Cat Ba Island (Đảo Cát Bà)

The Cat Ba archipelago consists of 367 islands located south of Ha Long Bay. Of these, Cat Ba Island is a popular tourist destination. This place has the typical scenery of Ha Long Bay with limestone mountains and a calm blue sea.

When is Cat Ba beautiful?

Summer is the most ideal time to travel to Cat Ba. From April to October, the weather is cool, suitable for relaxation and swimming. Peak season is from May to July.

If you plan to go to the island in July and August, visitors should pay attention to the weather forecast three to five days in advance to ensure there are no storms. The island is relatively empty from November to March. However, this time is ideal for exploring nature and relaxing.

Transportation

Transportation to Cat Ba

1. From Cat Hai

Cat Ba is about 140 km from Hanoi. Tourists travel along the popular route of the Hanoi-Hai Phong expressway via the Tan Vu sea bridge to Cat Hai district, Hai Phong city. From here, there are several ways to get to Cat Ba Island.

Ferry

Dong Bai ferry (Cat Hai side) is the new ferry terminal, replacing Got ferry (3 km away) and operating from 5:30 to 18:30 every day. The Cai Vieng ferry (Cat Ba side) operates from 5:30, and the last trip is at 18:00.

The time between each ferry trip ranges from 25–30 minutes to an hour, depending on the time of day. On peak days, the ferry terminal will arrange to increase the number of trips and ferries.

Ferry fares for some popular means of transport: Pedestrians: 12,000 VND; motorcyclists: 45,000 VND; cars with less than 9 seats: 190,000 VND.

Cable Car

The cable car station is located near the old Got ferry. The ticket price is 100,000 VND per trip (adults and children over 1m; children under 1m are free). Please be aware that the cable car closes every Tuesday, excluding Tet holidays. The cable car operates from 9am to 3:45pm according to the following time frames: 9am-9:15am, 10am-10:15am, 11am-11:15am, 1:30pm-1:45pm, 2:30pm-2:45pm, and 3:30pm-3:45pm.

Overnight parking fee at the cable car station: cars are 40,000 VND to 70,000 VND per trip depending on the type of vehicle; motorbikes are 10,000 VND per trip. Daily parking fee: cars from 20,000 VND to 35,000 VND per trip; motorbikes 5,000 VND one way.

2. From Hai Phong City

Tourists departing from the center of Hai Phong City also have the option of taking a speedboat from Ben Binh to Cat Ba; the travel time is 50 minutes. Ticket prices range from 250,000 VND to 270,000 VND depending on the type of boat.

3. From Quang Ninh

In addition to the popular means of transportation mentioned above, visitors to Cat Ba can use the Tuan Chau ferry (Quang Ninh), which is about 30–40 minutes from the Dong Bai ferry. This ferry is usually less crowded than the Dong Bai ferry.

However, Tuan Chau’s ferry service only operates five daily trips in each direction. The operating time for Tuan Chau is from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm and for Gia Luan (Cat Ba) from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, while the Dong Bai ferry operates continuously from 5:30 am to 6:30 pm. The travel time from Tuan Chau to Gia Luan is longer, taking 1 hour and 20 minutes compared to just 25 minutes for the Dong Bai ferry. The ferry ticket for private cars (4 to 7 seats) costs 450,000 VND, which is higher than other options.

This route is suitable for peak season or for tourists who combine visiting both Ha Long and Cat Ba.

Traveling on Cat Ba Island

Leaving the ferry incurs a cost of 450,000 VND, which surpasses other options by about 20 km to reach the center of Cat Ba Island. The road is beautiful, runs along the coast, and passes through Cat Ba National Park. If you do not use personal vehicles, visitors can travel by bus, taxi, or other private rental vehicles.

In the center of Cat Ba, visitors travel by electric car (10,000 VND per person per way) or taxi (by meter), motorbike taxi, or other private rental vehicles.

Where to go

Lan Ha Bay

The bay is located in the east, a member of the Association of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World (MBBW). The water here is calm and blue.

At Cai Beo wharf, visitors buy a sightseeing ticket for 30,000 VND per person, then take a boat or canoe to Lan Ha. The price for renting a private boat is 2.2-3.8 and 5.7 million VND for 2.5, 4, and 6 hours, respectively; the boat can carry 25 people. The motorboat costs 500,000 – 1 million VND, corresponding to the type that can carry 5 – 10 people.

Visitors should buy a tour to save money; it costs about 200,000–350,000 VND per person with lunch. Popular schedules include visiting the bay and the ancient fishing village, swimming and diving at some pristine beaches, and free kayaking.

Cai Beo Village (Làng chài cổ Cái Bèo)

The village is also called Vung O, considered the oldest fishing village in Vietnam. Cai Beo is an ancient fishing village. Experience firsthand the daily life of the people who have lived here for thousands of years. You should not miss the experiences of stepping onto the raft house, rowing a boat through the floating rafts, and buying seafood.

This is a popular one-day discovery tour destination from Cat Ba Island.

Monkey Island

The island was formerly known as Cat Dua due to the numerous wild pineapple trees that grow on it. There are more than 20 monkeys on the island. When there are many tourists, they become more daring, come down to the beach to play, and ask for food.

The island was formerly known as Cat Dua due to the numerous wild pineapple trees that grow on it. and avoid the crowds. All beaches have food services, resort bungalows, swimsuit rentals, life jackets, and kayaks.

The one-day Lan Ha Bay discovery tour stops here.

Cat Ba National Park

This is also a world biosphere reserve. Visitors can choose to climb the mountain for 4–8 hours or take a short route for about 2 hours. Walking, cycling, motorbiking, or driving a car for 2–3 hours is also the choice of many people. Visitors can go through the green Kim Giao forest, go to Ngu Lam peak to see the whole view of the national park, see wild animals at night, explore caves…

The entrance fee is 40,000 VND per adult and 20,000 VND for children.

Quan Y Cave (Medical Cave)

This unique destination is located approximately 8.5 km from the town center, on the way to the national park. The cave is a field hospital, built from 1963 to 1965.

Entering the cave, many visitors are surprised to see a system of 17 rooms located on three floors; it has a treatment room, a rehabilitation training area, a cinema room, etc., designed with bomb-proof doors, built during the war.

The entrance fee to the cave is 80,000 VND per person.

Trung Trang Cave (Động Trung Trang)

Located in the same direction as Quan Y Cave, visitors should visit the cave, which is about 300 m long through the mountain, with a capacity of hundreds of people. The system of stalactites and stalagmites here is large, with many shapes, sparkling, about 6 million years old, and still continuing to be formed by small water droplets. This place also contains archaeological sites belonging to ancient Vietnamese people.

The entrance fee is 80,000 VND per person.

Cannon Fortress (Pháo đài Thần Công)

To both visit and rest, visitors can go to the relic site of Than Cong Fortress, also known as Cao Diem 177. Built in the 1940s, the two large cannons and the trench system on the top of the mountain remain largely intact.

What attracts many tourists is the high position; from here you can see the whole bay. This place is suitable for watching the sunrise and sunset on the island.

The entrance fee is 80,000 VND per person. If you want to take an electric car, you have to pay an additional 50,000 VND per person. In addition, the fee for viewing the scenery with binoculars is 5,000 VND.

Beautiful beaches on Cat Ba Island

If you don’t have time to explore the islands outside the bay, you should go to the central beaches. Many people visit the Cat Co beach cluster and Tung Thu beach, among others. These beaches are spacious, calm, have blue water, and are easy to move around.

Hotels, resorts

In Cat Ba, there are many hotels and motels, from budget to high-end, for tourists to choose from. Hotels with sea views can be found along 1/4 Street and Tung Dinh Street, with an average price ranging from 500,000 VND to 1,000,000 VND per night.

Some resorts, such as Flamingo Cat Ba Beach Resort, Nam Cat Island Resort Catba Bay, and Monkey Island Resort, average in price from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 VND per night.

With more economical costs, visitors can refer to homestays such as Santorini Homestay, Lepont Bungalow, etc., priced at about 300,000 VND per night.

Staying overnight on a cruise in Lan Ha Bay is also a different option, with prices ranging from 3,000,000 to 6,000,000 VND per person per night.

What to eat?

The cuisine in the bay is mainly seafood. Tourists whisper to each other about specialties such as sea cucumbers, geoducks, groupers, lobsters, mantis shrimps, sea snakes, snails, shrimp noodles, etc. In addition, seafood can be bought as gifts, with reference prices of about 500,000–700,000 VND for a pair of sea cucumbers, 200,000–250,000 VND for a kg of geoducks, and lobsters from 600,000 VND to 1.8 million VND per kg…

To enjoy cuisine, tourists can go to Cat Ba market, where there are many restaurants with set meals or buffets. In addition, Thuy Anh Hot Pot & Grill on Cai Beo Street is one of the restaurants chosen by many tourists. The average price is 200,000 VND per person.

Note

• The tide is high after 6pm.
• It is recommended to travel by cable car on weekends because the Got ferry terminal is often overloaded.
• Bay Discovery Tours may miss some spots, such as beaches and small islands, due to high water levels.
• Before shopping or eating, visitors should ask for prices.