Ha Long Bay: Cruise, Day Trip, or Lan Ha Bay Instead?

Ha Long Bay: The Big Decision of Your Trip

A bay in northern Vietnam with more than a thousand islands and limestone peaks that together create a stunning landscape. The bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was named one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.

Cruises may be the most famous option, but we have a slightly unpopular opinion about them: we went with a day trip. And as if that weren't enough, not to Ha Long itself, but to its quieter neighbor, Lan Ha Bay. Here's why.

And why Lan Ha Bay?

Lan Ha Bay lies just south of Ha Long, around Cat Ba Island. The scenery is almost identical: the same limestone peaks rising out of the water. And in 2023, UNESCO extended the Ha Long Bay World Heritage Site, so today both bays are part of the same heritage site.

So what's the difference? Ha Long now has so many cruise boats that, jokingly, you could say there are almost as many boats as limestone peaks. The bay has become crowded with tourists and boats, and that takes something away from the experience. Lan Ha is right next door, with very similar scenery and far fewer tourists, so the experience there is usually much quieter and more unspoiled.

Ha Long Bay

Packed with boats

Lan Ha Bay

Quiet, fewer tourists

UNESCO

Same heritage site

Why not a cruise?

We looked at cruises costing $400–550 per couple per night, and a few things about them put us off.

The food. Lunch is usually a buffet, but on most of the cruises we checked, dinner is a fixed set menu: you don't choose what to eat, and most dishes are seafood. In many reviews we read, people who don't like seafood, like us, said they didn't enjoy it and even went to bed hungry.

The activities. Almost every cruise has the same set, and most of it didn't appeal to us. The cooking class sounds more like an experience than actual fun, and squid fishing... let's just say a bucket of squid isn't the sight you fly to Vietnam for.

The night and the morning after. At night the boat anchors in one spot in the bay, and sleeping on a boat didn't sound all that comfortable to us. And in the morning: tai chi at 6 (optional), check-out at 9:30 and back at the port by noon, probably because the boat needs to be ready for the next group. A morning of packing, not relaxing.

So what did we choose? A day trip for about $110 per couple, which gives us exactly what we wanted: cruising the bay and seeing it from the boat. In the evening we're back at a five-star hotel in Hanoi for about $80 a night. That's around $190 in total, compared to $400–550 for a single night on a cruise.

Day trip

~$110per couple

5-star hotel in Hanoi

~$80per night

Cruise

$400–550per couple, one night

How to book

Where we book

Book the Lan Ha Bay day trip on Klook

We booked the trip through Klook, with Serenity Grandeur. On the page, choose departure from Hanoi and your date, and that's it.

See the Lan Ha Bay day trip