Halong Bay Travel Guide

Introduction

175km (109 miles) E of Hanoi; 55km (34 miles) NE of Haiphong

The light playing on the arching rock formations of Halong Bay is never the same, painting rich colors on a stunning landscape, and the bay attracts many artists and photographers. A Vietnamese fable says that the towering limestone-karst rock formations at Halong were formed with the crash landing of a dragon sent by the prehistoric gods of early Vietnamese animism to protect the country from an invading navy. The picturesque area did, in fact, play host to some important Vietnamese naval victories against Chinese forces, but the bay is most famous for its UNESCO World Heritage status, its emerald green water, and the 3,000 islands of towering limestone in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The total area of the bay is some 1,553 sq. km (606 sq. miles), but only 434 sq. km (169 sq. miles) are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site (designated as such in 1994). Of the more than 700 islands and islets in this area, only a few...