Cat Ba is an island of 285 square kilometres, and two days get you a long way. Even so, there is always more on your list than fits: a bay with three hundred limestone islands, a national park you will not cover in one walk, coast roads that seem to lead nowhere. You do not need to tick all of it off.
A few things really belong on your trip: a full day on the water, a viewpoint around sunset and a morning on a scooter. Other things are a good way to fill half a day if you have one left over. Know up front where your time goes and you get more out of two days than out of an extra night.
So where do your Cat Ba days go, and what do you save for next time?
Want the practical side first, like how to get there, where to sleep and how many days you need? That is all on our Cat Ba page.
A full day on the water in Lan Ha Bay
This is what you came for, and it is the best the island has to offer. You sail between limestone rocks rising straight out of the water, past lagoons and little bays, and unlike in Ha Long Bay you are simply allowed to get in the water here. Plenty of backpackers rate Lan Ha Bay above its famous neighbour, purely because it has a fraction of the boats.
The day tour takes about eight hours and costs from around €25, lunch on board included. Along the way you kayak between the rocks, cycle through local villages and swim in a remote bay. You book in Cat Ba Town, where almost every tour leaves from.
Expect your phone to go quiet out in the bay. No signal, no map, no messages: that is exactly the point of the day, but agree where you are meeting up in the evening before you leave.
Our verdict: if you only do one thing on Cat Ba, do this
Kayaking through glowing plankton
This is something you can do in very few other places, and the reason some backpackers stay an extra night. You paddle out onto the bay at sunset and stay on the water until it is properly dark. Once the light is gone, thousands of tiny glowing organisms appear in the water.
It is a separate evening tour, not part of the day trip through the bay, and it leaves from Cat Ba Town. You start with the sunset between the rocks and finish in the dark, with nothing but the sound of your own paddle.
One honest note: the water lights up when the conditions are right, not always and not everywhere equally bright. Trail your hand through it and you see straight away what there is to see.
Our verdict: a must, even if you already kayaked that day
Cannon Fort at sunset
The best view on the whole island, and that is saying something on an island made mostly of views. On top of the hill are old military bunkers, and beyond them Lan Ha Bay opens up in front of you with all its limestone islands.
Entry is about €1.50 and from Cat Ba Town it is fifteen minutes by scooter. You can walk, but the climb is steep, so do not do it in the middle of the day in full sun.
Go around sunset. The light falls low over the bay and the rocks take on colour, while during the day it is mostly hard and white. An hour is plenty.
Our verdict: worth the climb, as long as it is at the end of the day
The east side of the island by scooter
This is our own favourite, and at the same time the least booked thing you can do here. Everyone does the day tour and then hangs around Cat Ba Town, while the coast roads on the east side sit empty. Small fishing villages, sea views, green mountains and bends where you can just pull over.
You can rent a scooter from about €5 a day, and the loop around the island takes half a day. Leave early in the morning, while everyone else is still asleep and the roads are yours. Bring cash, because outside Cat Ba Town there are hardly any ATMs.
Do ride carefully. The road through the national park is narrow, has blind bends, and goats and monkeys wander across. Wear a helmet, because the police here really do check, and look at your travel insurance before you go: most policies exclude riding a scooter.
Our verdict: our favourite morning on Cat Ba
Cat Ba National Park and the Ngu Lam peak
The park covers a big part of the island and shows you a completely different side from the bay: jungle, steep trails and views over the hills instead of over the water. It is also the quietest corner of Cat Ba, because most visitors only ever drive through it.
Entry is about €2.50. The Ngu Lam peak takes about two hours there and back, and the long route fills a whole day. Both start at the park entrance, a scooter ride from town.
Wear shoes you can climb in. The last stretches go over rock, and in flip-flops that mostly turns into an unpleasant descent.
Our verdict: a great extra if you have a third day
Viet Hai Village
A village of a hundred people, tucked away between the mountains of the national park and for a long time reachable only by water or over a mountain path. You cycle along sand tracks between the fields, and the contrast with the harbour town you came from is bigger than the distance suggests.
Getting in costs nothing and you can hire a bike there for about €2. You get there by boat from the bay or over the mountain road by scooter. Most Lan Ha Bay day tours stop here anyway, so check your itinerary before you make a separate trip.
Our verdict: fun, and at its best as part of your boat trip
Fresh fish off the grill at the harbour
Cat Ba is a fishing island and you notice it straight away in the evening. The morning’s catch is on the grill at the harbour and you simply point at what you want. No menu, no agonising over choices, just charcoal and whatever came in that day.
A meal here costs about €2.50 and a beer around €0.60, so there is no need to hold back. With seafood, always ask the price per kilo first. If they will only charge per piece, you are almost certainly about to overpay.
Our verdict: no menu, no agonising: you point at whatever came in that day
Got time to spare on Cat Ba?
Seeing Ha Long Bay as well
You are already on Lan Ha Bay, where you get the same landscape, are allowed to swim and run into far fewer boats. The standard day tour from Cat Ba also takes in part of Ha Long Bay, so you often see both bays in a single day. If you really want a separate cruise through it, plan an extra day for that.
Eating in the streets behind the seafront
The terraces on the water are lively and perfect for a beer after dinner. For the meal itself, walk one street inland: there you eat the same thing for half the price, among people who live there. It is also the most fun way to get to know the town.
The Cat Co beaches at the end of the day
The beaches are walkable from town along the cliff path. Come late in the afternoon, when the crowds drift off and the sun is past its hardest, because there is hardly any shade. Cat Co 1 and 2 sometimes charge a small fee, otherwise it is free.
Picking the right boat trip
Prices at the tour desks are close together, so do not choose on a couple of euros. Ask how many people will be on the boat and whether the trip still goes ahead if the weather turns. A small boat, in a bay you visit precisely for the peace, is the difference between a good day and your best day.
Our top five on Cat Ba
Only got a few days? These are the five we would do no matter what:
- The day tour through Lan Ha Bay, with kayaking and swimming along the way
- Kayaking through glowing plankton, after sunset
- Cannon Fort at the end of the afternoon, for the view over the bay
- The east side of the island by scooter, early in the morning
- Fresh fish off the grill at the harbour, one street back from the seafront
Still got time after that? Walk the trail through Cat Ba National Park up to the Ngu Lam peak, or take the boat to Viet Hai Village and hire a bike there. Spend a night on a boat in the bay and you are first on the water in the morning, seeing the rocks without the fleet of day boats around them.
So what do you really have to do on Cat Ba?
Honestly? Nothing on this list is compulsory. Cat Ba is not a place for ticking off sights, and the travellers who got the most out of it are usually the ones who decided on day two to plan nothing at all. This list helps you choose, it is not a schedule.
If we had to pick just one thing: get out on the water. A day of sailing and kayaking between the limestone rocks of Lan Ha Bay, with no signal and no rush, is what this island is all about. Everything else you do is a bonus.
And keep one morning completely free. Rent a scooter, ride out to the east side early and stop wherever you feel like it: at a fishing village, at a bend with a view of the sea, at nothing in particular. That is the side of Cat Ba most visitors never see, and it is the reason we stayed longer than we planned.
