Ha Long Bay Junk Boat Cruises

Day Cruises Compared

The day cruises compared on the price per person, the length of the day, the water sailed and the Hanoi transfer. Figures come from the tour listings.

Overnight Cruises Compared

The 2-day cruises compared on the price per person, the number of guests, the water sailed and the Hanoi transfer. Figures come from the tour listings.

What a Night Adds

A night on board adds sunset on deck, squid fishing or a cooking class after dinner, sunrise tai chi, and a second morning stop such as Dark and Bright Cave or Trung Trang Cave on Cat Ba Island, depending on the boat. The boats reach three waters: Ha Long Bay itself, quieter Lan Ha Bay south of it, and Bai Tu Long Bay northeast, the least crowded of the three. Boat size varies more than on day trips.

The Bhaya Classic caps at 10 guests, the Oriental Sails junk at 20, the Renea small boat at 25, while the Balcony Suite cruise takes up to 45. Watch the add-ons. Transfers from Hanoi run $20 to $35 per person depending on the listing and vehicle, the Balcony Suite cruise adds a $10 peak surcharge from October 1 to April 30, and the Bhaya and Oriental Sails listings charge nothing back inside 2 days of departure.

The 3-Day Cruise

One listing runs 3 days and 2 nights. The 3-Day Lan Ha Bay Cruise costs $301 per person, plus $35 per person in government VAT and a $25 peak charge from October 1 to April 30, with the Hanoi transfer $25 extra. The second day moves to a day boat for a cycle to Viet Hai village and an afternoon at Ba Trai Dao Beach.

Two nights suit travelers who want to reach farther into Lan Ha Bay without a long drive back on the first evening.

The Original Junk

The word junk comes from Portuguese junco, borrowed from Malay jong. Chinese junks carried battened sails by the 12th century. The hull design is distinctive: a flat bottom, no keel, and watertight bulkheads instead of ribs, which limits flooding if the hull is holed.

Junks were traditionally built with iron nails and clamps and steered with a central rudder. That engineering, not the curved prow alone, is what made the type seaworthy on Asian trade routes.

The Boats on Ha Long Bay Now

Nearly every cruise boat on the bay today is engine-powered, and sails are often kept for show. Two styles exist side by side: the wooden junk look, typically built from Vietnamese hardwood, and newer boutique boats built of steel in a junk style for durability. Small boutique boats range from 1 cabin to about 10 cabins and carry from 2 to about 20 guests.

Licensed boats must carry life jackets, emergency equipment and a professional crew under Vietnamese maritime rules. Only one listing on this page describes its boat as a traditional-style junk, the Oriental Sails Junk Cruise, with deluxe cabins furnished in classic Vietnamese style. The other listings describe modern cruise boats, however junk-flavored their names.

Which Water Do You Sail

The three bays compared on the province, the harbours, the crowds and the cruises on this page that sail each one. The figures come from Vietnamese tourism sources and the tour listings. Every bay runs day trips and 2-day 1-night overnight cruises.

Ha Long Bay is the busiest and the classic route. Lan Ha Bay sits south of Ha Long Bay and is home to Cat Ba Island. Bai Tu Long Bay lies northeast of Ha Long Bay in the Gulf of Tonkin and is the least crowded of the three, while Ha Long is the most touristy.

Ha Long and Lan Ha cruises can both leave from Tuan Chau, Lan Ha cruises can also leave from Cat Ba Island, and Bai Tu Long cruises typically depart from Hon Gai in Ha Long city.

Lan Ha Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay

Lan Ha Bay has about 400 islands in about 70 square kilometres of core water and about 139 beaches, according to one operator guide. Another guide says the bay covers more than 7,000 hectares, with 5,400 hectares under Cat Ba National Park management, so the counts differ by source. It is often called the best bay for kayaking, and the Dark and Bright caves sit at its boundary with Ha Long Bay.

From 2026 the Cat Ba bays carry a separate Hai Phong admission of VND 120,000 per adult. Bai Tu Long Bay lies northeast of Ha Long Bay and its main ports are Hon Gai, about 165 km from Hanoi, Ao Tien in Van Don, about 180 km, and Vung Duc in Cam Pha, about 170 km. Key stops include Vung Vieng floating village, Cong Dam, Thien Canh Son, Cap La and Ban Chan. The Taliya Lan Ha Bay Day Cruise spends 7 hours across Ha Long and Lan Ha, and the Bai Tu Long Bay Small Boat Cruise is the small-boat way into the quietest bay.

Ha Long Bay Itself

Wikipedia counts 1,969 islands and islets in Ha Long Bay, of which 989 have names. Only about 40 of them are inhabited, and many limestone islands rise 50 to 100 metres above the water. Other counts differ: one guide gives 1,133 islands inside the heritage boundary, the IUCN says about 1,600 islands and islets, and another guide repeats the 1,133 figure for Quang Ninh and Hai Phong combined. The core zone holds about 775 islets and covers 334 square kilometres of the 1,553 square kilometre bay.

UNESCO inscribed Ha Long Bay on the World Heritage List on 17 December 1994 and extended the boundary in 2000 for geological value, under criteria vii and viii. On 16 September 2023 the World Heritage Committee inscribed the Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago extension, making it Vietnam's first inter-provincial World Heritage site with biodiversity criteria added, so the site now lists criteria vii, viii, ix and x. The name Ha Long means descending dragon, and legend says a Mother Dragon and her children spat out jewels that became the islands.

The Official Routes

On 26 February 2025 the Quang Ninh People's Council renamed the five old routes as VHL1 to VHL5 and added VHL6, VHL7 and VHL8, under Resolution No. 51/2025/NQ-HDND. VHL1 to VHL5 start from Ha Long International Cruise Port, and VHL8 starts at Tuan Chau International Marina or Ha Long International Cruise Port. The fees below come from guide sources and the Quang Ninh board notices, printed in dong as issued.

One fee index lists the day ticket as VND 290,000 including a VND 40,000 port fee, so the base figure and the all-in figure differ by source.

The Overnight Fee and Who Pays What

The overnight ticket on route 2 costs VND 550,000 for one night and VND 750,000 for two nights. Children under 1.2 m or under 7 years go free, and ages 7 to under 16 get a 20 percent discount, though these child rules come from a secondary guide rather than the board page. The ticket price is the same for foreigners and Vietnamese citizens.

This fee is a government charge, separate from the cruise operator's price. Some listings fold it in and some do not: the Deluxe Day Cruise from Hanoi includes all Ha Long Bay entrance fees in its $40 price, while the Day Cruise with Surprise Cave charges the Ha Long Bay entrance fee of $12.74 per person on top of its $23 base, so $35.74 all in. From 1 January 2026 the Cat Ba bays admission for Lan Ha is VND 120,000 per adult and VND 60,000 per child, and how that combines with the Quang Ninh ticket on the linked routes was not found in any source read.

Which Harbour Your Boat Uses

The harbours compared on where they sit and which boats use them. Figures come from port and tourism sources. Most day cruises and many overnight cruises board at Tuan Chau International Marina, which has two ports, Port 1 for day cruises and Port 2, the International Passenger Port, for overnight cruises.

Ha Long International Cruise Port in Bai Chay serves VHL1 to VHL5 and the big international ships. Bai Tu Long boats use Hon Gai on the other side of the Bai Chay Bridge, which is 903 metres long by one guide's figure.

The Road from Hanoi

Ha Long Bay is in Quang Ninh province, not part of Hanoi. The Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ha Long expressway route is about 150 km and the old National Highway 18 route about 165 km, out of a total range of roughly 150 to 170 km depending on the route. By car or limousine the trip takes about 2 to 2.5 hours on expressways, and buses take 2.5 to 3.5 hours.

Buses leave Hanoi's My Dinh station roughly every 30 to 45 minutes, and limousine vans run door to door in 2.5 to 3 hours. The nearest airports are Van Don at about 50 km from Ha Long, Cat Bi in Hai Phong at about 70 km and Noi Bai in Hanoi at about 160 km. A Hanoi day trip means roughly five hours or more in the vehicle, which is why some travellers pick an overnight cruise instead of racing back the same day.

Where Ocean Cruise Ships Dock

International ocean cruise ships dock at Ha Long International Cruise Port, which has a 524 m quay for two ships of up to 225,000 GT each and a terminal of 13,500 square metres over three floors. The first ship to call was Celebrity Millennium on 27 November 2018 with about 2,000 passengers and 1,000 crew, and commercial operation began on 30 December 2018. Shore excursion passengers can join bay cruises from the port area, and one listing here, the Day Cruise with Surprise Cave, lets cruise ship passengers walk about 5 minutes to its pickup point.

Temperature and Rain by Season

Winter is cool and dry with morning fog, summer is hot and wet, and the shoulder seasons are the calmest. Rainfall in May to September runs 202 to 361 mm a month with August the wettest, against only 21 to 40 mm a month from December to February.

Typhoons, Fog and the Best Months

Typhoon season runs July to September for the bay, with August the highest risk, and tropical storm risk can extend into October. Winter fog is common and can cut visibility on cold mornings, then it lifts by midday, so a foggy start rarely ruins the day. The best months are October to November and March to May by one guide's view, which matches the temperature table above.

In the hot months the swimming water sits at 23 to 30 degrees C, which is when the beach at Ti Top Island and the kayak stops are at their best.

Who Closes the Bay and What Happens Next

The Ha Long Bay Management Board and the Inland Waterway Port Authority decide on boat suspensions, not cruise operators, and cancellations are cited at winds of Beaufort level 6 or higher. Recent closures show how this works in practice. Tourism halted 7 to 9 September 2024 for Typhoon Yagi, which sank about 30 vessels at boat locks along the bay, and boats resumed normal operation on 13 September 2024.

On 13 June 2025 for Storm Wutip, all overnight boats were suspended and day boats had to return passengers by 18:00. On 20 July 2025 all tourist boats were banned from departing as Typhoon Wipha approached. After Storm Maysak weakened, the bay reopened at 14:00 on 5 July 2026, with most departures that day being overnight cruises because day sightseeing time was too short.

When the board cancels for weather, operators often offer a full refund or free rebooking. Licensed boats must carry life jackets, and the capsizing of the Wonder Sea near Dau Go Cave on 19 July 2025 in a sudden thunderstorm, which killed 39 people, is the reason a closure order should be respected.