Day 521: Halong Bay

Halong Bay with tour boat

Looking towards the city

Halong Bay really is a long way to go for a day trip (4 hours there and 4 hours back), and also, it really is beautiful.  We took an afternoon cruise past various bits of photogenic scenery and a fishing village, then landed for a tour of the cave formations inside one of the karsts.  The kayaking part of the trip which I had booked didn't happen for reasons that weren't clear to me.  I should say that I have heard from several tourists that they have tried to book more active tours like cycling and kayaking and the active part never really came off. I also noted that the tour companies package people who wanted active tours with people who didn't and in some cases were not physically able. On both tours I went on, there was definite resistance by some members of the group to active parts of the program and/or people with restricted mobility.  It seemed to me that the companies were not really motivated to deliver physically active options to their clients and this is something to watch out for if you fall into that category.

Cave under a karst hill with artificial light show

Same cave with natural light show

In conclusion - Halong Bay is worth it on a day trip if you're really motivated to see Halong Bay, but if you're having to make choices, I would go for Tam Coq