Halong Bay Vietnam part 4

 

An indispensable activity of all Halong bay tours is the cave visits, there are hundreds of mountain caves and lagoon tunnels in Halong Bay, travellers who take 1 day trip usually take a 4 hour cruise, visiting Thien Cung or Heavenly cave and the huge Dau Go (wooden stakes) grotto beside, longer halong bay cruises in 2 or 3 days will take visitors to Amazing or Sung Sot cave. Thien Cung and Sung Sot are the 2 best caves in Halong Bay, in a single trip travellers can visit only 1 of 2 caves, other attractive caves and grottoes include Me Cung cave (Bewitching), Trinh Nu (Virgin grotto).

Travellers doing Halong Bay kayaking prefers hidden lakes and lagoon tunnels, kayak paddlers usually go to Titov island or Luon cave to go kayaking, other places also draw attention of kayak rowers such as Ba Ham lake, Ba Trai Dao islets (Three Peaches) or Con Coc (Toad islet)
Luon cave is a popular site for those who love kayaking, the water is clear as crystal, especially in the morning, travellers use small boats to pass through the entrance which is a tunnel under mountain, the tunnel is filled with statagmites, it is just like a hidden gate to a lake inside, in the morning when the water level is low visitors can visit the lake by using small boats, however in the afternoon when the tide goes up the entrance is hidden under water, behind the tunnel is a round lake, surrounded by sheer walk of rock cliffs rising from water.
Another spot which is favourite with travellers rowing kayaking in Halong Bay is Titov beach, the beach is located at the foot of Titov island, on the island is Bai Tho or Poem mountain, all boats going halong bay cruises visit Titov beach island as a part of their itinerary, visitors can take a 400 step stair up to the top of the mountain, this is really a view point of the bay in panorama view
Local tourists on their Halong Bay tours visit the beach, known to domestic travellers as Bai Chay or burning town, Halong Bay is famous with beautiful beaches like Bai Chay beach, Tuan Chau beach, going further out to Cat Ba island there are Cat Co beach, Monkey island beach...
Cat Ba island is about 1 hour boat ride from Halong Bay, travellers can go to Cat Ba by catching a ferry from Tuan Chau island, which leaves every 2 hours, to Gia Luan port, from Gia Luan one can catch a bus in 45 minutes to the town centre. Domestic traveller usually visit Halong Bay via Hai Phong, from Hanoi it takes just 2.5 hours by public bus to Hai Phong, from Binh harbour in Hai Phong one can catch a boat or hydrofoil in 1 hour to Cat Ba island.

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