What To Do In The Emerald Islands & Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay, I guess I'd be right if I said it was a dream world. It is a wonderful feeling to wake up in the middle of the bay at sunrise in the morning and to sleep under the stars at night. The calmness of the bay, the calm sea and the silence are very relaxing. The characteristic of Halong Bay is that it consists of many small and large islets. 

The islands in Ha Long Bay have undergone changes since about 355 million years, taking their present form. If you make your hotel, flight and car rental reservations for your trips through Bitbook, you can benefit from an average of 20% cashback.

About Ha Long Bay

Ha Long literally means Descending Dragon. A story is told about the formation of the bay. While they were fighting against outside enemies in the first years of Vietnam, a mother dragon and her cubs suddenly appeared. They threw emeralds in their mouths on their enemies. Over time, these emeralds became petrified and became islands of various sizes.

These beautiful islands were taken under protection by UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994. There are many floating fishing villages in Ha Long Bay. A large number of people live in these villages. It is said that approximately 1600 people live in these villages by fishing. You can visit these floating fishing villages in the bay with small boats.

As you wind through these islets spread over an area of 1553 square kilometers, you are constantly confronted with beautiful and different landscapes. As if enchanted, you wonder where to look in the bay. I mentioned emeralds in the story I told above, today the tops of the islands are covered with lush green vegetation like emeralds. There are caves in some of the islets. Small boats dock at these caves and you can tour them. In addition, when you go up to these caves on the hills, you have the chance to take pictures of Ha Long Bay from above.

How to get to Ha Long Bay?

Hanoi is one of the beautiful cities you should see before coming to Ha Long Bay. I suggest you stay here for a day and visit the city. Afterwards, you can provide the closest transportation to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi. If you go to the bus station, you can find many buses every day to Ha Long Bay from here. The journey takes about 4 hours. The amount you will pay is around 5 euros. You can buy a boat tour from the hotel before you go.

How Much Are Ha Long Bay Tours?

When you reach Ha Long Bay, you can take a boat tour with the magnificent boats here, which will last 2 nights and 2 days and includes 3 meals. During this tour, you will stay on very pleasant two- or three-floor wooden boats. On these extremely comfortable boats, you even have the opportunity to take a swimming break and swim in the sea or wander around the bay with a canoe.

When you first arrive on the boat, you will go to the fishing villages living on the water in the evening by boat. The lives here are really interesting, some living in houses on the water and some on boats. People's homes and workplaces are their boats. They fish here, sell them here, and live here. You can see these lives up close and take pictures of them.

The cost of such a beautiful tour is around 135 USD per person. If you don't have that much time, you can see Ha Long Bay with a daily boat tour. The price per person for such a tour is around 25-30 USD. If you have time, I suggest you stay on the boats in the bay.

What to Eat in Ha Long Bay?

If you want to try local food, you may be a little hungry. Pilafs are not buttery, salty as we are used to. We can call it tasteless rice that comes in lumps.

Soups consist of vegetables thrown into hot water. No onions, no tomato paste, of course, no taste.

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