Halong Bay

[xena7051]

Hi
First thankyou in advance for those willing to share your time in answering the questions.

I thought on our trip we are planing to we could spend a couple of days at Halong Bay...so appreciate feedback things to do, ones not to miss...a trip it a good junk , is it worth staying over night on the boat etc....how to get there from Hanoi

Any advise...I have two teenage boys who like excitement etc

Cheers
Peter

[bingo]

From Hanoi, there's a 4 hours or so drive to Halong Bay.... There'll be travel agencies that can offer 2 day stay or so. Some cheap and some expensive. Kangaroo cafe didn't have much group tours available and kept pushing us private tours. We went to the one next door. Not too bad I suppose. We went on a comfortable mini-van with less than 10 people.

Whether it was a good trip? I like Hanoi itself, Halong Bay is okay ... but not fantastic for me.

[xena7051]

Hi
What was the swimming like...beaches..can you go snorkelling i.e. clear waters colourful fish etc.....do you go on one of those junk cruises......

What were the highlights in Hanoi.....

Cheers

[Mat]

well water isn't really clear and snorkelling I dont think so...(u can do that in Nha Trang though)...however it is a nice way to relax on the boat, swimming, kayaking..after a 2 or 3 weeks trip in Vietnam

[Sazzy]

We went to Halong Bay. We booked a 1 day tour whilst in Hanoi. The bus was about 3.5 hours, then we had lunch, then jumped on a boat for 4 hours + food and then came home. Not much to do except enjoy the views and fishing villages and sunbathe! It was a very long day but well worthwhile!

[xena7051]

Any one have thoughts on 1 or 2 days in Halong Bay...it sounds like it can be done in a day......or is this pushing it? What are the kayak tours like....any specific limestone caves worth looking at over others...are the tours much of a muchness or are there specific ones to go on ...

[Mat]

It can be done in a day, but u will miss a lot. The 2 days option is definitely a plus. The 1 day trip turns out to be a several hours trip....If you travel from NZ, don't you think you can spend 2 days instead of 1....you won't come back there every week end so...........better enjoy as much as u can !

[xena7051]

Thanks matt...did you have any luck on the info on the train from Hanoi to HK via Guangzhou.....this is the last major puzzle left in our trip and then its a matter of assigning the time to each place we want to see, working out internal travel and accomodation.......
Is there a good site which list all the activities you can do on Halong bay.....all the different tours that operate there...where they take you..what they do..type of boat they use...(the old junks look really cool)