is it worth doing a Halong Bay cruise?

Halong Bay – One of the World Natural Heritage is one of the most famous attractions in Vietnam and the world in general.  It is a masterpiece of nature over millions of years. Each year Halong Bay attracts millions of tourists to Halong Bay. 

There are hundreds of cruises in Halong Bay from day cruise to overnight cruises. So is it worth doing a Halong Bay cruise?

Halong Bay now is so popular and almost of travellers visiting Vietnam know Halong Bay and put it in their top travel list in their holidays to Vietnam and there are a lot of tourists visiting Vietnam just for Halong Bay. Doing a cruise in Halong Bay is the best way to experience this amazing area. There are some thousands of limestone islands rising up from the water. There are beautiful and huge caves and there are secret lagoons.

The answer for this question is 100% worth doing it despite there are some negatives. There are too many tourists in Halong Bay and Halong Bay is not so clean anymore as there are so many cruises and so many tourists.

1. Is Halong Bay Too Touristy?

Halong Bay become more and more touristy unluckily. It is because Halong Bay is so famous and popular, most of the tourists know about that and want to visit at least once in their life. Halong Bay is closed to Halong City where are a lot of buildings and this area is packed with hundreds of boats with thousands of tourists each day. If you visit Halong once especially in the summer which is the peak season for the local holiday you will see that is very touristy and full of tourists everywhere. 

However, it is still worth visiting Halong Bay and there is still the way to visit Halong Bay and avoid the crow. How do you do it?

>> You can visit Halong Bay with a Halong Bay Overnight Cruise. For the Overnight Cruises, the cruises are limited and the cabins are limited so even in the high season the total cabins of all the cruises are limited so the number of people doing this route is limited. In the high season of local tourists and Asian tourists, most of them visit Halong Bay for one day and one cruise can maximize the number of the tourists and you know that one small cruise can afford to carry more than 40 to 50 people so it is so crowed for the day tour route for 4 hour. So 1 night Halong Bay Cruise or 2 night Halong Bay Cruise are good options.

While you choose the overnight cruises, you can choose the less touristy route. Cruises in Lan Ha Bay is the best option for you with fewer cruises and all of them are high-quality cruises. 

>> If you do not have time or budget for Halong Bay Overnight Cruise then you can do the day boat to Halong Bay but choose the route with fewer tourists.

You can choose the day boat in Lan Ha Bay (the Southern Part of Halong Bay) which is far from Halong City. As you see that most of the local and Asian tourists choosing stay overnight in Halong City so they will not do the day tour in Lan Ha Bay because this tour starts from Got Pier and it is far from Halong City.

So Halong Bay, in general, it is touristy but it is still worth visiting it and there is a way as you see.

2. Is Halong Bay Polluted and Dirty?

Unfortunately yes, Halong Bay is pretty polluted and dirty. If you have been to Halong Bay on a cruise or if you have seen some photos or videos you may see that it is not clean. The reason why Halong Bay is not clean because there are hundreds of cruises in Halong Bay and Halong Bay is near Halong City. The habit of protecting the environment of local and a part of tourists are still not good but it is better and better. The government is having more and more activities to protect the environment and we can hope for a good future of Halong Bay. 

However, at the moment it is not good so if you wish to visit Halong Bay to a less polluted you can travel with some cruises in Lan Ha Bay. This route to Lan Ha Bay is less polluted as there are fewer cruises and it is not near the city but Cat Ba Island. Some good cruises having good actions to protect and educate the tourists to protect the environment also such as V’Spirit Cruise, Perla Dawn Sails. They have some programs for tourists to collect the rubbish and when travellers go with those cruises they will encourage tourists to use the water refilled bottles to replace single-use plastic bottles.

So Halong Bay is still worth to visit if you can choose a good cruise with a good company and a good route. 

V’Spirit Cruise

3. How Much for a Halong Bay Cruise?

There is not only one answer to this question because there are hundreds of cruises in Halong Bay. There are Halong Bay day cruises and there are overnight Cruises. They are in different classes from budget cruises, and deluxe cruises to luxury cruises so there are different prices and you need to search for the most suitable price for your group.

4. How Long to Stay in Halong Bay?

There are different itineraries for a Halong Bay Cruise. You can do 1-night cruise, 2-night cruise and that will be the best option for visiting most of the nice places and having more time to relax but it is fine for a day if you do not have much time.

So in general, Halong Bay is clean as we wish but it is still worth doing a Halong Bay Cruise if you know how to choose the good route and good cruise.

Thank you very much for reading our article and we hope you will have a good holiday in Vietnam with us. Book the tour with us – the reputable tour operator in Vietnam.