Things to do in Ha Long Bay

On the water

The main thing to do is a cruise on one of the numbered official routes, which take in caves, islets and Ti Tốp Island, with a kayak or rowing-boat visit to Luồn Cave at a licensed point. Overnight boats add dinner at anchor and optional squid fishing after dark. The bay’s management board, the Ha Long Bay - Yen Tu World Heritage Management Board (the Board), names Ti Tốp, Sửng Sốt, Luồn and Mê Cung as the stops visitors go to most, and the cruise guide sets out which route reaches which.

The Board advises visitors not to buy from the small vendor boats that come alongside tour boats. Vụng Tùng Sâu, a cove on VHL2, holds a pearl farm; Typhoon Yagi destroyed both of the bay’s pearl company’s sea farms in September 2024, and its shop took groups again from 13 September that year.

The caves themselves, from Thiên Cung to Sửng Sốt, have their own guide to the caves, with the steps and opening hours of each.

Can you swim in Ha Long Bay?

You may swim only at licensed beaches. In 2023 Ti Tốp was the only licensed beach operating inside the bay, and boat crews tell visitors that other beaches are off limits. Bãi tắm Soi Sim (Soi Sim beach), the first stop on VHL2, has been closed since 2020 and was still closed in mid-June 2026. On the city waterfront, Bãi Cháy and Tuần Châu have artificial beaches.

No source says you may swim from a tour boat. Bãi Cháy beach charges nothing for the sand in VnExpress’s 2026 guide, while a shower, changing room and toilet cost 20,000 VND a visit; Tuần Châu’s beach has freshwater showers and lifeguards, but its fee is unconfirmed, so check at the gate. Further out, the Cát Cò beaches on Cát Bà and the beaches of Quan Lạn and Minh Châu make overnight trips of their own.

The water itself is disputed. Vietnamese authorities say it meets national standards, while IUCN found no improvement in 2022 and rated water pollution and solid waste a high threat in 2025. The Board said in April 2024 that some floating rubbish is unavoidable, from broken-up fish-farm rafts, foam buoys and household waste, and in 2026 it still collects 2.5 to 3 tonnes on a normal weekday; expect some debris in the busy channels and less at remote anchorages.

Kayaking in Ha Long Bay

Kayaks and rowing boats are available only at licensed points, in daylight, at prices the Board posts: for example 50,000 VND per trip for two people by kayak at Hang Luồn, 40,000 VND per person at Ba Hang, 100,000 VND per kayak per hour at Cửa Vạn and 50,000 VND per person per hour at Vung Viêng. Tour boats may not rent out their own kayaks, and some cruise prices already cover kayaking.

The rules date from April 2017, when kayaking was stopped after unregulated growth and overcharging; it resumed on 1 May 2017 at 8 designated points on 5 routes, run by operators under contract to the Board. VnExpress’s guide of June 2026 says life jackets are required on kayaks and speedboats. The rowing and kayak money goes to the operator at the point and is never part of the sightseeing ticket. At Hang Luồn the boats pass through a flooded tunnel into a lagoon ringed by cliffs, and the Board says several hundred rhesus macaques live in troops around it.

Ashore in Ha Long

On land, the Queen Cable Car and the Sun Wheel are the parts of Sun World still running in October 2026; the Dragon Park closed on 13 September 2026 and the water park after 30 September 2026. The Quảng Ninh Museum, the Bãi Cháy Bridge, the beaches, the Hạ Long night market and the new VUI-Fest complex make up the rest of the city list, and Bài Thơ mountain is closed to climbing.

The Queen Cable Car opened on 25 June 2016 and took two Guinness World Records that day, for the largest cabin, 230 people, and the tallest cable-car tower, 188.88 m. It climbs about 2.2 km from the seafront to Ba Đèo hill, where the Sun Wheel rises to 215 m above sea level, a height measured from the sea because the wheel stands on the hill; the only way up is the cable car, and the wheel ride is in the ticket. The Japanese Garden and the indoor play area also stay open.

The Quảng Ninh Museum is the black, angular building on the coast road at Hồng Gai, designed by the Spanish architect Salvador Pérez Arroyo to suggest a block of coal and opened on 13 October 2013. Natural history fills the first floor, with whale and shark skeletons, then archaeology and history, then the coal industry with a recreated mine, about 6,000 objects in all; a 28-tonne block of anthracite stands outside. A September 2026 report described unlicensed guides taking groups from the museum to closed shops that sold “Vietnamese treasures” with papers presented as state certificates, so leave high-value shopping off any group tour.

The Bãi Cháy Bridge, 903 m long with a 435 m main span, joined Bãi Cháy to Hòn Gai on 2 December 2006 and held the world record for its type of main span when it opened. King Lê Thánh Tông had a poem carved on Bài Thơ mountain in 1468, which gave it its name, “Poem Mountain”, but the climb has been closed since a fire in 2017. In Bãi Cháy the night market runs from 18:00 until around midnight with souvenirs, dried seafood and street food, and the VUI-Fest complex near the passenger port opened on 25 April 2026 with food kiosks, a water show and fireworks.

Day trips from Ha Long

Yên Tử is about 54 km, roughly an hour, from the Hạ Long port, and its sightseeing fee is waived until 31 December 2028. The Quang Hanh mineral springs are about 21 km away, and Cát Bà is an overnight add-on reached by boat.

What to eat in Ha Long

Chả mực, hand-pounded squid paste fried into patties, carries a collective trademark with a geographical indication, registered in 2013. Other local dishes include bánh cuốn chả mực, bún bề bề, sá sùng, ngán and tu hài. Sam (horseshoe crab) is also served, but its poisonous lookalike “so” has killed people, so eat it only where the cook can tell the two species apart.

Chợ Hạ Long (Hạ Long market) on Vạn Xuân street in Hồng Gai is the place to see the catch, busiest from 07:00 to 10:00 and 15:00 to 17:00, and stallholders will prepare seafood for you. Seafood is priced by weight everywhere, so ask the price per kilogram and per dish, watch it weighed and agree the total before it is cooked. The guide to what a trip costs has the June and July 2026 bills that went wrong.

Ha Long Bay with children

Children under 1.2 m tall or under 7 pay no sightseeing fee, and children aged 7 to under 16 pay 20% less. The bay is sheltered, with an average wave height of about 0.5 m, but boats have steep internal stairs and the Ti Tốp viewpoint has nearly 400 steps. Ask for child-sized life jackets before boarding and put them on non-swimmers at the rails and on deck without waiting to be told. Ashore, the cable car costs 280,000 VND for a child and the museum 10,000 VND.

Questions visitors ask