In order to best explore Ha Long Bay you can either stay on Cat Ba, the biggest island with lots of party people, or take a cruise. There are also many hotels in Ha Long city, but the town is not very nice and you can only do day trips in the bay. If you don’t have too much time you can also go with an organized tour from Hanoi. It takes about three hours to get there, many organizations offer hotel pick-up, take you on a boat ride and transfer you back to Hanoi.
We decided to go on a two day one night cruise with Le Theatre Cruise and enjoyed two relaxed and well-planned days in this stunning region.
Kayaking, swimming, cooking demonstrations, squid fishing and morning Tai Chi were all included, as well as meals from breakfast over happy hour to a chic dinner. We also visited the dark and bright cave with bamboo boats. But apart from all the activities the most beautiful part was to slowly cruise around the green hills in the water, see the small floating villages, big seabirds and to take in the mystic atmosphere of the bay.
