 To
visit the Halong Bay in Vietnam, travellers can make
arrangements in advance by going to an online travel
agency or just go to Hanoi, come to a travel desk
and book a boat tour, here you have the choice
between one, two or three day tours. Alternatively,
you can direct to Haiphong and Halong city, about
3.5 hours driving, in order to organize a tour on
your own.
If you would like to make a deeper impression of the
atmosphere on site and would like to enjoy the bay's
beauty not only a flying visit, a 2 day trip is
recommended, if you have time enough and would like
to make a longer trip a
three-day boat trip with an
overnight stay on board and overnight on Cat Ba
island is available.
The
beauty of Halong bay is composed by thousands of
limestone rock formation rising up from the sea, the
limestone cliffs interspersed with islands, caves
offering all imaginable sizes and shapes. Many of
the caves are illuminated by special lighting
effects and make your visit a very special
experience. Especially recommended are the Hang
Trong cave or the
Hang Dau Go cave. The Hang Dau Go
cave is the cave located closest to the mainland. It
consists of three different layers that can be
achieved through the ninety stairs carved in stone.
Bizarre stalactites, which are illuminated by
different light formations to admire here. Hang
Trong, the so-called drum-cave is well worth a
visit. Whenever the wind blows through the cave, the
stalactites and stalagmites, it sounds like distant
drums.
From Halong City you can safely leave on a trip to
the bay. What were once the two idyllic fishing
harbors Hon Gai and
Bai Chay was, finally, after a
connecting bridge was built between the two towns
merged into the name of Halong City. The city is a
living place of entertainment with a steadily
growing skyline, with plenty of restaurants and
hotels.
In the bay there are several floating villages of
dilapidated houses, some of which are connected by
wooden bridges with each other. The inhabitants of
the so-called floating villages that specialize in
fish farming. But the sale of snacks to tourists
makes a significant portion of their monthly Zubrots.
Some tour operators combine a trip to the caves and
grottoes with a visit to the inhabitants of the
floating villages.
Further up north is Bai Tu Long bay, less known than
Halong Bay but Bai Tu Long is by no means less
beautiful, as Halong is becoming touristy over
recent years many travellers consider Bai Tu Long a
better choice for their trip, and the boat companies
are moving towards Bai Tu Long for their extended
itineraries
To visit Bai Tu Long Bay travellers need to cross
Halong city to Cam Pha, a new city close to Halong
and arrive in Cua Ong town or Cai Rong town, here
you can catch a public boat to the islands of
Quan
Lan, Ngoc Vung or
Co To, in summertime a lot of
younger local travellers go to Quan Lan island, at
the moment there is a hydrofoil connecting Quan Lan
and Halong city, shortening travel time to just 45
minutes. |
