 10 May 2026
3 Jul 2026	Storm no. 1: overnight boats to stop being licensed from 12:00	Báo Quảng Ninh, 3 Jul 2026
22 Aug 2026	Storm no. 4: sightseeing and overnight stays to stop being licensed from 07:00	Nhân Dân, 22 Aug 2026

Can one cruise now cover Ha Long and Lan Ha?

Yes, on a boat licensed for one of the four joint routes. The regulation pairs Ha Long routes VHL3, VHL4, VHL5 and VHL6 each with Lan Ha, and under the regulation each boat must spend the night at an anchorage in its home province. VietnamPlus reported on 20 April 2026 that all four routes run overnight boats only, with no day tours, and on 6 April that tickets were on sale from 4 April at Tuan Chau and the Ha Long International Cruise Port.

Three boats on our list are named on these routes, by the press or the heritage board’s own site, which counted four boats on the joint routes by 7 June 2026:

Boat	Route	Stops named	Source
Ambassador Signature	VHL6–Lan Ha	Ba Cua and Tung Lam in Ha Long; Gia Luan, Ong Cam and the Dark and Bright caves in Lan Ha	VietnamPlus, 20 Apr 2026
Paradise Grand	VHL3–Lan Ha	Tien Ong cave and the Cua Van fishing village in Ha Long, then Lan Ha; daily from about late May	halongbay.com.vn, 7 Jun 2026
Au Co (Bhaya’s two ships)	VHL3–Lan Ha	Tien Ong and Kim Quy caves and Cua Van in Ha Long; Tra Bau, Viet Hai and Cai Beo in Lan Ha	VietnamPlus, 20 Apr 2026; halongbay.com.vn, 7 Jun 2026

When the routes opened, the board forecast more than 50 overnight boats coming over from Lan Ha and 5,000 to 6,000 extra visitors a day (Báo Quảng Ninh, 5 April 2026).

Ambassador Signature is our pick for both bays: 379 guest reviews in our collection, 95.8% of them at five stars (counted 16 October 2026). It boards at the Ha Long International Cruise Port, one of the two ports selling the cross-bay tickets. The limitation is in its terms: the operator’s terms page, read on 6 August 2026, says it is not liable for weather delays. Ask before you pay what you get back if a storm cancels the Lan Ha half.

Cross-bay boats also stop early. Under the joint regulation, an overnight boat must be inside its anchorage by 19:00 from 1 April to 31 October and by 18:30 from 1 November to 31 March (Báo Quảng Ninh, 5 April 2026).

What happens to a cruise when a storm comes?

Each stop starts at an hour set in a notice, sometimes earlier for overnight boats than for other vessels, and lasts until the final bulletin on the storm. In 2025 and 2026 the call came from Quang Ninh’s Department of Agriculture and Environment, which asked the port authorities and coastal districts to stop licensing boats, or from the waterway port authority itself. These are the four stops on record:

Storm	Overnight boats	Other boats	Source
No. 1 of 2025	Licensing of overnight boats suspended, 13 June 2025, by notice of the waterway port authority	Tour boats to land guests before 18:00	halongbay.com.vn, 13 Jun 2025
No. 9 of 2025 (Ragasa)	Department asked for licensing to stop from 10:00, 24 September 2025	Boats out could be allowed until 14:00 to reach shelter	Lao Động, 24 Sep 2025
No. 1 of 2026	Department asked for overnight boats and evening sightseeing to stop being licensed from 12:00, 3 July 2026	Other vessels from 17:00, and they could be allowed until 07:00 on 4 July to reach shelter	Báo Quảng Ninh, 3 Jul 2026
No. 4 of 2026	Department asked for sightseeing and overnight stays to stop being licensed from 07:00, 22 August 2026	Tour boats moved to storm anchorages that day	Nhân Dân and Dân Trí, 22 Aug 2026

Set those hours against the boarding clock. Across the 86 operator timetables that print a boarding time, the median is 12:00, so the 3 July stop landed right at boarding. The 22 August stop came before most Hanoi shuttles leave: the median pick-up across the 52 timetables that print one is 08:00.

Storms cluster from July to October, and the month-by-month wind record is in our Ha Long Bay weather guide.

What do you get back if a storm cancels the cruise?

Whatever the weather clause of the operator or seller you paid says. Two well-reviewed boats show the range, both read on their operators’ sites on 14 October 2026:

• Stellar of the Seas refunds 100% if bad weather cancels the trip on check-in day, and charges a three-day trip cut to two as the shorter trip plus what you used.
• Alisa Premier offers a new date or a full refund if the authority cancels before you leave Hanoi. Once the trip has started you pay for the services used and get the rest back.

For a booking between July and October, get the weather clause in writing; our guide to cancellation policies compares the operators that print one.

Are the bay fees in the cruise price?

On most boats, yes. Of the 92 boats we publish, 86 have an included-and-excluded list on the operator’s own site, and 69 of those name entrance or sightseeing fees as included (read between 6 August and 14 October 2026, counted 16 October). Two Heritage Line boats put the fee on the excluded side: Ginger lists a Lan Ha Bay admission fee of $18 a person, and Violet a Bai Tu Long entrance fee of $45 a person, both read on 14 October 2026. Check the excluded list on any boat before you pay.

The province sets the fees. These are some of the amounts on the heritage board’s fee page, updated 31 March 2025 and read on 16 October 2026, per person:

Route or package	Fee (VND)
VHL3	200,000
VHL6	150,000 a day
Route 2 with one night / two nights	550,000 / 750,000
Route 3 or 4 with one night / two nights	500,000 / 650,000

Resolution 51/2025/NQ-HĐND of 26 February 2025 priced the three newest routes, VHL6 to VHL8, with collection from 1 May 2025. The overnight packages cover 24 hours from departure for one night and 48 hours for two.

The fees now go to the World Heritage Management Board of Ha Long Bay – Yen Tu, formed by merging the Ha Long Bay management board with Bai Tu Long National Park and the Yen Tu relic board (Báo Quảng Ninh, 11 March 2026). Our guide to what is not included covers the rest of the bill.

What else is new in Bai Tu Long?

An anchorage. Lao Động reported on 10 May 2026 that Quang Ninh’s Department of Construction had announced Hang Nha Tro, off Ban Sen island, as the first overnight anchorage for cruise boats in Bai Tu Long Bay, with room for about ten boats and 150 guests. The same article said the day routes launched from Ao Tien port in March 2025 were still barely running, for lack of guests.

Which older rules still apply?

Single-use plastic is the rule that has stopped a boat. Since 1 September 2019 every boat’s mooring contract has bound the operator not to use or sell plastic cups, straws, boxes or bags, and operators have signed up to refuse to carry guests who deliberately ignore the rule. In May 2025 the board stopped a sightseeing boat for seven days after guests were found with single-use plastic at Hang Luon (Lao Động, 22 May 2025). Bring a refillable bottle.

Common questions

Is Ha Long Bay closed in storm season? Only while a storm is close. In 2026 overnight boats stopped being licensed from 12:00 on 3 July, and boats stopped again from 07:00 on 22 August, each time until the final storm bulletin. Book a refundable fare for July to October.

Do I need to buy a Ha Long Bay ticket myself? Usually not. 69 of the 86 boats whose operators publish an included list name sightseeing or entrance fees as part of the fare. The fee is per person and set by route, from 70,000 VND on the coastal route to 750,000 VND for two nights on route 2. Heritage Line, for one, charges the Lan Ha and Bai Tu Long fees separately.

Can I do a day trip that crosses from Ha Long to Lan Ha? No. All four Ha Long–Lan Ha routes licensed under the 2026 joint regulation are for overnight boats only, as VietnamPlus reported on 20 April 2026. To see both bays you need a night aboard a boat licensed for one of the routes, such as Ambassador Signature on VHL6, or Paradise Grand and Bhaya’s Au Co ships on VHL3.