Ha Long Bay Vietnam from Nha Trang. How to get to Ha Long Bay from Nha Trang and Hanoi. Weather, tourist seasons

Halong – amazing creation nature, which is located in the north of Vietnam. On the territory of this picturesque bay there are about 3,000 thousand rocks and islands that create a breathtaking landscape.

Ethnic galleys sail in the bay, in traditional Vietnamese style. Very often these ships Scarlet Sails, and you maneuver on it, as if in a fairy tale. Cutting through the unforgettable beauty of the surrounding cliffs and breathtaking views.

To see these beauties listed world heritage UNESCO, millions of people go to Vietnam only for this purpose.

From the article you will learn how to get from Nha Trang to Ha Long more profitably and conveniently. To see everything with my own eyes.

Excursion from Nha Trang to Halong

For those who are interested in an excursion to Ha Long from Nha Trang and for whom it is easier to pay money and not think about organizing a trip, but just relax, we suggest that you read more about the price and description of this excursion at the link “Excursion to Ha Long from Nha Trang “

Our plan

We will offer you a plan on how to go on an excursion from Nha Trang to Ha Long for only 95 USD. Roundtrip. Provided that an excursion from Nha Trang to Halong costs more money.

Almost every travel agency in our city can offer an excursion from Nha Trang to Halong.

It is important to note that they may not be able to organize a tour for you, simply because the group is not large enough.
There are few people willing to go to Halong from Nha Trang for 3500-550 USD per person (average excursion price).

If you find yourself in Nha Trang and dream of getting to Halong Bay, but you don’t really want to pay 350-500 USD for an excursion, then our recommendations will help you.

There are no direct routes from Nha Trang to Halong accessible to the average tourist.

The most convenient way is to get there with a stop in Hanoi.

Now let’s look at the most profitable way to go to Halong.

How to go to Halong from Nha Trang for only 95 USD?

Bus Hanoi – Ha Long.

The most affordable and relatively convenient way get from Hanoi to Halong by tourist bus.

Ticket price is around 10 USD per person. Feel free to buy travel passes at travel agency offices in the old district of Hanoi.

By bus from Hanoi to Halong it takes at least 3 hours. Buses leave every hour.

If you bought tickets in advance, at a travel agency, in the old quarter of Hano, and your hotel is located there, then you will be taken to the bus from your hotel. If you decide to do without intermediaries, then go to My Dinh bus station in Hanoi.

About 40 buses a day depart from it to Halong. The cost is around 50-100 thousand dong. Due to the large number of stops, your journey will take more than 5 hours.

Rent a car for a trip from Hanoi to Halong– approximately 80 USD. It goes both ways.

One way cost of a car is 70 USD.

If you want to see Ha Long in one day, then renting a car will be more convenient for you.

It takes about 3 hours by car. After which, upon arrival in Halong city, you need to take a 4-hour excursion around the bay of the same name.

At the end of the tour, the same car will pick you up and drive you back to Hanoi.

If you want to stay overnight, in addition to your hotel, you will need to pay for hotel and food for the driver. This is plus 15-20 dollars for 1 day of downtime.

Excursion from Hanoi to Halong.

A very good option for considering a trip to Halong from Hanoi is a trip with an excursion. The all-inclusive program costs approximately 25 USD per person. Includes lunch, all transportation and guide.

Therefore, if your goal is to see the bay from board a ship, then it makes sense to take an excursion, since traveling on your own will not be much cheaper. And sometimes more expensive.

See the description and cost of the excursion for 1 day here:

As a result, an excursion from Nha Trang to Halong can cost you only 95 USD.

You need to get there yourself by bus, for 35 USD one way. Afterwards, take a tour for 25 USD at one of the travel agencies in the old district of Hanoi.

Upon return to Hanoi, return to Nha Trang for 35 USD.

Total: 95 USD.

This price does not include only food and souvenirs (with the exception of one lunch during the excursion).

You will spend 4 nights and 3 days on this trip.

See almost all of Vietnam and get an unforgettable experience of a lifetime!

Best excursion to Halong from Nha Trang

If you have a desire to visit Halong from Nha Trang, but time and resources are limited, then go on an excursion to Halong with the “Uncle Vanya” company. The excursion program is maximally balanced and perfected for Nha Trang tourists in order to save their time and budget, while maintaining the quality of their impressions from the legendary Halong Bay!

If I may, also for CatBa. Purely my own experience, but it may be useful to someone.
In fact, I was the only Russian in the bus. But already on a cruise along the bay I met a Russian-speaking family who wanted to go the same way, but they mixed up the bus station and therefore went for 300k dong from a travel agency. And there aren’t a lot of Israelis either - I saw 1 family who arrived on the same flight as me, but on a different bus. The rest are Europeans, mostly young. In Cat Ba we were taken to the Hoang Long office. Comfortable. From there and back at 9.15 am and at 13.15. I immediately ran into a guy from a hotel in a neighboring house. If you're interested in the name, I'll attach a business card next. Room for two (I live alone, though) $7 a night. I don’t understand, is it theirs or what? low season? The room is clean, the linen is fresh, there is hot water in the shower. View of the bay. True, on the 4th floor there is no elevator, no air conditioning, only a fan, free WiFi (like in all hotels and restaurants in Vietnam, no? On Cat Ba, no matter what eatery I go to, there is free WiFi everywhere and no password (don’t they bother?) . Standard in Vietnamese(?): in the shower, in addition to soap, shampoo, towels, there are also flip-flops and disposable clothes. Toothbrush with paste “for 1 tooth”. A small thing, but nice. I have never seen anything like this in Thailand. True, there is half a liter of water for free, but then 5 1.5 liter bottles of mineral water appeared in the room. I ask the employee, is it free? - no, he says, 10k dong a bottle. Well, really, here it is standard price in all small stores. I didn’t see 7/11 here, there is a local equivalent in Hanoi, I don’t remember
name, water was cheaper there, although not significantly - 7.5 or 8.5k dong.

Ilya

Yes, another minor wiring on CatBa.
For those who don’t know how or are afraid to drive a motorbike (I’m still afraid because in Israel I only drive a car, I’ve never sat on a moped in my life). There are plenty of “drivers” of motorbikes like mototaxi. He handed me one like this. I want to go to the national park and Fort Kenon. He says it’s like 100k dong there back. I estimate: less than $5. It's almost 16.00. Motorbike rental per day: $5 with full gas tank. And I just need these 2 places. Okay, I say. I wrote 2 locations on a piece of paper, pointed them back and forth with arrows, and made the guy sign. Go. National The park was closed and they didn’t let me in. I say let's go to Fort Kenon. He drives up to some girl, it seems at a gas station, and starts telling her something. She translates it to me in English, saying that you have to pay him extra for Fort Kenon. I say, we agreed and it was possible to go there and return it, I show her the piece of paper - I say, he agreed and signed. She says, yes, indeed, there is no bazaar and he signed it, so take it. To be honest, I was afraid that he would call his crowd. No, nothing, I'm lucky. Takes you to the fort, where it is still open (the fort is open until 18.00, ticket 40k dong). I buy a ticket, he says something to the cashier. She translates: they say, how long will you be there? I say, about 40 minutes. It’s another 1 km up from the entrance, 10-15 minutes at least + 10 minutes for the descent + there at least 15 minutes (if you run to see only the views, I was actually there for more than 1 hour, there’s a lot of interesting things besides the views) . She says, he can’t wait, pay him 100k dong. I say we agreed back and forth. Hai is waiting. Or he takes me to the top - I’ll get there faster, or we’ll go back faster. It can’t be that he just took me to the place and immediately back. I didn’t go to the fort to kiss the gates, but to see the views. I say if he is wasting time, let him leave and come back for me at 18.00. I will pay him everything I owe when his work is done. I show you the paper again. I say he hasn’t finished his work yet. She again talked to the driver and told me: pay him 60k dong now and he will leave. Well, that suited me. From the entrance to the fort to the hotel it’s 1 km down, nonsense. I paid, of course, you can be impudent to a certain limit. It’s not that I feel sorry for the money, it’s not expensive. But on the Internet there were recommendations to sign the driver if they suspect some kind of dumping. Wanted to check if this works. It turned out that it works quite well. Again, the service here is actually not that cheap. 100k dong=$4.5=18 shekels. In Israel, this is how much it costs to travel by minibus from Haifa to Nahariya. It is 33 km. From the Cat Ba embankment to the national park and back through the Kenon fort it’s hardly more. At the same time, Israel is an expensive country. Are there any minibuses here? - it’s still very bad, but that’s not my problem. In an otherwise cheap country there should be cheap travel to attractions. There seems to be demand.

Ha Long Bay is unique a natural phenomenon. It has more than 3,000 islands, islets and rocks, sometimes of incredible shapes. Since 1994, the bay has been included in the UNESCO list, and since 2011 it is one of 7 new wonders of nature.

As is usually the case among the Vietnamese, there is a beautiful legend associated with the bay. Ha Long is translated as “where the dragon descended into the sea.” Was here once big Island, and in the mountains lived a dragon. One day a dragon came down from the mountains and crushed Ha Long Island with its tail. This is how depressions and hollows appeared, which after the dragon sank into the sea were filled with water, and only small islands and rocks remained above the surface of the water.

Ha Long Bay has more than just the small picturesque karst rocks that we see in guidebooks. There are also large islands, such as Tuan Chau (an island, the former residence of the ruler of Ho Chi Minh City) and (the largest island in the bay).

Surprise for Russians: there is also an island in the bay named after the Soviet cosmonaut German Titov. The island was named personally by Ho Chi Minh City in 1962, when the astronaut first visited Vietnam.

This visit happened in winter (just so you understand, winter in the north of Vietnam is very cold, especially in the bay, penetrated by all the winds). Leader Ho Chi Minh personally accompanied German Titov during his boat trip according to Ha Long. But then the sun came out, and Titov expressed a desire to swim in the water, which was “icy” by Vietnamese standards - its temperature was 16 degrees. For the sake of such a great astronaut and Ho Chi Minh, who accompanied him, they took him by boat to the nearest island, which in those days had no name, but was designated only as No. 46, where the astronaut safely completed his swim. This impressed the Vietnamese leader so much that he, putting his arm around the cosmonauts’ shoulders, solemnly presented him with this island, giving the unremarkable island No. 46 the name of the Soviet cosmonaut.

However, the astronaut’s last name was written in the Vietnamese style - Ti Top(they don't like long words). Usually a visit to Titov Island is only included in the 3 days and 2 nights program (if you buy a ready-made group excursion rather than organizing it individually).

Titov Island

Since the bay is located in the northern part of Vietnam, it is often quite cool here (and downright cold in winter) and it rains very often. In winter, Ha Long is likely to be rainy and foggy, so you will see all the beauty of the bay in a foggy haze. If possible, it is better to guess the best time of year to visit Ha Long. This will provide you with the most beautiful pictures and unclouded positive emotions.

The best time for an excursion to Ha Long is spring (from mid-March to the end of May) and autumn (all September and October). We visited it in April.

November, December and January are the coldest and foggiest times in Ha Long, and more specifically from September to October. Swim at heavenly beaches Bay definitely won't work.

In summer the bay is quite warm, but the probability of precipitation is the highest of the year.

Excursion to Halong from Hanoi

Tours from Hanoi to Halong are available three types:

1 day (no overnight stay). Price - from $28
2 days 1 night (overnight on Cat Ba Island). Price - from $75
2 days 1 night (overnight on the ship). Price - from $70
3 days 2 nights (one overnight on the ship, the second on the island). Price - from $130

We ourselves were late in purchasing the excursion, and bought it only at 10 pm on the eve of the trip. At this time, they could only offer us an excursion with one overnight stay on the island, which we were very happy about: we didn’t want to sleep on the ship.

One more nuance: If you choose an excursion with an overnight stay on a ship, we highly recommend choosing more expensive options. Because the cheapest excursions mean the worst ships and living conditions. We ended up on just such a ship: it was still nice to sit on the deck, but spending the night on such a ruin would have been quite scary. Especially after In 2011, a junk sank in Ha Long.(that’s what these small pleasure boats are called here) with tourists.

On February 17, 2011, a disaster occurred in Halong Bay. At 5 a.m. local time, a tourist boat sank. It is also tragic that at this time all the tourists on the ship were sleeping, and many simply did not have time to understand that they were going down. Then 12 died foreign tourists, among whom were 2 tourists from Russia.

If you spend the night on a ship, it’s better on this one:

Or like this:

And this is our boat, it’s not very comfortable to spend the night on this:

To Ha Long on your own

If you have time, a great option would be to stay on Cat Ba for a few days and buy a tour of Ha Long right on the island. Firstly, because you will be able to navigate the weather and choose the sunniest possible day for a trip around the bay. And secondly, we will be able to see with our own eyes the ship on which you are offered to sail and choose the best one (and not a “pig in a poke”, as happens with those who buy an excursion in Hanoi).

International crowd. Everyone got to know each other very quickly and had fun communicating to the best of their English)

Denis met his namesake from Germany

There are 4 real floating villages in Ha Long Bay, numbering about 1,600 inhabitants, most of whom have never set foot on solid land.

Village residents earn extra money by selling water, beer and all kinds of snacks to tourists on ships. And tourists are happy to buy all sorts of drinks from them, because the prices on the ship are more expensive.

It is worth mentioning that on any excursion drinks are not included in the price, and in the bar they cost 3-4 times more than on the mainland.

The beauty of Halong is certainly mesmerizing. Every minute we see more and more rocks, caves, islands:

Luon Cave and Kayaking

Our boat entered the quiet bay of Luon Cave, where there were several other ships.

Tourists were offered kayaks or boats with rowers to explore the lagoon and the caves located here.

Since the kayaks were only two-seaters (and not the three-seaters we sailed in Thai), we went exploring the lagoon on a boat with a few tourists who didn't want to kayak. It is worth mentioning that you cannot swim inside the lagoon on motor boats, so we only choose between kayaks and rowing boats.

And it’s good that we ended up on a boat, because we would have been afraid to take a camera on a kayak and would have been left without very beautiful pictures.

After a leisurely boat ride along the bay, we swam into that same cave Luon Cave. It is small and quite low:

And behind the cave there was a lagoon, quiet and picturesque:

Vanya, as usual, made friends among friendly Asians:

Kind girl from Cambodia

And a funny guy from Myanmar

If you're on a boat with a rower on the lagoon, please don't forget to tip him!

Luon Caves in Ha Long Bay on the map:

Ha Long Bay from Nha Trang: price

If you are vacationing in the south of Vietnam, in Nha Trang, but really want to see the north of the country, then you have this opportunity. Travel agencies in Nha Trang offer everyone tours to Halong Bay for about $ 445 per person ( $ 80 of which airline tickets are made). The duration of such an excursion is 2 days and 2 nights.

You can organize your own tour yourself by purchasing Nha Trang-Hanoi-Nha Trang tickets. In this case, you can buy any excursion you like in Hanoi, with at least one, two or three overnight stays in the bay. And at the same time you will have the opportunity to explore the Vietnamese capital.

- a real treasure of Vietnam. The fantastically beautiful views amaze thousands of tourists who visit this place every year.

Halong Bay, in other words, is a bay where nature has collected thousands of mysterious caves and grottoes, rocks, bizarre cliffs, large and very tiny islands. Its size is impressive - more than one and a half thousand km. sq.!

It is worth saying that Halong itself is the capital city of the Vietnamese province of Quang Ninh, which is by no means of independent interest.

Description of Ha Long Bay

Halong is famous not only for its breathtaking scenery of cliffs and islands. Hiding in the rocks mysterious caves, inside of which there is a whole world, full of stalactites ominously hanging down and stalagmites growing from the bottom of cones and pillars, as well as small waterfalls.

Having equipped the caves with multi-colored lamps, the Vietnamese created bright underground kingdoms shimmering with all colors for tourists.

The islands of the bay - completely different in size - are chaotically scattered across the water and stick out from it like rocks.

Almost a thousand islands have their own original name, including such interesting names as Elephant, Antelope, Fighting Rooster, Lizard. It is clear that they are named so either due to their outlandish shape, or in honor of the animals living on the island.

Some of the islands are completely occupied by caves.

Among the famous cave islands is the “Cave of Wooden Spears,” which is famous for the fact that spears driven into the bottom of the bay during the war with the Mongols were kept inside it.
In the "Drum Cave", strong winds at times create a hum similar to the beating of drums.
Inside some caves, for example, in the “Cave of Pillars”, - cleanest lakes with fresh drinking water.
The longest cave is Quang Hanh, its length is over one kilometer.

The largest island in the Bay occupies 285 square meters. km. and has the name Catba, which translates as “island of women.” Here is a unique natural Park occupies half the territory, tourist complex and excellent sandy areas for swimming.

Another famous island— Tuan Chau, the former residence of Ho Chi Minh, the famous leader and fighter for independence, is located on it.

Another interesting place that shows the full flavor of local Vietnamese life is the floating fishing villages. Incredibly, they are built on rafts!

The local flora and fauna is extremely rich, and fishermen manage to catch more than 200 species of fish and about 450 different shellfish.

The people of Vietnam are quite superstitious, so the history of Ha Long is riddled with mythical legends and stories. The most popular of them are associated with dragons, which now decorate all kinds of souvenirs in the bay, because the name “Ha Long” itself translates roughly as “the place where the dragon dives.”

According to one legend, the land where Ha Long is now located was once inhabited by a huge fire-breathing dragon. Walking along it, with his powerful tail, touching the mountains, he hollowed out rocks, and left deep holes with his paws.

Having descended to the coast, the dragon plunged into the sea, which, having overflowed its banks, flooded the entire valley, and all that remained of it were rocks, cliffs and thousands of islands created by a powerful creature.

Another legend is no less fantastic.

In distant ancient times, Heaven helped the Vietnamese fight Chinese warriors who tried to plunder and seize their land. To prevent defeat, it sent a flock of magical dragons to help, and instead of fire, precious stones - pearls - fell into the sea from their mouths. As soon as they touched the sea waves, they turned into islands right in front of their opponents and thus smashed the enemy ships.

Having dealt with their hated enemies, the dragons decided to settle on this land. The mother of all dragons has chosen for herself the most picturesque bay, which has since been called Halong in honor of the Dragoness descending into the sea.

Historians say that in the 13th century military operations did take place in the bay, but between the Mongols and the Vietnamese.

By driving long wooden spears into the bottom, the Vietnamese lured their enemies there and easily won, as the Mongol ships fell into a trap, flying into the pointed spears, which were invisible due to the tide.

By the way, the scientific, more realistic theory of the formation of the bay is as follows. The coast, created from limestone rocks, was eroded over time by rains and carried away by the wind - this is where caves, grottoes and rocks originated.

The shore of the bay began to sink about 10-15 thousand years ago, which led to the appearance of islands rising among the waters.

Currently, Ha Long Bay is a unique creation of nature, a World Heritage Site protected by UNESCO. In addition, in 2011, Ha Long began to be considered one of the wonders of the world.

Where is Ha Long Bay on the map

The map below shows the exact location of the bay.

How to get to Ha Long Bay

Distance from Hanoi to Ha Long

The bay is located 170 kilometers from the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, in the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea.

The most convenient way to get there is as part of an excursion, but it is also possible independent travel, which may be even more expensive organized tour. Some tourists come to the bay from Nanying, China by bus. From Ho Chi Minh City you can fly to Haiphong.

How to get from Hanoi to Ha Long

The most basic route is from the capital Hanoi.

Minibuses and regular buses

Tourist minibuses take about 3 hours to get to Halong, longer due to many stops (about 5 hours), but cheap option— scheduled intercity bus. Usually buses take you directly to the pier.

Transfer from the airport

Some Ha Long hotels offer their future guests their own transfer from Hanoi Airport to Ha Long. In addition, you can rent a car with a driver for several days.

Train

Trains run through the city of Hai Phong (two hours from the capital) to Ha Long. From here you can get there by ferry, boat or speedboat.

Time and cost of visit

Halong Bay is visited all year round, but the winter months can significantly spoil the impression of this place due to strong winds, and summer is usually famous for prolonged downpours. The optimal time to visit is autumn and spring.

To enjoy and admire the bay, you cannot do without a boat trip between the rocks and islands or a cruise for several days. The cost of such excursions depends on the number of days, the class of the boat and the place where the excursion was purchased. Prices are lower at official ticket offices and travel agencies.

A standard boat trip with a visit to the island costs from $5.
A 2-3 day cruise with meals and an overnight stay at a hotel (or on a boat) will cost $35 or more.
If you book a tour from Hanoi, one day, including travel, will cost from $25, two days from $50, and three days from $85.
Some companies offer helicopter rides over Halong starting from $175.

In any case, it’s worth it, because Ha Long is a real masterpiece created by nature.

Oct 30 2016

In order to get there from Nha Trang to stunning Ha Long Bay, we had a long way to go. First, from Nha Trang (Cam Ranh Airport) we flew to Hanoi Vietnam Airlines and 2 hours later we were in international airport Noi Bai, located 45 km from the center.

We stayed in the center of Hanoi, next to a budget hotel that has tour agency, and bought the tour there. The hostess showed colorful advertising brochures different companies, spoke about possible options for a trip to Halong Bay and its cost.

First you need to decide which term Do you want to go to the bay: for a day (without an overnight stay), with one overnight stay on the ship, or for two nights (one on the ship, and the second night on Cat Ba Island in a hotel). It will depend on this cost of excursion to Halong. And from comfort, which you want to receive on the ship.

Excursion program all companies have the same: they take you to the ship that you paid for, feed you lunch (for overnight tours, also dinner and breakfast), take boat trips between the rocks, stop at a floating pearl factory, offer a kayak or boat ride through the caves, climb up observation deck on one of the islands, they are dropped off on the island to visit a large cave.

We chose the excursion with one overnight stay on the ship for $90 per person. The price includes transfer from Hanoi to Halong Bay and back, meals on the ship and excursions with an English-speaking guide. Among the proposed travel companies for trips to Halong were other options, both cheaper ($80 per person) and more expensive ($120, $150). The hostess explained that the cheaper options will have a more worn-out boat, quite possibly without air conditioning in the cabin, with a fan, and tours for $150 feature a more spacious cabin, full of appliances and all the amenities, as well as delicious delicacies during the trip around the bay.

On the streets of Hanoi there are a lot of travel agencies offering their services for organizing holidays in Ha Long Bay, and the prices for such tours are suspiciously low. We asked the hostess why prices for tours purchased on the street are noticeably lower than those purchased at the hotel tour desk. She said that in cheap tour to Ha Long does not include meals on board and entry tickets to some islands, that is, you have to pay extra for it.

Our excursion to Ha Long Bay took place with a company APTtravel. Its official website is http://apttravel.com/

He picked us up from the hotel early in the morning sightseeing bus , then we drove around Hanoi for about 40 minutes and collected people who also purchased a tour from this company. So the bus was filled with people from different countries: Australia, Israel, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, etc. Two English speaking guides we met everyone and told them that the vacationers would be divided into two groups, because our ships were different.

Let's go to Ha Long Bay for a very, very long time - 5 hours 30 minutes(this time takes into account the gathering of tourists around the city and one stop along the way for 30 minutes). Therefore take one day tour I don’t recommend it to anyone from Hanoi without an overnight stay on the ship, most of the time will be spent on the way to the bay, you’ll get tired and won’t have the strength to enjoy it beautiful views fully.

The road, although long, is interesting. The guides handed out bottles of water for the trip and talked about Vietnam, Halong Bay and our excursion program.

There are a lot of ships plying around the bay at the pier.

If you get to the pier without a group, you can buy tickets for a trip around the islands yourself at the ticket office.

At the ticket office there is a poster with the cost of travel to different places in Ha Long Bay.

At the pier, our group (10 people) was put on a boat and sent to the ship DRAGON GOLD CRUISE, where we were supposed to spend the night. There everyone was given keys, introduced to the crew and fed lunch.

DRAGON GOLD CRUISE.

Number It turned out to be small, but quite cozy. Bed, air conditioning, safe, shower, sink, toilet in the room, window with beautiful views. On the upper deck there are sun loungers on which you can relax and sunbathe.

Two days on the ship were interesting and eventful. There are a lot of impressions. About what they saw and what attractions We visited in Ha Long Bay, I wrote .

Nutrition on the ship it was decent: soups, seafood, omelettes, sauce, boiled potatoes, fruits and much more. Everyone got up from the table full.

But I want to note this feature on ships of any type - everything drinks are paid. Two bottles of water are provided free of charge in the cabin, guests are treated to red wine once, and tea and coffee are provided for breakfast. Everything you want to drink during the day and evening (juices, fresh juices, cocktails, beer, etc.) is paid, you pay the bill when you leave the ship. It is strictly forbidden to bring any drinks on board. Everyone is interested in you buying drinks on the ship. Prices are certainly higher than on the mainland, but not exorbitant.

There was no motion on the ship, no feeling of motion sickness did not arise. Therefore, it is quite possible to take children with you on such excursions. At night, the ship drops anchor and stands still, so the cabin feels like you are in a hotel room.

Management in Vietnamese)

WITH guide we were lucky, he spoke excellent English, was wearing branded clothes with the signs of his company, answered all questions in detail, was fluent big amount information. We exchanged coordinates because there are a lot of interesting places, where this guide and his company go on excursions APTtravel.

Way back took a little less time - 4 hours 40 minutes. The bus took everyone to their hotels, we were lucky, our hotel Camellia 6 was close to the center and we were one of the first to leave. At this time of the evening there were traffic jams in Hanoi and the rest of the group had to stand in them for a while before getting to their hotels.

Generally, excursion and recreation organization I liked this company. I would like to note, friends, a number of points on which you need to pay attention when choosing a travel agency with whom you want to go excursion to Ha Long Bay, after all, there are a huge number of them:

— transport, which will take you to the bay and back to Hanoi. A large bus takes a long time and gathers a lot of people at the hotels, which increases travel time. A small minibus travels faster, does not have to stop for 30 minutes on the way, but stops on demand, and it will not take a long time to collect people from hotels and then transport them. Be sure to clarify that you will be brought to the same hotel where you were picked up from, and not dropped off at the other end of the city.

Here is another bus that takes tourists to Ha Long Bay.

— clarify questions related with food and drinks. There are cheap excursions without meals, and all food and drinks are for a fee.

— specify the nuances according to your needs accommodation on the ship: if there is air conditioning, hot water, will it all turn off? Some ships, to save money, turn off the water and air conditioning while the vessel is moored and turn it on only at night.

- drew attention to this peculiarity, on different ships the cabins are made differently: on some, in front of the cabin window there is an individual balcony (or just a window in front of which there is no corridor), while on others, in front of the window there is a common passage corridor. Please clarify this point, because it is much more pleasant when you can open the window and admire the scenery, rather than closing the curtains, because people passing by (staff and vacationers) constantly strive to look out the window.

— it would be good if on the upper deck, in addition to sun loungers, there would be canopy from the sun or rain. Then, in any weather, you can comfortably photograph beautiful views from above.

— ask if it will be included in the price of the excursion payment for tickets to the islands, or you will have to buy them yourself.

- will you be accompanied by a guide and answer questions, or you will have free time for self-examination.

- if the weather changes or due to other circumstances the plan will change of all excursions, then what the guide will do in this case.

In a word, friends, if the excursion is well organized and the weather does not let you down, then your vacation in Halong Bay will be one of the most bright travels in Vietnam!

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