How to visit Cat Ba, Vietnam

If your ideal vacation is boat trips and island hopping, Cat Ba has got to be on your list for when you visit Vietnam.

I visited Cat Ba as a stop on my backpacking trip through South-East Asia. I had heard mixed things about whether the island was worth visiting, so I was pleasantly surprised by my time there.

In this guide, I’ll tell you more about my experiences on the island, and how you can visit yourself. There will be information on where to stay, what to do and where to eat, as well as my honest thoughts on how these aspects work in practice.

About Cat Ba

Cat Ba is an island in North-East Vietnam.

Just off the coast in the north-east corner of Vietnam, you’ll find an archipelago of 367 islands. Several of these islands have settlements or resorts which you can visit. However, Cat Ba island is by far the largest and gives the group its name: the Cat Ba Archipelago.

On Cat Ba, you’ll find a slightly strange mix of nature and tourism: lots of forest and gorgeous views, but also resort hotels and an odd waterfront. Having heard about this before visiting I wasn’t too sure whether I’d like it.

It’s true that the main town wasn’t particularly appealing. However, overall I enjoyed my visit to the island!

Gateway to Lan Ha Bay

The archipelago in which Cat Ba is located is split into several bays: Ha Long Bay, Lan Ha Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay. All of it belongs to the Ha Long Bay UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ha Long Bay is very famous and hence very popular with tourists. It’s known for its amazing karst islands over pretty water. Any Google of this bay will show you the most beautiful of photos!

I’ve not been to Ha Long Bay, but by all accounts it gets pretty busy. Most tourists to the archipelago end up visiting visit this bay, either on day trips or multi-day boat trips, so the area can clog up with boats.

By contrast, Cat Ba is located within Lan Ha Bay. Lan Ha Bay supposedly is much quieter than Ha Long Bay, whilst having the same beauty.

Is this correct? Having only visited one of the two, I’m not sure! However, we found Lan Ha Bay to be gorgeous, and Cat Ba makes the perfect base for exploring this bay.

Cat Ba town

On Cat Ba itself, there’s one main town in the south-east corner of the island. It’s slightly weird to visit.

The waterfront in the town is full of high-rise hotels, which give it a resort feel, almost as though they’re in a major beachside city! But, aside from tour agencies (which are plentiful), the town isn’t overflowing with tourist amenities. We didn’t see that many restaurants or bars tailored to tourists.

And, to be honest, there weren’t many tourists there either! I visited in October, which is classed as the shoulder season, and was surprised by how quiet Cat Ba was, even at the weekend. Some of the hotels on our road weren’t open and looked like they hadn’t been for a while.

By contrast, the waterfront was full of locals, with many people walking and drinking at makeshift bars on the pavement. The local vibe wasn’t a bad thing at all, but it felt juxtaposed against the many hotels across the road.

A good place for nature

One thing Cat Ba is known for is its nature. There’s just a couple of roads and settlements stretching across the island, so most of the land is full of undulating lush forest.

Most of the island belongs to Cat Ba National Park and feels untouched and full of wildlife. Most notably, you can find the Cat Ba Langur, a primate that lives on this island alone. However, as there are less than 100 langurs on the island they are virtually impossible to find. Tour guides will tell you that if you take their tour, you might be able to see the langur, but do not be fooled!

All is not lost though. As in much of Vietnam, we were really impressed by the number of butterflies in the national park and on the main road running through it. You might also be able to see animals like squirrels and deer as you explore (not that we saw any).

Ratings

As part of this blog, I give every place I visit a rating so that I can easily compare destinations and decide whether they’re worth a visit. Those are the scores you see at the top of the page!

This is how Cat Ba rated:

• Safety: 5/5 – Cat Ba feels very safe in general.
• Accessibility: 3/5 – getting to Cat Ba from most tourist locations in North Vietnam is easy, with direct buses from Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Sapa and Ha Giang. But activities on the island generally require the use of a motorbike or getting on a boat, so they aren’t particularly accessible.
• Enjoyment: 4/5 – I was surprised by how much I liked Cat Ba. It was much better than expected!
• Value: 4/5 – as with most places in Vietnam, Cat Ba is reasonably good value. Activities and food can be a bit inflated compared to the mainland.

Overall score: 4/5

If you’ve already visited, let me know if you agree with these ratings! Just to note, the ratings are my personal opinion based on my visit, so you might have a completely different experience.

More: how I rank destinations using the Everywhere Ratings system

Where to eat in Cat Ba

Before arriving, I had read that food options on the island were poor. To be honest, I think this is true. Although there are a few nice places, we struggled to find more than a handful that didn’t have had awful reviews. This is definitely not a foodie’s heaven.

We ate multiple times at the same places. Oasis Bar, opposite the port area, has good food. It supposedly turns into a club at night, but it had more of a dining atmosphere outside in the evening.

We also ate at Start Up Cafe, which isn’t particularly fancy but had friendly staff and comfortable meals.

At both places, we paid 50,000 to 100,000 dong (£1.60 to £3.20 / $2 to $4) per main.

Where to stay

Most people visiting the island choose to stay within Cat Ba town. However, it’s quite spread out and you have a lot of options as to where to stay.

We stayed in Cocoon Inn, a hostel in the centre of town, which was fairly comfortable and inexpensive.

If I came with a lot more money, I’d consider staying at one of the hotels near the beach, such as Flamingo or Perle de Orient. These both were the most luxurious options I saw in town and the location, for a beach holiday, cannot be faulted!

Alternatively you can also stay at homestays near and within the National park, which is a great option if you want to tackle the highlights of Cat Ba without staying in a busy area.

How to get to Cat Ba

It’s fairly easy to get to Cat Ba. Buses are available direct to the island from Hanoi (4 hours), Ninh Binh (5 hours) and Ha Giang (11 hours), which means you don’t need to travel via Hanoi to get anywhere!

The buses will normally take you onto the island. Once you reach the port, it’s a 30 minute ferry or 10 minute fast boat to the west of the island. From the port on the island to the town, it then takes 30 minutes.

We booked our buses to Cat Ba with Cat Ba Express. From Hanoi to Cat Ba they were great, with such an informative guide! But from Cat Ba to Ninh Binh they sent us with a third party, Cat Ba Discovery, which was good but not quite the same level…

Times are available regularly through the day for Hanoi and Ninh Binh, or you can take an overnight bus from Ha Giang.

How to get around Cat Ba

There aren’t crazy amounts of places to visit on Cat Ba island. You only really have a couple of options: visiting the beach, going on a boat trip or heading into the national park.

Most boat trips on Lan Ha Bay will include a pick up from town. The beach is around 15 mins’ walk outside of town so is super easy to get to by foot.

Therefore, you only really need to drive to get to the national park. The entrance to the national park is 15 km from town, taking 30 mins to drive. It’s easy to drive this with a scooter – outside the town you’ll find the roads are generally quiet and paved, without many turns, which makes them accessible to novice or first-time riders.

Rental should cost around 100,000 dong (£3.20 / $4) per day. Expect to pay around 22,000 dong (£0.70 / $0.90) for one litre of fuel, which you can get from the official gas station at the fishing port. One litre got us to the National park and back with plenty to spare!

Tip: at the entrance to the fishing port there are people selling gas who will try to get you to buy it from them, rather than continuing to get gas from the official seller. Just drive right past them! The petrol station will give you a better price.

What to do on Cat Ba

1. Take a boat trip to Lan Ha Bay

Probably the top thing to do on a trip to Cat Ba is to visit Lan Ha Bay. It’s just such a gorgeous archipelago and you’re on an island anyway…

Boat trips to Lan Ha Bay normally have several components, including kayaking and swimming. Many include a trip to Viet Hai, a village on the south-east of the island only accessible by boat or intense hiking. The Cao Bei village – a fishing village entirely on floats – is located just south of the harbour so most trips will take you through this too.

I had low expectations for Lan Ha Bay. Several of the blogs I read before going said the sea would be very dirty, with lots of litter and grime. It does have to be said, within the bay, the sea is green and has low visibility… However, aside from a couple of spots (that we didn’t stop at), it doesn’t feel inherently dirty. We never stopped at places where rubbish had collected and I never had any concerns swimming through the water.

Boat trips from Cat Ba island normally cost $20 to $40 (£16 to £32), which includes entrance fees, lunch and activities. We took the boat trip offered by Cat Ba Amazing Travel, which cost 450,000 dong ($18 / £15) per person. Our boat wasn’t as fancy as some of the others that we saw, but it was a lot cheaper a trip, and as most boats did a similar itinerary we were happy!

The area we cruised through wasn’t that busy and we didn’t feel it was as crowded as it would’ve been in Ha Long Bay.

2. Visit the Cat Ba National Park

Cat Ba National Park is well worth a visit. Here you’ll find several trails through lush forest.

The most popular trail is to walk up to Ngu Lam Peak, which takes 1 hour each way. For the shortest hike in the park, I thought it was pretty hard. The route is fairly steep with plenty of steps and scrambling. However, the views at the top are stunning, which made it worth it.

Just to note, the trail will take you to a viewing platform at the top, which gives you great views. However, if you keep going along the path there is a second smaller peak. I much preferred the view from this second peak, as you can see a panoramic view across the karst hills, so continue if you’re interested.

You’ll find places serving drinks and ice cream at the start of the trail, alongside a large map to help guide you. However, the trail is obvious and busy so you don’t need to worry about navigation.

3. Visit Viet Hai

A much harder hike through Cat Ba National park is to visit Viet Hai, a village on the other side of the island. It’s only accessible by hiking or by boat, which makes it a different experience!

I visited the village on the boat trip and found it to be nice, although perhaps not the ethnic village experience they make it sound to be. It felt quite developed despite being remote, with several cafes and restaurants. Would I bother hiking to it? I’m not sure.

However, our guide told us that the peak above Viet Hai, Navy Hill, has the most stunning views of the island, so if that takes your fancy this hike might be for you.

The hike from the trailhead near the national park entrance to Viet Hai takes around 14 km, so budget a full day for the experience. Some hikers like to follow the trail one way, or alternatively spend the night in the village and head back the next day. I’m not sure logistically how getting a boat back to the main town would work, but there’s certainly no shortage of accommodation!

4. Go inside Hospital Cave

You’ll also find a couple of caves dotted across Cat Ba island, a few of which you can visit. Possibly the most notable of these is Hospital Cave. It’s easy to visit on the way to the national park, being only a couple of kilometres from the entrance.

Hospital Cave used to contain a hospital during the Vietnam-American War. Inside the cave cavity you’ll find a multi-storey building full of rooms where people were treated and cared for. 

I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like sheltering from bombs here. The rooms are damp and cramped, so when you consider how many people were here and the extent of injuries, it seems like some form of Hell.

Entry is 40,000 dong (£1.30 / $1.60) per person. The tour takes around 1 hour. It’s definitely not a must-do stop in the area, but it was great to see a bit more of the recent history of the island!

5. Head into Trung Trang Cave

You’ll find Trung Trang Cave 1 km down the road from the entrance to Cat Ba National Park. It’s included in the entrance ticket to the national park and is walkable from the entrance, so even if you take a taxi to the park you don’t have an excuse not to visit!

Trung Trang Cave is accessed via an opening part the way up the cliff. It gets tight in a few places, but the path through it continues nicely regardless, with the full trip taking us around 30 mins.

I should say, if you’ve already visited the caves in Central Vietnam, you won’t find this one quite so impressive. Still, I liked it.

6. Chill at the beach

On Cat Ba, you’ll find plenty of beaches. However, unless you’re on a boat trip, the three that you can visit are conveniently named Cat Co 1, Cat Co 2 and Cat Co 3.

To be honest, I didn’t feel inspired by any of them. All three have resort hotels located there, which give them a more exclusive atmosphere. But if you want to go for a swim, this is the place for you!

You’ll also find a path along the cliffs connecting Cat Co 1 and Cat Co 3 (“Rock Trail” on Google Maps). I loved walking along this; it feels much quieter than either beach and has lovely views across the ocean. It was the perfect place to sit for sunset.

Conclusion

Cat Ba island could potentially split opinions. Where there are gorgeous karst islands perfect for boat trips, there’s also murky water with lots of rubbish. And where there is gorgeous forest with lots of wildlife, there is also a not-so-appealing main town with mediocre places to visit.

Overall, though, I was a fan of Cat Ba. I’d definitely visit again if I ever make it back to this part of the world!

Planning a trip through north Vietnam? Check out my guides to other destinations: Ninh Binh, Hanoi & Phong Nha