Cat Ba

Cat Ba is a beautiful and at the same time inexpensive alternative to the crowded Halong Bay. If you want to slow down your vacation schedule a bit, you can go to the island for three days. You can arrange your stay there very individually. Maybe you like cycling, or prefer to ride a moped or get cutted in a car. You can do demanding hiking, visit a honey farm, or medicine plantations. You can spend your time on the beach or enjoy freshly caught fish on a boat gliding through the karst rocks. You will be accompanied by
our tour guide Khan.

First day
7.30 - 11.30 am Drive by bus to Hai Phong. There you take the ferry to Cat Ba. Another bus will take you to the bay of Cat Ba Town. There Khan will pick you up. Check in at the hotel. In the afternoon, you can climb an observation tower in the national park to get a breathtaking bird's eye view.

Second day
You will drive to a small village where you will visit, among other things, a bee honey farm. Khan will explain flora and fauna of the island on the way. A typical Vietnamese lunch (Lau) awaits you in a small village of an ethnic minority. You will learn about the construction of bamboo boats and the care of mangrove trees. Afterwards you can do a small exploration tour on the "Education Trail" in the national park. The alternative for this day would be a challenging trekking tour (4 hours) over mountains, jungle and small valleys with frog ponds. You may encounter monkeys, geckos or squirrels until you come to the fishing village of Viet Hai. After lunch, you will go back to Cat Ba by boat around 14:50. If you still have energy for a kayak or bamboo boat trip, you can do it in a dreamlike scenery, or relax on one of the beautiful sandy beaches.

Third day
This boat trip to Lan Ha is the small alternative to Ha Long Bay. You will visit a fish farm and learn about his craft from a fisherman. For lunch you will have a freshly caught fish personally prepared by the captain (Captain Cook). There is also the possibility to paddle or swim. From there we will go back to Cat Ba from where the speedboat will go to Hai Phong around 14.30, there our driver is already waiting for you to take you back to Hanoi (around 18h).