Halong Bay

One of the world’s ‘natural wonders’ and an absolute must-see for any visitor to the north of Vietnam, Halong Bay (also spelt Ha Long) is home to more than one thousand awe-inspiring limestone karsts and islands of various sizes. The UNESCO protected bays are host to a great diversity of ecosystems, including offshore coral reefs, freshwater swamp forests, mangrove forests, small freshwater lakes, and sandy beaches.

Halong Bay is in the north east of Vietnam, about 151km from Ha Noi, it is part of Tonkin Gulf which covers the waters of Halong city, Cam Pha town and Van Don island, Halong Bay borders  Cat Ba island to the south, the coastline is 120km long. Halong Bay is composed of 1969 large and small islands, most of them are limestone. The area crowded with strangely shaped islands and mountain caves famous in the world for magnificent landscape was recognised by Unesco as the World Heritage.

Folklore says that dragons descended from the heavens to help locals by spitting jewels and jade into the sea, forming a natural fortress against invaders (the islands that you see today). Several of these islands boast beautiful grottos and huge caves that you can explore during your tour of the bay.

There are a lot of islands with different heights and sizes, placed in a zigzag shape, from faraway it looks like a dragon waggling it's tail in the sea. This is a hidden bay with an area of 1500 sq km including thousands of limestone mountains rising from the sea, most islands are named after the shapes they bear such as Toad, Elephant, Fighting cocks, Turtle...this inspires fantasy in visitors. 2 large islands Cat Ba and Tuan Chau are inhabited all time, many beautiful beaches surround the islands.

The limestone mountains in Halong Bay contain wonderful caves and grottoes such as Virgin cave, Amazing cave, Heavenly grotto...each is attached to a legend.

In the process of dissolving the sea, waves and tides have created lakes for Ha Long Bay with more than 10 thousand years such as Ba Ham Lake, is a combination of three lakes linked together, The Luon lagoon where the ceiling is 2m above the sea level. The magnificence of and history Halong Bay give scientists a passion to discover the mysteries of the area.