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HALONG BAY CRUISE

Overview

Halong Bay, known as the place where the dragon descends into the sea, is a captivating destination boasting a legendary origin. According to local lore, a majestic dragon emerged from the mountains, sculpting the enchanting islands that now form the breathtaking Halong Bay.

Its allure is unparalleled, evoking a sense of inspiration and grandeur that words alone cannot capture. Immerse yourself in this natural marvel, where over 2000 islands emerge gracefully from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. These islands, adorned with lush vegetation, are adorned with numerous grottoes, crafted over time by the whimsical dance of wind and waves.

  • Area: 1553 sq km and 120km coastline
  • Population: 1600 people
  • Seasons: Two main seasons: hot with sporadic rain from April to September and cool with some chilly wind from October to March.
  • luxury-cruise

    LUXURY CRUISE

  • halong-bay-scenery

    SCENERY FEAST

  • halong-bay-food-culture

    CULTURE IMMERSION

Best Halong Bay Cruise tours

Best Halong Bay Cruise Ships

Best-valued Halong Bay Cruise ships to sail on the top wonder of the world.

Best Time for Halong Bay Cruise

The best time for a Halong Bay cruise is from October to April.

During these months, the weather is cool and dry, making it perfect for sightseeing and outdoor activities. The skies are usually clear, offering stunning views of the bay's limestone islands. From March to April, the temperatures are warmer but still pleasant.

Avoid the summer months (May to September), as they can be hot, humid, and rainy, with a higher chance of storms. Choosing the right time ensures you have a comfortable and enjoyable cruise experience in Halong Bay.

Visiting Halong Bay during the fall and winter months also means fewer tourists compared to the peak summer season. This allows for a more peaceful and relaxing experience on the water.

What to Expect-Halong Bay Cruise Experience

Explore both the natural and humanistic beauty of Halong Bay

A Halong Bay cruise tour in Vietnam will ensure you see the incredible realm of people and nature in this area! We'll arrive at various types of caves rising gracefully and magnificently straight from the water and be amazed at the odd but beautiful grottoes. People nearby mostly make a living by fishing where we could observe their life on the water in a very unique way.

Engage in popular and fun activities differing from city joy

There are many things you can do during a Halong Bay cruise tour in Vietnam! Embraced with the pleasant wind and sunshine, join in a BBQ lunch on one of the beaches in Halong Bay. Grab your paddle and hop on a little kayak then travel through the mysterious caves. Or just take a cool swim in the water for a refreshing end of the day.

Enquire about this tip and your 1:1 travel consultant will reply within 0.5-23.5 hours.

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  • Top 5 Star (Above $170 per night per room)
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  • Comfortable 4 Star ($80 to $100 per night per room)
  • Economoc 3 Star ($50 to $70 per night per room)
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What Our Customers Said

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63-day Fabulous Tour coordinated by Inchina Tour Company

My husband and I booked a fabulous 63-day tour through Vietnam and Laos with Indochina Tours. Our unbelievable travel assistants were Elena Dean and Kea. These two people made what would have been a standard tour into a FABULOUS tour.

They took the time to work with us on what we wanted, changed the itinerary to suit us, made all the arrangements and were able to put together fabulous guides and transportation that covered 2 months of travel. I would absolutely recommend Indochina Tour to others who are looking for a company that really listened to our requests.

This tour included temples, elephant sanctuaries, The Gibbon Experience, boat rides, creative art classes, food exploration, markets, beaches, forests, hiking, ziplining, in-country flights, 19 different hotels, planting rice experience, overnight luxury train accommodations, UNESCO world heritage sites, markets, and walking tours. Without a doubt, this company knows tours!

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2025.9.4 Karen W
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would do it again with Indochina Tour

Great trip plan by Indochina Tour and the hotels are great as well as the guides. Would recommended to any couple for this trip.

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2025.9.1 Mtse
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Amazing experience

We booked a custom 14 days tour across Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Amara and Helen made the booking experience so seemless and did a great job at crafting our tour. Amazing hotel stays and tours. The perfect combination of sightseeing and relaxing.

Our guides were all fantastic, always ready for us, really knowledgeable and very kind. I would recommend this tour operator. The only hiccup was a scheduling issue with our Halong Bay cruise, which we weren’t aware of until we landed from a 22 hour travel journey .

Although we had to adjust, Helen was very attentive and arranged some complimentary dinner and message for the miscommunication. It did not take away from the experience we had and would use Indochina again.

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2025.8.31 Martine I
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Incredible, personalized trip to Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore!

Ivy and Helen created a fantastic trip for me and my family to Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore. We can't say enough about how helpful and supportive they were all the way through. Our guides were also wonderful, and we would definitely recommend and use Indochina again.

We weren't sure if we would go through a company to plan our trip, but it made everything so smooth that I am so happy we did! We also looked into other tour companies, but we are so glad we went with Indochina because I can't imagine a better experience. Thank you to Helen, Ivy, and our excellent guides and drivers!

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2025.7.23 W21
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Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam - Indochina tour

My partner and I had an absolutely amazing time on our tour planned with Indochina tour. Ivy and Kea took into account all of our preferences when planning our tour, which made it such a special experience.

In all of the different countries and cities that we visited, we always had a driver and tour guide ready to greet us and take us around to the different attractions. This simplified the experience for us as we did not have to worry about planning and logistics, but instead could just enjoy everything. Our guides and drivers were also so friendly and knowledgeable!

We have already been recommending this tour company to our friends and family as it truly was an incredible experience working with them!

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2025.7.22 SarahUtt (Ontario, Canada)
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Incredible customised trip - highly recommend

We had Indochina customise a 21 day individual tour for us and I highly recommend it.

A family member actually said to me last night ‘how did you even go find out about some of those places?’ and I simply replied ‘our tour operator’.

We spent 21 days touring Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Our guides were professional, timely, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and just awesome! Hotels were spot on. Great locations, awesome facilities, attentive staff and some were full of character (in the best way). I usually spent so much time researching hotels and am very particular - these were better than I could have chosen.

Drivers were exceptional. Safe and always pressing a lovely cold water bottle into your hands.

A highlight of our trip was a visit to Free The Bears in Luang Prabang Laos. I have travelled quite a lot, and I feel this was one of my favourite ever travel experiences. This was added by our travel consultant Sreypov after I asked for some other experience to be excluded. However, animal ethics and welfare are important to me, so when I saw ‘bear sanctuary’ added I asked which one - and when Sreypov said Free The Bears I was very excited as they are a very ethical organisation. When I said this, Sreypov added Apopo - the mine detection rats - another bucket list for me! So our tour became very much about our interests. I actually wish I’d told Sreypov more about the things we liked to do and customised a bit more - as those customisations were the highlights!

I have so many friends asking me who organised my trip as they were following our adventures on Facebook and said our trip seemed one of the best they had seen.

Sreypov And Kea were both awesome to work with - so responsive to my emails - and there were a few!

They organised everything for us. Now, there are cheaper deals out there - but know this - this was a trip of a lifetime and there were NO HIDDEN EXTRAS. We barely spent a cent.

The lunches that were included were HUGE. A little too much food at times and at good quality restaurants and we got to try a nice variety of local cuisine. We did laugh and say our biggest expense was a cold alcoholic beverage at the end of the day! It was about the only thing not included (though two guides even bought us a surprise iced coconut coffee which was lovely!).

Whilst all internal flights were included (and oh wow, the guides meet you at arrivals, transport you to hotel and even check you in… but then they don’t drop you back at airport, they come in, check you in, and escort you all the way, it’s so lovely!) we did organise our own flights to Vietnam from Australia. And guess what did go wrong - those flights! However, when I was freaking out and worried, I reached out to Kea and she helped me through contacting our airline and fixing issue - even though it wasn’t her responsibility. Very grateful.

So yes, we had the trip of a lifetime and I highly recommend this company. We were very impressed with their care of us and professionalism.

We ran into some friends from home during our trip, they were doing a small group trip with another company and I feel we were having a much better time. It might cost more to have individual trip but that’s the difference between a holiday and a trip of a lifetime.

My tip - do tell them what you enjoy and have them customise the trip for you.

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2025.7.16 Fi1971 (Perth, Australia)
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Indo Tours and thehe quality of our guides made our trip the best.

My sister and I travel together yearly. We carefully select a company we believe will create a tour that satisfies our needs by reading our texts carefully and asks searching questions to understand our interests and meet our needs.

In searching for a company we quickly realised that this company has The abilities and professional approach to bring our trip together with pleasure.

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2025.7.11 Lynley Hunt
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A lifetime experience of visiting the Indochina belt

Indochina yours from Day 1 of contacting them was responsive, truly speaking I don't know when the staff of Indochina tours actually takes hours of a day off.

Kim arranged the itinerary first for us and then passed it over to Helen. Helen has an amazing team looking into each details a family visiting the Indochina belt for the first time would require/need to know.

She was so meticulous in detailing that she would specify the dress codes expected on each day of the tour as we were visiting themes and stupas.

The hotels and the food arranged by Indochina was great, all of their guides were knowledgeable and friendly.

I would surely recommend Indochina tours to all, it's a totally different way to visit the Indochina belt and see it through the eyes of the locals.

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2025.6.23 Abhi C (Reading, UK)

FAQs & Useful Travel Guide for Planning Halong Bay Cruise

Is it worth going to Halong Bay?

Yes, of course! It is a natural attraction in Vietnam and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It covers more than 1,600 islets in the bay. Halong Bay is way famous for its limestone karsts which were worn down by 500 million years of tropical downpours. You get to see it for sure!

How much does the Halong Bay cruise cost?

The price for a Halong Bay cruise differs according to your cruise days and the level of service. Usually, a basic one-day cruise may cost around $50 per person. And you can also expect $500 for a luxury cruise tour for three days!

Should I do 2 or 3 day cruise in Halong Bay?

Most of the visitors choose to go for a 2-day and 1-night cruise trip for a stop in Halong City so that they have extra time to discover the other parts of the cities in Vietnam. If you have enough time, a 3-day cruise is also good for you to enjoy the fullest of Halong Bay’s enchantment!

Is Halong Bay safe?
Definitely yes! Make sure you stay in the right places and follow the safety rules and instructions when you’re swimming. When night falls, keep yourself around the people and do not go deep into nowhere to avoid the danger of slipping and drowning.
Are there dolphins in Halong Bay?

Well, it depends on where you’re in. If lucky enough, you can see the cute and active dolphins on the water in Halong Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay. But do not be upset! There are also colorful fish and lovely seals coming up. Coastal mangroves and coral reefs are all under your eyes on an ecosystem tour in Halong Bay.

Which island is best to stay in Halong Bay?

It would be Cat Ba Island, the largest island in Halong Bay! Emerged as a tourism heat in recent years, Cat Ba Island spans around 260 sq km. You can get a fancy view over there for its stunning scenery and wealth of outdoor activities. Cat Ba terrain is one of the best parts of its karst topography.

Is Halong Bay too touristy?

Halong Bay has been always an attractive place for tourists around the world. We can’t avoid the crowds entirely but have the choice to go visit Bai Tu Long Bay or Lan Ha Bay if you want to stay away from the crowds.

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