金琦之旅 Amazing Voyage: Vietnam Day 3 : Bus to Cat Ba for Budget Ha Long Bay day cruise

The reason of going to Cat Ba is to find the budget Ha Long Bay tour instead of the 1-day rushing tour and 2-day budget unsafe tour.

The 2D1N tour we found the cheapest in Hanoi was USD65. It is Marina Cruise and I think that there is an safety concern. This offer can be found in the hostel that I stayed which is Hanoi Old Quarter Backpackers Hostel.

Marina Cruise Itinerary

The 2nd cheapest is Golden Bay Cruise which is USD75 that I found in the Hanoi street. The hostel that I stayed offer USD80.

Golden Bay Itinerary

The 3rd cheapest which has good review are Moon Light Cruise and cost USD90.
However, USD75 seen expensive to us and hence we decided to go to Cat Ba which is the Ha Long Bay.

Moon Light Cruise Itinerary

We booked our bus to Cat Ba at a travel agency for VND270k(USD12). The bus picked up us the hostel at 10am. After having our breakfast, we waited at the hostel lobby. At 10am, the bus still haven't come and I told the hostel people to help us to call. The bus is on the way.

At 10:20am, the bus guide come and picked us up. He called us to hurry as the bus will blocked the narrow street. The bus is almost full with foreigner.

The bus from Hanoi to Haiphong

First the bus will go to Haiphong to change to the boat to the Cat Ba. This journey was very comfortable as the bus use the highway. However, the bus didn't change to boat at Haiphong main port. It change the boat at Cat Hai which is very near to the Cat Ba island. The bus dropped us at our booked hotel. The total journey took 4+ hours.

Ferry to Cat Ba

There is food stall inside the ferry

Look like Taroko limestone!

The hotel is Trang Ann Sea View Hotel. The room that we stayed is one double bed and a single bed with private bathroom room. The room only VND120k per night! Even there is sea view! It is really worth it.

Very large room

After leave the bag, we walked to Phuong Nhung Restaurant to have the lunch. It ranked 2nd in Tripadvisor for cheap eat in Cat Ba. The Crab rice noodles soup is really nice.

Shrimp noodles soup VND35k

Crab rice noodle soup 35k

Behind the building is all limestone wall!

Then we walked around the town to find the La Han Bay and Ha Long Bay tour. The tour mostly include the lunch and kayaking. The tour can summarized as below:
1. USD14 tour - mostly offer by hotel and hence we knew they are just help the travel agent to promoting the tour. The tour will go to the monkey island. In the monkey island, the activities they knew is only swimming and walking around to see the monkey but not climbing to the top for viewing the La Han Bay. We don't think it is a good deal as they didn't know much where the kayaking will be at.
2. Cat Ba Vision, USD21 - ranked 2nd in tripadvisor. This tour passed out the monkey island and go near to the Ha Long Bay. The tour include the headlamp, snorkel, mask and dry bag. The max boat passenger is 25 person.
3. Cat Ba Green Trail, USD27 - ranked 5th in tripadvisor. This tour include the monkey island, mainly activity is to climbed up to the top and view the La Han Bay.
4. Cat Ba Ventures, USD29 - ranked 4th in tripadvisor and it is very famous in Cat Ba Ventures as it is the first english travel agency in Cat Ba. The trip itinerary can be found in their webpage.
5. We even found the tour for only USD12 at one of the travel agent.
At last, we decided the Cat Ba Vision as it is budget and good review.