Ha Long Bay
Can anyone recommend a company to pick us up in Hanoi and arrange an overnight stay on a boat in Ha Long Bay? if not, has anyone done the day trip to Ha Long Bay? thank you
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Can anyone recommend a company to pick us up in Hanoi and arrange an overnight stay on a boat in Ha Long Bay? if not, has anyone done the day trip to Ha Long Bay? thank you
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I've done the day trip on Ha Long Bay. I set it up through the Hotel Metropole. You can see our tour at https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2024-1Vietnam-01.htm
There were only three of us on the Ha Long Bay tour and the price was not that bad. The ship was large and modern, and the tour guide spoke English well and was a nice guy.
If you want to do an overnight, I'm sure the hotel can arrange that for you.
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Added story: Before we went on the Tauck tour, I told my wife that I really wanted to see Ha Long Bay. She asked me why I didn't go there last time I was in Vietnam.
I explained that in 1970, Americans just did not go to North Vietnam, especially for tourism.
We did the overnight Ha Long Bay excursion and I definitely recommend it over the day only tour.. It was long ago so I don't know which companies still arrange it. We took it on the day before the Tauck tour started and we arrived back at our hotel in time to nap and dress for the welcome dinner. However I would confirm the arrival time with your tour company.
Hi, schimizu! We are going next year and have booked an overnight tour through Indochina Junk. They will pick us up at the Sofitel Metropole and drop us back off there as well. They have been very responsive and seem to get good reviews. They visit a less traveled part of Ha Long Bay (Bai Tu Long). I believe it’s not so much a luxury cruise but more of an authentic junk boat. The Metropole suggested three luxury cruises which sounded very nice but we wanted more of a junk boat. They recommended Ginger (Heritage Line), Emperor and Violet Cruises. We figured we’d get luxury with our Tauck tour. 😜 We also didn’t want a very large boat. But you could contact the Sofitel Metropole if you’d like more information on those three. From what I’ve read, Heritage Cruise Line is excellent (and more high end).
We are on the Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand tour starting January 31, 2025. After reading through the posts, I e-mailed the Hotel Metropole about a day trip to Halong Bay with an early start so we're back in time for the 6PM dinner. The tour they offered is the 4 hour (actually 3 1/2 hours) cruise. There is a stop at a pearl factory on the way down. It does not appear that the ship stops anywhere along the way. My question: Is it worth the 5 hours of travel time for a 3 1/2 hour cruise w/ lunch and a visit to a pearl shop? I realize I am on a limited time schedule but not sure it's worth it. For those who say it's not, what other options are there in Hanoi for the day? Thanks.
I would have arrived at least a day early so that there was time to do an overnight there. It depends how you feel after a long journey but it will be rushed. We took the now discontinued tour of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos which included an overnight of Hong Bay. I don’t know why they haven’t added it to this tour when everyone seems to want it. The tour began in Hanoi so we had a pleasant walk around the city lake area and took in the atmosphere on our first day which helped us overcome the long journey and jet lag before the tour began. The day of the tour which officially started later in the day, the TD offered an orientation before then which was good. Maybe if you get Larry, he will do that.
@mlaffer - We did the one day tour of Ha Long Bay when we took the Tauck tour. I couldn't get flight arrangements that allowed us to do an overnight in Ha Long Bay so we settled for the day tour. Tell them you don't want to do the pearl factory - they will leave it out.
The boat you'll be on will stop at a couple of places in Ha Long Bay. You can see where we stopped. If you want to stop at other places, they will take you there. On a private tour, the boat is yours to direct. Do a bit of research on what's available in Ha Long Bay.
Tauck will take you to some places in Hanoi as part of the tour. If you're going to go half way around the world, I'd recommend you see Ha Long Bay.
You can see what we did at https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2024-1Vietnam-01.htm
Can you not do the pearl factory?
Did any one say Heritage Line?
I will be there in January with a different company and will be spending an overnight trip around Ha Long and Lan Ha Bay in a balcony suite with dinner, booze, breakfast, guided exercises around the sundeck(mandatory and highly recommended).
So glad to hear good things about the Heritage Line.
I just returned from this trip.
It is absolutely worth a day trip to Ha Long Bay.
We didn’t arrive until around midnight on the day before the tour start date. We booked a day trip that left the hotel at 10am. Two others in our group arrived at a much more reasonable time and they booked a day tour the same day with a 6am pickup. We both arranged our tours with the concierge at the Metripole. The pearl factory stop was maybe 20 minutes and was basically a way to take up a little time before our cruise start time which was noon. We told our guide we needed to be back by 530 to have a little time before the welcome dinner and they had us back by 515. That didn’t shorten the cruise portion of the trip at all.
As in MikeHenderson’s blog, we had the entire boat to ourselves.
Our guide was personable, friendly and informative. We stopped at the same cave first and basically had it all to ourselves. Several boats showed up as we were leaving. Our guide said the afternoon tours tend to start with lunch which is why they delay lunch until after the cave. We then cruised around the bay. We had a little rain but there is a covered area at the back of the boat and it made for un otherworldly and beautiful afternoon.
You can not do the pearl factory. When we went I just told them we were not interested in that and didn't want to go. They left it off.
Stunning photo, scsmithwy.