Halong Bay Vietnam is an area of around 1,553 km2 with the appearance of 2000 islands which are limestone. Halong Bay became the World heritage site in 1994 and ever since, it has been recognized as the MOST wonderful part of Vietnam. Let's get the list of Places to visit in Halong bay in this MUST-GO destination in the North of Vietnam. 

As a indispensable part for any Hanoi Package Tours, there are millions of tourists seeing this place and everyday. There are also Bai Tu Long Bay and Lan Ha bay get connected to the cruise tours in Halong Bay. Let us show you the places to visit in Halong Bay area those you can choose to add into your unforgettable trip.

Sung Sot (Surprising) cave

To be in the top list of all the Places to visit in Halong bay, this cave is only reachable for the 6 hours Day tour to Halong Bay from Hanoi or you have to be with a Halong overnight cruise to be able to visit it. The distance of this cave is around 20 km from shore. Coming to this cave, you will find a giant cave that a Boeing airplane can stay with the beauty of stalactite and stalagmite that nowhere in Halong Bay can bring you to. The visit to the cave is around 1 hour walking with steps.  

Thien Cung (Heaven Palace) cave

This is quite a close cave to Halong city (around 5 km) and all the original Halong Bay Day Tour will be visiting it make it the 2nd most visited place in Halong Bay. Getting to your day cruise of 4 hours, you can go for lunch first then after 40 minutes boat drive you can get to this cave. The walk is around 40 minutes up and down and compare to the Sung Sot cave it is not as big but the variety of shapes and figures inside this cave make it a name: "Heaven Palace". Getting inside this cave, you will not only see rock formations but also listen to a lot of stories and tales from locals.

Dau Go (Wooden-Steak) cave

Very next to Thien Cung Cave, Dau Go cave was discovered thousand years ago and once used for preparation of a special combat of Vietnamese against Mongol-Chinese invasion. In 1288, Prince Tran Dung Dao - General of Vietnamese army used this cave to store large woods and in just 1 night his army managed to cover 1 head of the wood with sharp metal and place it in the river mouth of Bach Dang which is around 10 kms away. The high tide hid the battle field and it was time the Vietnamese used small boats to provoke the giant ships of enemy. After their enter to the field, the tide went down and the big ships got stuck inside the trap. The Vietnamese use fire to burn the no-move wooden boats and won the victory. After the victory, the Prince named the history cave: Wooden Steak cave and the burning boats of the enemy came to the side of Halong city and burned the whole forest for days. People call the land appeared after the fire: Bai Chay - which is the biggest harbor in Halong city now.

Hon Ga Choi (The Kissing Rock)

This is the special creation of nature. The 02 rocks look to be kissing each other at some photo point. This special kissing rock has been in the place for years and look at the roots of the rocks then nobody can ever imagine how they can stand on the water for such a long time. All the Halong cruises consider this among the MUST places to visit in Halong Bay. Get your couple kissing picture in front of this rock and Vietnamese believe that your couple will stick together as long as they have. This rock is the symbol of Vietnam Tourism and you can find its figure everywhere.

Hon Dinh Huong (The Incense Burner Rock)

Shaping as the incense burner and that is the reason why it is set up with the name. This rock is on the way to visit the Kissing Rock and it is such a famous rock that Vietnamese use its picture on the 200.000 VND note.

Titov Beach

Close to the Sung Sot cave and only reachable with the 6 hours Day cruise or overnight cruises in Halong Bay, This island provide panoramic view of Halong Bay and in a bright day you will get wonderful pictures. But take care of over 400 stairs up to the top. We wish they had a cable car or an elevator there! The beach of Titov is also nice but as the tide is up and down daily and seasonally, it is quite a kind of luck to get crystal clear water and wonderful beach without too many people as it is quite common for Vietnamese to visit this beach and do speed boat racing. The Halong Bay Cruise provides the trip to the Titov island such as Halong Aclass Opera Cruise.

Soi Sim beach

It is getting more common for cruises for foreigners to stop at Soi Sim rather than Titov as it is calmer, not as crowded and the chance to get better ocean for swimming. But the viewing point on top is not that good. Soi Sim beach is around 1 km away from Titov. The trekking to the top of the island for picture is around 200 steps only. Some Halong Bay Cruises visit Soi Sim beach such as: Halong Vspirit Cruise, Halong Viet Beauty Cruise.

Cua Van fishing Village

Cua Van fishing village is surrounded with the majestic limestone mountains and villagers live on floating houses. The landscape here is extremely romantic and leave a distinct impression to visitors. There are 200 households along the edge of the rocks live mainly by fishing here. The fishing village is appealingly not only famous for its beautiful scenery but also for its friendly people.

A lot of Halong Bay Cruises visit this fishing village with 3 days 2 nights activities where people can also do kayaking and visit Dark and Light cave.

Dark and Light Cave

Said a Cave but it is actually a Lagoon inside reached by passing the long tunnel. The caves is formed by an enclosed group of islands, which is still in the Halong Bay area, but close to the border Bai Tu Long Bay and Lan Ha Bay. The imposing islands create a lagoon sheltered from the blows of sea wind and only connected with the sea through a 4 meter wide, 100 meter long, and 3 meter high mouth. The lagoon inside seems like a stadium surrounded by high podium. On the cliff one still find traces of fossils of fresh-water snails, which prove that it was a human habitat in the past and must have been a deep valley then. 

The only way to visit the cave is with kayaking and a lot of 3 days 2 nights cruise program will visit this cave such as: Halong Vspirit Cruise, Halong Bhaya Cruise, Halong Signature Cruise, Halong Majestic cruise, Halong Viet Beauty cruise. The only cruise does it in the 2 days 1 night itinerary is Halong Galaxy Premium cruise.. However, just careful with the tide as sometimes it is very hard to paddle out of the tunnel against the water running strongly inside the lagoon when the tide is up.

Luon Cave

 It is another lagoon inside connected by a tunnel called Luon which is a popular kayaking spot for tourists staying overnight on the boat. The tunnel is around 30 meters long with the with of around 5 meters and the height of just around 2 meters when the tide is medium. During high tide, it must be a great care you pay attention to when you kayak through the tunnel and try to avoid the stalactites hanging down from the ceiling. The calm lagoon inside is huge with greens and some monkeys the government try to resettle them here. Halong Vspirit Cruise visits Luon Cave by kayaking in the first day activity. 

Three Peaches Beach - Ba Trai Dao 

Following a legend, fairies came without permission from Heaven and came here for sight-seeing and swimming. The youngest fairy, which was very pretty and virtuous, felt in love with a young fisher- man, stole three peaches from Heaven for him, that if he ate, would give him eternal life, allowing them to live together forever. But while she waited for him on the island, the King of Heavens found out and turned the peaches into stone nowadays the 3 islands shape up as the 3 peaches.

The beach is quite large and sandy, the view of area is stunning and of course the kayaking around here is the best of all. Cruises in Halong bay consider this as a treasure of the Lan Ha Bay.

Vung Vieng Fishing Village

Located in the heart of Bai Tu Long Bay, 24 km from the mainland, Vung Vieng fishing village will get you not only immersed in the quiet and peaceful location viewing the charming landscape, and discovering the cultural life of the fishermen but also directed about sailing, pulling & dropping net off and fishing. Enchanted by the beauty of the boats, the nets in front of the house, the simple but hospitable fishermen, and the small children smiling as they go to school are all your feeling of this place. The village was quite quiet some years ago but with the mass tourism now, it is getting more and more popular.

Some of the cruises visit Vung Vieng fishing village will be: Princess Honeymoon cruise, Prince Family Charter cruises, Red Dragon cruise, Dragon Pearl cruise, Dragon Legend cruise and Galaxy Premium cruise.

Halong Pearl Farm

This pearl village was established in 1995 by a Japanese organization, after years run by Japanese experts, it was transferred for Vietnamese. When visiting this pearl farm, you will get to the museum to know how the process is done. Then, pass a floating raft where some kinds of oyster pearls are grown and trans-planted such as South Sea pearl, Tahitian Black Pearl,…. See the processing room where workers transplanting oysters and understand some precious species of pearl and at last witness the workers here opening an alive oyster to see a pearl in side and then have look their achievement in the showroom! It is also a chance to shop for pearl in Halong bay.

Halong Pearl Farm is a common stop for a lot of cruises in Halong bay either in 2 or 3 days tour in Halong Bay.

Thien Canh Son cave

Located in the centre of Bai Tu Long Bay, Thien Canh Son Cave offers a wild and mysterious beauty and a great geological value of the bay. This cave is not used for visiting much but mostly for a dinner in a cave of some cruises with 3 days itinerary to enjoy a cosy dinner with family and friends in sparkling candlelight such as: Princess Honeymoon cruise, Prince Family Charter cruises, Red Dragon cruise, Dragon Pearl cruise, Dragon Legend cruise

Monkey Island

 Must say this is one of the most terrific place to stay out of the crowd and enjoy yourself every single minute. The Monkey Island is owned by Monkey Island resort and Monkey Island Cruise. This resort is with around 40 rooms and provide a private ONLY beach which is 20 meters wide and around 300 meters long. The resort is only 2.5* but the nature, the quietness should be 5*. Monkey Island is around 30 minutes boat ride from Cat Ba Island (Beo Whalf). If  5* service quality is not a must, then this place is a very nice place to stay in Halong Bay area. Of course, it is the cheapest to go to this place with Monkey Island Cruise. The suggested itinerary is at least 3 days.

Cat Ba Island

Well, the reason why we put it in the last places to visit in Halong Bay as this is quite depending on your desire to feel the beauty of this island. Cat Ba island is 1500 km2 and with Cat Ba National Park. Many cruises visit Viet Hai Village as a part of Cat Ba island with the beautiful greens of tropical fauna for their 3 days 2 nights activities such as: Halong Majestic Cruise, Halong Bhaya Cruise, Halong Royal Palace Cruise

 However, if you choose to stay in Cat Ba island with a customized tour package, it will be just very few things you can do except swimming on the beach and enjoying the nice hotel name: Cat Ba Sunrise Resort. The life night is not very rich in here.

Halong Bay is also a common stop for Shore Excursions of Oversea Cruises. With these cruises tourists, the following places to visit in Halong City area will be the important for the trip to explore the city in a short time on shore!

TOURS TO HANOI CITY

Hanoi is listed up to the list 25 best Asia cities for tourism and worth a day or 2 days package tour to visit. This is a beautiful city with the combination of East and West and also the special Old Quarter as well as the long standing culture. 

You can basically get off the cruise line and find your own path with a guide and driver to explore the city within 1 night stay in Hanoi if your cruise time permits. If you are short of time, just enjoy the day trip to Hanoi (7 hours drive both ways).

Further reading:

>> Places to visit in Hanoi

>> Hanoi In A Day Tour From Halong City

>> Hanoi Overnight trip from Halong City

DAY TOURS TO HAI PHONG CITY

Hai Phong is the third largest city of Vietnam and Northern Vietnam's most important seaport with its deep-water anchorage and large maritime facilities. The city's name means "coastal defense" and it is nicknamed the Flamboyant City because of the many Delonix regia planted throughout it.

Hai Phong is also famous with many colonial buildings remains with The City's Opera House, famous Du Hang Pagoda, Du Hang Kenh Communal house, the Haiphong Cathedral, Hai Phong city Museum. If your cruise is going to dock at Halong city and you do not want to travel a far distance of 7 hours altogether then the 1h30' drive from Halong city to Hai Phong city will be also a good way to see the land with many French influence!

DAY TOUR TO ZEN MONASTERY AND YEN DUC RURAL VILLAGE

Zen Monastery is located on the top of the mountain of 

Zen Monastery is in Yen Tu Mountain is one of the highest peaks in the Dong Trieu Mountains in the north-eastern area of Vietnam, located within the area of Uong Bi Town, Quang Ninh Province. Besides being a famous natural landscape, Yen Tu preserves numerous historical relics and is also known as “The cradle of Buddhism in Vietnam”. Visiting Zen Monastery here, you will explore the history of Vietnamese Buddhist Zen. After the former Tran kings defeated Genghis Khan's troops in the 13th century, they abdicated their thrones, settled into this primitive forest to dedicate their life to Zen Buddhism and then introduced it to Vietnam. 

Yen Duc Village is a typical Vietnamese agricultural village which is rich in culture and traditions about 60km to the west of Halong Bay. Yen Duc Village is also granted with beautiful landscape and surrounded by the historical mountains which are mirrored themselves in the Kinh Thay river. Yen Duc Village has charming rice fields and a lot of lakes and ponds, colorful garden. Yen Duc Village has many historical monuments and a famous ancient pagoda named Canh Huong which contains cultural and historical values dated back to Ly and Tran dynasty. Over the years, the stories are still alive together with each famous mountain, river and pieces of land here. In the village, all the alley roads are very clean with unique stone walls, especially the local villagers are very friendly, honest and extremely hospitable.

Joining a trip to Yen Duc village is a great chance to learn about the local traditions of Vietnam and also the rural life of 60% Vietnamese!

Further Reading:

>> Zen Monastery - Yen Duc Rural Village Day Tour from Halong City

TOURS AROUND HALONG CITY

Ha Long, a city on Vietnam’s northern coast, is a jumping-off point for Ha Long Bay, a broad inlet of dramatic, often mist-covered limestone islands. Replicas of traditional junk boats tour the bay and depart from the city’s Bai Chay district. Bai Chay also has an artificial beach, a casino, cafes and dozens of hotels from resort-style complexes to hostels.

If your cruise does not give a good time to visit somewhere far or you do not like to do the far distance drive, the beauty spots in Halong city and surrounding will give you a stunning experience with: Co Tien pagoda, Halong museum, Halong market for tourism, Tuan Chau island (normally visited at night).

A bit far from the city center is the special sacred pagoda named: Cai Bau Pagoda where a special thing happened that a mouse kept praying to the Gods inside the temple once became the hot topic of many reporters.

We do hope that with the provided information of Places to Visit in Halong Bay will help you to choose the activities and sightseeing as well as itinerary for Halong Bay Cruises suitable for your desire! Have a great Halong Bay Cruise Tours.

All The Best!

PS. This article uses some pictures from our partners under their permissions.