Ha Long Bay day trip - Honest review

We took a day trip to Ha Long Bay during our stay in Hanoi. How does it compare to what you see on Instagram? Read on to discover our honest thoughts on our Ha Long Bay Tour, unedited photos + handy tips for your own Ha Long Bay adventure! 

Ha Long Bay View

All you need to know about Ha Long Bay
Ha Long Bay is a popular destination to visit from Hanoi. It’s only 2.5 hours drive and offers many day and overnight cruise packages making it an easy and accessible option for those seeking to escape the city for some nature. 

The water is famously emerald green and there are close to 2000 limestone islands jutting out throughout the bay. The Bay itself is huge but most cruises limit themselves to the main area of around 300km². Within the Bay area, there are beaches, climbs, caves and various water activities as well. 

First up, about our cruise 
We chose one of the more affordable all inclusive day trip options via Viator. We didn’t want to skimp on quality though, so we thoroughly checked the reviews (which are numerous on Viator - I love this feature!) and picked one of the top-rated options.

The cruise price was less than $200AUD ($130USD) for two people total and this included pick-up and drop-off in Hanoi from a heap of 10 different locations in the city and travel by a modern, comfortable bus. This was a small group day cruise (around 20-30 people) and included lunch and snacks, and stops at 3 islands - one for beach and hilltop views, one for a cave experience and another where you explore with canoes or small boats and enter via a small tunnel carved into the rock face.

Our boat wasn’t the fanciest and nor was the food (it was decent, clean and plentiful). But, that wasn’t what we came here for, so this was totally fine by us, especially as we felt the overall tour was amazing value - looking back, we covered a so much in just one day! The communication before and during the tour was also seamless, finding the bus was straight forward, and the staff were professional and friendly throughout. If you would like to book this tour - you can do so here.

My honest thoughts on Ha Long Bay
Is Ha Long Bay as scenic as the photos online? Not quite. Is it still scenic and nice to explore? Yes. We happened to go on an overcast day but that gave the expanse of the bay an eerie quality. I especially enjoyed the view as we cruised back with the sun setting. I’ve made sure to keep all the photos on this post unedited so you can see for yourself! We have seen quite a few posts online about litter in the water too, but we didn’t notice this.

One thing I did notice was that most of the Ha Long Bay cruise tours all seem to go to the same places. This can make it more crowded when you disembark but it did reiterate to us that we made a wise choice booking a cheaper cruise. Something else to note is that most packages involve a tourist-y stop off at a pearl farm and shop. Yes, it’s a blatant sales pitch, but it was actually interesting to see how pearls were harvested, the staff weren’t pushy and you could grab some refreshments before heading out on the water. 

I did have some reservations about the environmental impacts on the islands too. The beach island was beautiful but they also built a takeout shop right near the beach front which took away from the sense of nature. It was also hectic trying to make your way up the staircase to the one viewpoint. Similarly, we were taken to a huge underground cave system. It was amazing, but I’m not sure how the steps, railings and lights may have impacted any existing wildlife. That said, as travellers ourselves, our very drive to explore means we need to also think about our own impacts and it’s a complex issue in areas where tourism can also have positive as well as negative impacts. If this is something that is important to you, I would suggest trying some lesser visited destinations. 

Husband’s honest thoughts on Ha Long Bay
My husband enjoys a holiday but he’s far from a travel nut, so I thought it would be good to get his opinion as well. I was actually worried he would find a cruise boring but said he enjoyed the views and the cave was his favourite part of the day. He also eats seafood, unlike me, so he got to enjoy a better variety of food on the cruise and found it very tasty. Like me, revisiting the trip in our minds, he felt that it was amazing value given how much was included. 

Final rating 3.75 out 5 sunsets ☀️

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