HALONG BAY

Ever since the beginning of planning our trip to Vietnam, Halong Bay was high on our wish list. Seeing all the beautiful pictures of the landscape made my heart desire to see all this beauty with my own eyes. And wow, the turquoise bays and limestone islets turned out to exceed our expectations! A cruise through one of the eight natural wonders of the world was one of the highlights of our trip. As I told you on Instagram, you can visit Halong Bay in many ways and on many budgets! I’ve spent a lot of time at home researching Halong Bay cruises, the options are endless. But I concluded that for this trip, a multiple-day cruise was just too expensive. When traveling for 2 months you have to make some choices! :) The best way to visit Halong Bay on a budget is by going to Cat Ba Island first. After taking the night train from Sapa back to Hanoi, we took the first bus to Cat Ba town. We booked our tickets with Daiichi Travel in Hanoi and were very happy with that company! You can find their office in the Old Quarter, their buses go to Cat Ba 4 times a day. After a 3-hour bus trip, the ferry took us to Cat Ba Island in only 15 minutes. The last bus ride to our destination Cat Ba town took 30 minutes. We found a simple, yet perfect hotel right in the center of Cat Ba Island where we stayed for only 10 USD/night, breakfast included. We really recommend this place, the owners are so nice. They helped us with the booking of the Halong Bay tour and our bus ride back to Hanoi. Also, they have a good laundry service and you can rent a motorbike for 4 USD/day, you can find our stay here.  So, some more about our Halong Bay cruise! :) We went on a one-day cruise with Cat Ba Eco Tourist. They cruised through less touristy areas which was so nice, we came across the floating villages, cruised along the calm, glistening waters of Lan Ha Bay and Halong Bay, and had the most delicious lunch on board. Although it was quite windy that day, the sun came out and the boys were brave enough to jump into the water! The cost of the cruise was 25 USD/per person.  Conclusion of our trip to Cat Ba Island: we had a 3-day trip without missing a single thing of what the island had to offer and were happy as hell to have seen it on a great budget. I hope you will enjoy the pictures of our time in Halong Bay!