We arrived at our hotel in Hanoi (My Moon Hotel) at 6:45am and sat down for some breakfast. We had to wait for our room to be available so in the meantime I decided to do some research on Halong Bay tours. The tour desk at the hotel was very helpful and told us that the weather was only going to be good for the next couple of days and they recommended we leave immediately for Halong Bay if we weren’t too tired. So at 8am we were fetched and were on our way to Halong Bay! The hotel was very helpful and allowed us to postpone our booking with them to two nights later. There are many different boat options with one to five star ratings, one or two nights on the boat and options to stay in homestays or on different islands. In the end we decided to do a three-day, two-night tour, with both nights on the boat through 4-star Swan Cruises. The cost including all meals, transport and activities for the three days was $209pp. The only thing this price doesn’t include is your drinks, which can be quite expensive on the boat (beer $2, wine glass $6 excl. 10% VAT).
The bus ride from Hanoi to Halong Bay was 4.5hrs. We arrived at the harbor and took a smaller transfer boat to our big boat. We checked in and had a great lunch. Every meal was in typical Vietnamese fashion which prioritises variety, hence we effectively had eight-course meals for lunch and dinner every day! We were full the entire time! While enjoying our lunch we were already on our way through the islands of Halong Bay. In total there are 1969 islands. The views of these limestone islands jutting out from the turquoise ocean are just incredible. We were also so grateful for the great advice from our hotel as the weather was absolutely perfect! After lunch we anchored and got a chance to kayak around the islands, through caves and into lagoons. We even spotted an endangered monkey! We then had a little swim before getting back on board. Every night they had drinks and snacks on the deck to enjoy the sunset. After dinner we also learnt how to play a Vietnamese puzzle game called Tri Uan, where 7 puzzle pieces of different shapes are used to make various different pictures such as a duck, dog or scooter. It is so difficult but we loved it so much we bought two sets for ourselves to take home.
The next day we woke up early for breakfast and then headed to Surprise Cave. Compared to the caves we saw in Phong Nha, Surprise Cave is a little overcrowded but still impressive to see a massive cave hidden in the side of one of the jutting limestone islands. All the other people on the boat were on the two-day, one-night tour so after the cave Chris and I were taken on a private smaller boat for the day. We had the best day, first visiting a pearl factory and then a bay where there were many small beaches we could kayak to. The pearl factory was so interesting. We both had no idea what goes into making a pearl. Every perfectly round pearl gets artificially made by inserting a rounded oyster shell ball into the ovary of a living oyster. A piece of mucus membrane from a donor oyster then gets added. This round shell ball then gets covered by secretion from the membrane over time, which becomes a pearl! A pearl takes anywhere from 3 to 8 years to form. We got to see the whole process from harvesting baby oysters, to cutting membranes from donor oysters to surgically inserting the membrane and shell balls into the living oysters. After the tour we got back on the boat and headed to Three Peaches bay that has many small beaches. We chilled on our own glorious, private beach for a couple of hours before heading back to the boat for another delicious lunch.
That afternoon we headed back to the boat and met up with the new guests that had started their tour that day. We had booked the Honeymoon suite and were treated to a free bottle of wine, which we enjoyed on our private balcony outside our room. The following morning the other guests went to see Surprise Cave and Chris and I just relaxed in our room with the views of the islands outside our window. After lunch we headed back to the harbor. With heavy hearts we disembarked and headed back with the shuttle bus to Hanoi.
We loved every minute of this tour. I visited Halong Bay in 2012 with my mom and although I loved that tour too the water at that stage was very polluted. Our guide told us that in 2012 Halong Bay became a Unesco World Heritage site and since then the government has been very strict with pollution in the bay. They have even relocated communities of fishermen, as their floating villages were a constant source of pollution. This has had a massive positive impact, as the bay is now really beautiful and mostly unpolluted! We are now in Hanoi enjoying our last two days in Vietnam.
Chris and Ro go... 