Ha Long Bay is advertised (at least by our selected cruise company, Ocean Tours) as one of the “New 7 Wonders of the World.” I was not familiar with that category of world wonders but it certainly is stunningly beautiful.  Over 1,000 towering limestone islands surround one bigger island (Cat Ba), rising above the turquoise water. It’s a magical sight to see. 

Our 3 day/2 night cocktail cruise began with a 2 hour bus ride from Hanoi to the coast. From there, we went on a speedboat with several other tour groups before being dropped off at our cruising ship. This tour definitely caters to a young crowd: our little crew of two 27 year olds and one 28 year old contributed 3 of the oldest 6 people out of 25 in the cruise group. I guess that happens when you sign up for a “cocktail cruise.”

The first day included a delicious lunch on the boat followed by an hour of kayaking around the many islands and through caves to hidden lagoons. 

After kayaking some of our cruise mates decided to go swimming but we hadn’t had enough beer yet for swimming to be appealing.  As it is winter in Vietnam, the air temperature was only around 60 degrees and the water had a chilly bite to it. We watched from the deck of the boat and cheered them on.

After the brave souls got back in the boat we cruised about half way around Cat Ba Island. We docked on the island, took a quick bus across, and then got in a small boat on the other side that took us to Ocean Tours’ private island called Cat Ong Island where we spent two nights.

When we booked the tour, we selected shared dorm accommodation to save $20 per person per night. However, when we got there, there were too many people to put in the dorm so as luck would have it we ended up in a nearly-private beachfront bungalow with one other really nice guy while the rest of the group shacked up together in a dorm up the hill.

We dropped off our bags, did lots of high fives about our room situation, and then went to the main building for cocktail hour and dinner. The food was tasty – they had some fresh seafood, barbecued pork, and other tasty shared dishes. After dinner was party time. We really enjoyed talking with people from all around the world and comparing drinking games from our home countries. We felt like we held our own compared to the mostly college-aged crowd.

Waking up the next morning to the view of the beach was a great way to kick off day 2. We spent the day doing some hikes on the island. In the morning we hiked to the tallest point on the island, although the short hike was actually mostly a rock climbing scramble to the top. The views were amazing.

We took a quick swim in the afternoon and spent some time lazing around the cabin, catching up on our reading a taking some naps. In the afternoon we hiked around the island to “sunset beach” and left just in time to miss the sunset.

The second night was similar to the first; tasty dinner, post-dinner games, and hanging out with the other folks from the cruise. We played a few rounds of pool and ended up calling it a night well before the music stopped cranking out of the main building.

On our final day we returned to Cat Ba Island where we hiked up the peak in the national park. We had sweeping views of the island and the bay. It was a tough climb – about an hour straight up stairs through the jungle – but the view from the top was worth it.

Visiting Ha Long Bay was beautiful and a highlight of our time in Vietnam. We had a great time meeting other people from around the world and especially loved spending a few days in one of the most beautiful places we’ve seen.