Halong Bay

If you want to go, get to Halong Bay soon. Because it's natural beauty is being devastated fast. The extent to which the area is being exploited is fairly shocking. Hundreds of boats operate in the bay, the water is cloudy and poluted. The boats and the locals show little respect for the area they operate in. So whil le a Halong Bay cruise is a nice little trip, worth doing for anyone visiting Hanoi, it may not stay that way for ling.

The good news is they make it easy to get there. Inquire at any hotel in Hanoi and they can book you on a trip including the four hour ride from Hanoi and one or two nights on a boat for $150-$250.

For those travelling on a budget or who have some time to search around for a good deal there are many low priced options. It doesn't hurt to have a tour company book your trip for you. I used Vietnam Travel Advisor, a company highly recommended on TripAdvisor. If you're looking to do both Sapa and Halong Bay in a short period of time as I was they're a great option because they arrange all of the travel details and remove the uncertainty that comes with travelling in an unfamiliar country.

The majority of the boats going to Halong Bay include transfer service on a minibus from Hanoi to Halong City where the boats leave. It is apparently difficult to get a boat directly from Halong City so your best bet is to hit Hanoi first and go from there. The four hour drive starting at 8:30AM is fairly painless - they pick you up from your hotel, the only minor annoyance is a half hour stop off at a store where they try to sell you goods made in Vietnam. As with much of Vietnam a lot rests on the weather. It tends to be hazy which creates a kind of eerie effect akin to a scene from Pirates in the Caribbean, but in some ways this adds to the appeal.

I booked a room on the Paloma which was on the high end price-wise but offered amazing service and had a nicer room than I had at any hotel in Vietnam. They serve multi-cource meals, massages are fairly cheap, they have plenty of beer and it's a very nice way to do Halong Bay if you can afford it and don't mind the company that a higher price tag comes with namely families and older people.

Regardless of the boat, the thing to know is that they all have the same basic course regulated by the government, and it basically consists of a visit to a big over-touristy cave, and a few hours of kayaking around the bay. The two-day cruise offers a few more stops including more kayaking and a barbecue on a beach. The most important thing is finding a boat which meets your budget and which has the kind of people you want to hang out with for a few days.