Ha Long Bay itinerary: how to spend 1 or 2 days

How many days

• 1 day: Day 1

  Route 2 by day boat to Ti Top, Sung Sot and Hang Luon, then the cable car over Bai Chay and a seafood dinner; it leaves out Thien Cung Cave and Hong Gai.

• 2 days: Days 1 to 2

  Adds route 1 to Thien Cung and Dau Go caves and the islets, lunch in Hong Gai and the Quang Ninh Museum; or swap both days for one night on board on route 2.

Day 1

Route 2: Ti Top Island, Sung Sot Cave and Hang Luon

07:30 to about 18:30 · 6 stops · entry fees VND 250,000 a person

1. 07:301

   

   Travel · 30 min

   Ha Long International Cruise Port

   Cost: Management board's route VHL2 ticket, adult; the boat is paid to the boat company

   Day boats leave from this port in Bai Chay or from Tuan Chau International Port; if you booked through a company, ask which one. Buy the board's sightseeing ticket for route VHL2 at its counter, VND 250,000 for adults, free for children under 7 or under 1.2 m, and keep it all day: staff check it at every stop. From November to March boats may leave from 05:30 and must be back by 19:00; from April to October, 05:00 to 20:00.

   Image: Quang Nguyen Vinh / Pexels

   ↓By boat, 10.8 km. The board puts route 2 at about 6 hours round trip; Ti Top is about 11 km out.

2. 09:002

   

   Sight · 1 h 15 min

   Ti Top Island

   Cost: Covered by the VHL2 ticket

   The first stop on route 2. Climb the steps on the steep side of the island for the 360-degree view over the karst islands and the boats moored below; go straight up when you land, before the steps fill. Then cool off at the sand beach on the gentle side. The island is named after Gherman Titov, the Soviet cosmonaut who came here with Ho Chi Minh in 1962. From December to February the monthly mean is only 16 to 18°C, and few people swim.

   Hours, fees and how to get there: Ti Top Island

   Image: Steffen Schmitz / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

   ↓By boat, 2 km. About 2 km to Bo Hon island.

3. 10:303

   

   Sight · 1 h

   Sung Sot Cave

   Cost: Covered by the VHL2 ticket

   A flight of stone steps under the trees leads up to a narrow entrance that opens into one of the largest caves in the bay; the name means surprise, from the French Grotte de la surprise of 1901. A paved, floodlit path loops through the chambers, so you do not need a torch, but it is humid and the steps can be wet. The cave is open from 7:30, until 17:30 in summer and 17:00 from November.

   Hours, fees and how to get there: Sung Sot Cave

   Image: shankar s. / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

   ↓By boat, 1 km. A short hop round Bo Hon island.

4. 11:454

   

   Do · 1 h 15 min

   Hang Luon by kayak or bamboo boat, then lunch on board

   Cost: Kayak or rowing boat priced by the boat company; ask before you book

   Hang Luon is a cave you pass through: its name means a tunnel cave, and it runs low through the rock of Bo Hon island, the same island as Sung Sot. Boats moor outside, and you go through by kayak or by a small bamboo boat rowed by a local; ask your boat company whether this is in the price. Back on board, most boats serve a seafood lunch on the run home, according to the board. Expect to reach port at around 14:00, then rest through the early afternoon.

   Image: Jakub Hałun / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

   ↓By boat, 12 km. Back to the port, then a short walk along Ha Long road.

5. 16:305

   

   Do · 1 h 30 min

   Queen Cable Car over Bai Chay

   Cost: Fares change by season; check Sun World's site before you go

   Sun World's Queen Cable Car rises from the seafront on Ha Long road, a few minutes from the cruise port, over the green hill above Bai Chay, with the bay spread out below. Go up in the late afternoon for the light on the islands; in mid November the sun sets at about 17:10. Sun World lists its Ha Long park as closing at 20:00 and posts maintenance stops for the cable car on its site, so check there the same day.

   Image: Vivu Vietnam / Unsplash

   ↓About 5 min by taxi or Grab, 1.6 km. Grab car or taxi into Bai Chay, about 2 km.

6. 18:306

   

   Eat · 1 h 30 min

   Squid cakes and seafood in Bai Chay

   Cost: Prices per dish; seafood priced by weight

   Cha muc, squid hand-pounded and shaped into flat cakes, then fried, is the best-known dish of Quang Ninh, eaten with sticky rice, rolled rice sheets or on its own with fish sauce. Look for it in the restaurants around Vuon Dao market in Bai Chay. Live seafood is sold by weight, so ask the price per kilo and see your choice weighed before it is cooked. Try a bowl of noodles with mantis shrimp too, another Quang Ninh dish.

   Image: Hoangkid (Đặng Thái Hoàng) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Day 2

Route 1: Thien Cung Cave, Dau Go and Hong Gai

07:30 to about 13:30 · 6 stops · entry fees VND 250,000 a person

1. 07:301

   

   Travel · 30 min

   Board the route 1 boat

   Cost: Management board's route VHL1 ticket, adult

   Back to the cruise port for route VHL1, which the board puts at about four hours and the same VND 250,000 ticket price. It stops at Thien Cung and Dau Go caves and passes the islets Cho Da, Dinh Huong and Trong Mai. Children aged 7 to under 16 get 20% off; foreign children need a passport to show it. If you are taking a cruise rather than the day boats, this is the morning to ask about a Thien Cung stop.

   Image: Jonathan Trans / Unsplash

   ↓By boat, 6 km. About 6 km to the Dau Go island group; route 1 takes about 4 hours in all.

2. 08:302

   

   Sight · 1 h

   Thien Cung Cave

   Cost: Covered by the VHL1 ticket

   The Heavenly Palace, closest of the big caves to port, opened to visitors in 1998. Steps lead up from the landing into chambers of stalactites and stalagmites lit in orange, white and violet, with a legend for nearly every shape: the story told here is of a seven-day wedding feast for the Dragon Prince, with the rocks as the dancing dragons, elephants and lions. The cave opens at 7:30, so an early boat beats the tour groups from Hanoi.

   Hours, fees and how to get there: Thien Cung Cave

   Image: xiquinhosilva / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

   ↓Walk. Dau Go is on the same island, along the path.

3. 09:403

   

   Sight · 40 min

   Dau Go Cave

   Cost: Covered by the VHL1 ticket

   Dau Go is the second cave on the same island, 27 m above the sea, with a mouth 17 m wide and 12 m high that lets daylight, moss and ferns deep inside. By one local tradition the name was once Giau Go, hiding wood: Tran soldiers are said to have hidden the wooden stakes here that they later drove into the bed of the Bach Dang river against the Mongol fleet in the 13th century. The board ranks it with Thien Cung among the bay's large old caves.

   Image: Mustang Joe / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

   ↓By boat, 1.2 km. A short run to the islets off the Dau Go group.

4. 10:304

   

   View · 30 min

   Dinh Huong and Trong Mai islets

   Cost: Seen from the boat

   The boat slows past the islets that give route 1 its postcards: Dinh Huong, the incense burner, Cho Da, the stone dog, and Trong Mai, the cock and hen, two rocks that seem to face each other above the water. Stand on the upper deck on the side nearest the rocks. On a grey day, and March has the most fog, these are the closest views of the karst you will get, so have the camera ready.

   Image: Ewong17 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

   ↓By boat, 9.6 km. Back to port, then a Grab car or taxi across Bai Chay Bridge to Hong Gai, about 10 km.

5. 12:155

   

   Eat · 1 h

   Lunch in Hong Gai

   Cost: Prices per dish

   Hong Gai, across Bai Chay Bridge, is the older centre of Ha Long city. Around Ha Long market, order cha muc with banh cuon, the steamed rice rolls Quang Ninh people eat it with, or noodles with mantis shrimp in a broth made with crab, shrimp and pork bones. This is also the place to buy squid cakes to take home; VnExpress put them at VND 350,000 to 450,000 a kilo in 2016, so expect to pay more now.

   Image: Phương Huy / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

   ↓About 5 min by taxi or Grab, 2.4 km. Grab car south-east to Tran Quoc Nghien street, about 2 km.

6. 13:306

   

   Sight · 1 h 30 min

   Quang Ninh Museum

   Cost: Ticket price not published by the museum; check at the desk

   The provincial museum, opened in 2013 on the Hong Gai waterfront, is a large box clad in black glass inspired by the province's coal. The first floor covers Quang Ninh's geology, minerals and sea life, the second its history from prehistory to the war with the United States, and the third the coal industry, with a full-size mine tunnel, and six of the province's 21 ethnic groups. It reopens at 13:00 after lunch and closes at 17:00: the best rainy-day plan in Ha Long.

   Image: Hoangkid / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Tips for Ha Long Bay

Getting there, where to stay and the weather by month are on the Ha Long Bay page. Plan checked 24 October 2026.