"Cat Ba Island" a Cat Ba Travel Page by akikonomu

Cat Ba island lies on the south of Halong Bay / Halong City and is usually accessed from the town of Haiphong.

There is a choice of taking the hydrofoil (50 minutes) or slow boat (2 hours). Note that the hydrofoils only run around 930 am and 130 pm and two slow boats at about the same time. Don't bet on rushing for the ferries as the tickets may be sold out during peak season (in our case).

There is an alternative of taking a motorbike to Cat Hai, then ferry to Cat Ba, and bus to town, if you miss the last boats (but it's really very troublesome and expensive, I think it's better off to wait for the next day's departures).

Cat Ba town is a small town with most tourist activities concentrated along the stretch of promenade along the bay.

The other main attraction of the island is the National Park. Most tour agents along the promenade can arrange to do the half day tour cum trek of the park.

Lan Ha Bay and Halong Bay are accessible from the island. There is a choice of following group tours to the bays or hire a small boat from a local. We did the latter.

Although the local boatman could not speak good English, I felt that he tried his best to make us feel comfortable and introduce us to the sights. I appreciated the personal touch of this style of travel, especially since we had freedom to choose how long we wanted to stop at different places.

Moreover, his patience and non-intrusive personality further contributed to the pleasure of the cruise. More importantly, we had the boat and bay to ourselves most of the times without having to fight with the madding crowd of mass tourism.