Cat Ba Island guide: ferries, Lan Ha Bay boat days and the national park

Cat Ba is the largest island in the Cat Ba Archipelago, in Hai Phong, and the boats for Lan Ha Bay leave from its harbours at Ben Beo and Cai Beo, about ten minutes from Cat Ba Town. In 2023 UNESCO extended the Ha Long Bay World Heritage site to the Cat Ba Archipelago: the property now covers 1,133 islands, 358 of them around Cat Ba (Ha Long Bay Management Board). Staying on the island puts you on the bay by 08:30 without the three-hour drive from Hanoi, which is why Cat Ba boat days cost less than a day cruise from the capital.

The island is also a national park. Cat Ba National Park was created in 1986 and covers 17,362.96 hectares, 10,912.51 of forest and 6,450.65 of sea; the park describes itself as the first in Vietnam with both forest and marine ecosystems, and as the only place in the world where the Cat Ba langur survives (Cat Ba National Park). That gives Cat Ba something Ha Long’s harbours cannot: a jungle hike in the morning and a kayak in the afternoon.

The quickest way to choose: book the full Cat Ba boat day with biking and kayaking for the best-reviewed day on Lan Ha, add the half-day national park hike for a morning on land, and read our guide to Ha Long Bay or Lan Ha Bay if you are still deciding which bay to see.

From Hanoi, buses and limousine vans take the expressway towards Hai Phong, cross from Dong Bai on Cat Hai Island to Cai Vieng on Cat Ba, and drive on to Cat Ba Town: about 3 to 4 hours in all. A GetYourGuide limousine ticket to Cat Ba is from €16.83 per person, about 3.5 hours with an English-speaking guide on board. Dong Bai replaced the old Got terminal on 1 March 2024 and the crossing is 1.86 kilometres (VnExpress press report); the operator runs 23 sailings a day, raised to 38 from late April to the end of August 2026, from about 05:00 to 18:30 (Hai Phong News press report, 29 April 2026).

From Ha Long, a car ferry crosses from Tuan Chau to Gia Luan in the north of Cat Ba in about 50 minutes. From 1 October to 15 April it leaves Tuan Chau at 07:30, 11:30 and 15:00 and Gia Luan at 09:00, 13:00 and 16:00, with five sailings each way from 16 April to 30 September; the fare is 80,000 VND on foot and 480,000 VND for a car under nine seats, and children under 1.2 metres ride free, as Cat Ba Express publishes it. Gia Luan is about 35 to 40 minutes by car from Cat Ba Town.

The third way is the Cat Hai to Phu Long cable car, nearly 4 kilometres and about 10 minutes over the water. Its operator, Sun World Cat Ba, lists it as running daily from 09:00 to 15:45, about every 45 minutes, at 70,000 VND one way, free for children under 1 metre; from Phu Long station a taxi takes you on to town.

Two of our cruises carry you there themselves: the Lan Ha Bay day cruise from Hanoi or Cat Ba runs its own bus from the Old Quarter to Ben Beo, and the small-group Venezia overnight sells limousine seats from Hanoi and Ninh Binh to the same harbour. For every road option to the bays, see our Hanoi to Ha Long Bay guide.

Four boat days on this site start from hotels in Cat Ba Town, and all of them include lunch, a guide, kayaking and the bay entrance fees, so the choice comes down to the extras. The full-day tour with biking and kayaking is the one to beat: the most reviewed and the cheapest, from €25.67, with kayaking through Bright, Dark and Bat caves, a swim off Ba Trai Dao, and a ride across the rice fields to Viet Hai village, with an electric car for anyone who would rather not cycle.

The Lan Ha Bay kayak day is sold as “small group guaranteed”, and the same listing gives up to 30 travellers per boat; it is run by a Cat Ba operator, spends about two hours in the kayaks through K.A Cave and Bats Cave, and stops for lunch at Ong Cam islet. The kayak and snorkelling tour is the only one that carries snorkelling gear, and it ends at Monkey Island with a climb to a view over the bay. The premium day cruise collects from Cat Ba Town later, at 10:15 to 10:30, on a bigger boat with a slide, and visits Viet Hai by bike or electric car.

Ratings and prices are as shown on GetYourGuide on 15 November 2026. For more on paddling routes, see our guide to kayaking in Lan Ha Bay, or compare every day boat and overnight in all our cruises and tours.

The park’s central route is the classic half day: from the park headquarters through the Kim Giao forest to Ngu Lam Peak, then Trung Trang Cave. The park lists its Kim Giao woodland near Ngu Lam Peak among its distinctive forest types, and records 1,595 plant species, 209 birds and 63 mammals. The park is open from 07:00 to 17:00, and its published fees, under Hai Phong People’s Council Resolution 47/2025 of 10 December 2025, are in the table below (Cat Ba National Park).

The guided half-day hike does exactly this route with hotel pick-up and the 120,000 VND park and cave ticket included: about 45 minutes up through the jungle to Ngu Lam Peak, 220 metres above the sea, then the 400-metre Trung Trang Cave and Linh Quang pagoda, back at your hotel after about four hours. It is rated 4.7 by more than 420 reviewers, from €24.94 (GetYourGuide, 15 Nov 2026), and the listing marks it as suitable from age 6. Book it for the morning before or after your boat day.

Short of time? The Ha Long to Lan Ha Bay and Cat Ba day tour lands on the island at about 12:15 on a day from Hanoi and takes an electric car to Trung Trang Cave and the park’s natural history museum before an afternoon of kayaking in Lan Ha Bay, from €44.56.

Viet Hai is a fishing and farming village in a valley inside Cat Ba National Park, reached from its own small harbour by a road through the forest. The park and the local authority are making it a low-emission village: in October 2026 the park reported that 88 electric motorbikes had been handed to residents and park staff, and that every household taking part had signed up to retire its petrol bikes (Cat Ba National Park). On the boat tours you ride a bicycle or an electric car for a few kilometres past rice fields to old houses, a fish foot massage and local rice wine.

It is the one stop on Cat Ba that most Lan Ha overnights share. On the small-group Venezia overnight, up to 15 guests, a tender takes you to Viet Hai at 07:50 on the second morning, and on the budget overnight with cycling it is at 08:30; both sail the less-used route via Cua Dong to Ba Trai Dao. The relaxed Lan Ha overnight with kayaking boards at Beo harbour at 11:30 and cycles about 5 kilometres to Viet Hai after breakfast.

The big ships from Tuan Chau reach the island by tender. The 3-day 5-star cruise with Viet Hai cycling spends its whole middle day off the ship: a tender to Cat Ba, about 4 kilometres by bicycle or electric car to Viet Hai, then Ba Trai Dao beach, between two nights in a balcony cabin. For one night versus two, see our day trip or overnight guide.

Staying on Cat Ba for a day on the water: the full-day tour with biking and kayaking, from €25.67, rated 4.8 by more than 1,700 reviewers. Choose the small-group kayak day, from €29.34, if paddling matters most, or the kayak and snorkelling tour, from €31.17, for snorkelling and Monkey Island.

A morning on land: the national park hike to Ngu Lam Peak, from €24.94, with the park ticket included.

One day from Hanoi, with a taste of the island: the Ha Long to Lan Ha Bay and Cat Ba day tour from €44.56, or the premium Lan Ha day cruise from Ben Beo, from €71.51, with Viet Hai by bike.

A night on the bay from Cat Ba: the Venezia small-group overnight, from €113.87, for the smallest group; the budget cruise with cycling, from €102.68, if you want the Hanoi transfer bundled. Two nights with a full day on the island: the 3-day 5-star cruise, from €241.30 (GetYourGuide, 15 Nov 2026). Before you go, check the best time to visit Ha Long Bay for weather and crowds, and what to pack for a Ha Long Bay cruise.