Calm island with lovely views
We took a Bus, speed boat and another bus that brought us from Hanoi to Cat Ba Island, where we stayed 4 nights.
With great weather in the forecast we booked a cruise for the next days in the nearby Lang Ha bay, twin of Ha long bay, but less packed with boats arriving from the mainland.
Classic tour with swimming, kayaking to the lagoons, lunch on the boat, and watching close up the limestone karst cliffs emerging from turquoise waters. We avoided the cheapest offer on the island and were granted an easy going tour with a calm group. unlike some 20-30 noisy, rude kids who arrived soon after us to the lagoons and probably belonged to the cheaper tours. In summary, worth the extra buck.
Learn about the geology and formation of the karst cliffs
Second day was chill walking around the town. yummy bahn my and cool covered market with interesting smells and sights.
Third day hiking to the viewpoint in the national park and walking through the cave right next to the entrance, the entrance ticket covers both. We also went to the cannon fort. However it wasn’t at all how I remembered it from five years prior. Full of trash and very neglected. We instead return down to the town, to climb the viewpoint in the middle. We enjoyed the sunset there alone and uninterrupted.
We left the Island with good memories and happy stomachs, on a bus that crossed back to the mainland on a slow ferry, on our way to Tam Coc, Ninh Binh.
For a low budget adventure Cat ba is the Island for you. This calm island with lovely views could be actually explored very cheaply. On low season, being winter, which is also the dry season, you can find temperature above 20 celcius during the day.
Take the local boat from the ben beo harbor to Viet Hai village, leaves at 11 and takes about 50 minutes of great views, very cheap compared to arranged cruises. Then either take the return boat soon after, or hike across to the entrance of the national park. You can then catch the local bus back, last one leaves at 16 from one end of the Island back to town.
