Quan Lan Island is located in Bai Tu Long bay area and is famous for its pristine, peaceful natural scenery, white sand dunes and clear blue water. Quan Lan is an interesting tourist destination for tourists to go sightseeing and beach break.
If you are looking for a natural tourist destination, love the peace of Quan Lan, please refer to my Quan Lan island travel tips below to make your trip unforgettable.

How to get to Quan Lan from Hanoi
Starting from Hanoi to Cai Rong port township, Van Don district, Quang Ninh province. From Hanoi to Van Don about 210 km, to save costs you can catch a passenger bus from My Dinh bus station to Cua Ong bus station, there are lots of buses to Cua Ong, Quang Ninh. It took about 5 hours to get to Cua Ong, just tell the driver to drop you off at the junction of Van Don. After that, you can catch another bus, motorbike taxi to Cai Rong port.


Read more Halong bay tours

Cai Rong to Quan Lan island:
To get to Quan Lan Island you can take a wooden boat or a speedboat from 2 points of Van Don or Hon Gai area in Ha Long city.

High speed boats:
High speed boat from Cai Rong to Quan Lan
Time: about 45 minutes
Fares is about VND 120,000 / way / person
There are 2 trips a day in the morning and afternoon
Contact Ngoc Vinh (Phuc Thinh Co., Ltd.) 45 minutes. Time: 7.00, 14.00 Tel (033) 3 874574. Contact beforehand to check the fares, time, location.

High-speed boat from Hon Gai to Quan Lan
Time: about 60 minutes
Fares is about 120,000 - 1500,000 VND / time / person
There are also 2 trips a day in the morning and afternoon

You can consider to travel by hydrofoils, large ships can carry both motorcycles (Viet Anh hydrofoil, Tel: 0982788298 takes 45-50 minutes).

Wooden boat from Cai Rong to Quan Lan
Time: 2.5 hours
Fares is about 80,000 VND / way / person.
The boats between Van Don - Quan Lan at 7:00 and 13:00 every day
Contact: 0978743617
Note:
- You should come about 30 minutes to 1 hour before departure time because at peak times the boat may depart early when it is filled with passenters.
- From Cai Rong port in Van Don district, the boat will stop at one of the 2 piers on Quan Lan island is Minh Chau commune or Quan Lan commune, so contact the boat captain in advance to get close to the hotel you will stay

Transport on the island
The distance between the attractions on the island is pretty far, so you can rent a motorbike from local people to travel on the island if you go in small groups. Especially traveling on the island mainly by tuk tuks, this vehicle can carry about 6-8 people.Price about 100,000 VND per trip or may be cheaper. You can book a tuk tuk for the whole journey, the usual price: 500,000 VND for your journey in 2 or 3 days.

Contact Mr Dang: 01663677641 or Mr Truong 0982 380 664, Ms Trang 0983399188

Accommodation on Quan Lan island
Quan Lan has many motels, focused into 3 main areas, you can choose resorts, hotels, motels or homestay.

1 / Center area of Quan Lan commune:
The center of Quan Lan commune is more than 1 km from Dong Ho port. This is the center of the commune, the hotels here cost about VND 400,000 / room without air conditioner, about VND 700,000 / room with air conditioner.

High-class hotels: Villa Song Chau (0989551807) beautiful and comfortable rooms, with a restaurant on the spot but high price. The disadvantage of the hotel is the long distance from the beaches, you have to rent a tuktuk, to the Quan Lan beach about 2-3km, to Son Hao beach about 8km, to Minh Chau beach about 12 km. In the summer or when many people go on holiday, they must book a month in advance for a room.

Anh Bui Guesthouse, Tel 0984573725. Located close to Quan Lan beach, the guest house is built with wood and bamboo. Rates 120,000 - 220,000 VND / dormitory room.
Some restaurants in the center cost from 100,000 VND to 150,000 VND / person.
Bang Xuan restaurant is recommended by customers for good food, acceptable prices: Tel 0919176559.

2 / Son Hao Beach Area: located between Quan Lan and Minh Chau beaches
It is about 7 km from Quan Lan center to Son Hao beach. This is the longest, busiest and most crowded beach in Quan Lan island, under the management of Van Hai Ecotourism Company.

High class hotels: Van Hai Xanh hotel, tel. 0333.877.065. There are stilt houses, garden villas, sea view villas. Located on the road across the island, about 300m from Son Hao beach. Room rates are about 600k - 650k / room, peak time up to 850,000 VND / room. The most expensive is the sea view villa room: VND 1,400,000 - VND 2,000,000 depending on the time.

A small resort across Van Hai Do is Hung Lam that leans it’s back on the mountain and looks out the sea, visitors to Hung Lam resort must buy an entrance ticket: 20,000 VND / one way. Hung Lam's room rates range from 550,000 - 850,000 depending on the time. Meals in these 2 areas must be booked at minimum 150,000 VND / person.

Mr Chuong's homestay is located near Son Hao beach: 0982380644. Room is normal, price is ok, food is good, owner is enthusiastic.

3 / Minh Chau beach area
About 12 km from Quan Lan center, about 6 km from Son Hao beach, is the favorite beach for tourists to Quan Lan by it’s white sand, smooth, blue sea. Near Minh Chau beach you can choose a budget motel, homestay, the best choice is Minh Chau Beach Resort.

Minh Chau Beach Resort: spacious area, comfortable rooms, convenient for visitors, there is a dining area, very close to Minh Chau beach, about 50m. There are restaurants (minimum order is VND 120,000 / person), coffee, bicycle for rent. However, the room rate is expensive, from VND 550,000 - VND 1.500.000 / room depending on room type and time. If you need an ideal place, convenient, comfortable and do not care much about the cost, Minh Chau Beach Resort is the best choice.

Places to visit
Beaches:
Quan Lan has 3 main beaches: Quan Lan, Son Hao and Minh Chau.
Quan Lan Beach: about 2 km from the center of Quan Lan, this is a residential area so few tourists choose to bathe and have fun, this beach is generally not as beautiful as Son Hao and Minh Chau.

Son Hao Beach: the most serviced, invested and crowded area on the island. The beach is very wide and beautiful, the sea is clear and blue.

Minh Chau Beach: Minh Chau is the beach that many tourists love because of the beautiful flat sand, clear sea water, beautiful scenery. The forest close to the beach is suitable for walking and watching the sea.

Quan Lan Communal House
Quan Lan Communal House is located in the center of Quan Lan commune, the ancient pagoda has a spiritual meaning. The unique architecture of Quan Lan communal house is made of wood with bold island culture. This is a place of cultural activities of the village community in the island, is considered as a place to worship the island’s god and the founders of the villages. In the communal house, there are still preserving 18 orders by the kings of Thieu Tri, Tu Duc, Duy Tan and Bao Dai granted to the village gods.

Ba Mun National Park
Located in Ba Mun island of Minh Chau commune, about 15km from the shore, the park has an abundance of rare and precious animal and plant species such as nails, ironwoods, nests, quarry and other rare and precious ancient trees, Ba Mun Island is a place to preserve many valuable and precious animals such as serow, deer, monkeys, langurs and sea birds, that migrated to the island. In 1997, Ba Mun forest in Minh Chau commune was recognized as Bai Tu Long national forest.

Quan Lan market
Located in the center of Quan Lan island, here most of the seafood is caught by local fishermen, some agricultural products are transported from Cai Rong port to the island. You can buy the famous Sa Sung (beach worms) in Quan Lan, fresh or dried (dried Sa Sung is quite expensive from VND 2,000,000 / kg). It is advisable to ask the local people how to process Sa Sung because the processing is quite complicated.

Something you need to note before traveling to Quan Lan island:
The peak time is in the summer, so the boats going to the island at this time are usually full early, the boats will depart as soon as it is full of passengers, not at the usual time.

You should start from Hanoi in the early so that you can rest and have lunch in Ha Long then move to the port town of Cai Rong in order to catch a boat to the Quan Lan island in the day. If not want to wait until the next morning to catch the boat to the island.

You should choose a hotel near the beach to save your money on traveling and convenient to go to the beach. We recommend a hotel in Minh Chau beach or Son Hao beach because these are the two most beautiful beaches you cannot miss when coming to Quan Lan.

Electricity on the island is very expensive, local people only use electricity for lighting, tuk tuks run very fast, the services are pretty poor but the sea is beautiful, clean, people on the island are friendly.

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