How to get to Cat Ba Island from Halong Bay
Many tourists visiting Halong Bay cannot leave Cat Ba Island out of their trip plan as this famous island is embraced by Lan Ha Bay, the pristine part of Halong Bay zone, thus tempting people come and explore its nature life. And this is how you can move to Cat Ba Island after coming back to Halong City after a cruise trip.
Distance from Tuan Chau Marina to Cat Ba Town: 31.5 km
Including:
- from Tuan Chau Marina to Gia Luan Pier: 8 km
- from Gia Luan Pier to Cat Ba Town: 23.5 km
Duration from Halong City to Cat Ba Island: 1.5 hours
Including:
- from Tuan Chau Marina to Gia Luan Pier: 45 minutes
- from Gia Luan Piern to Cat Ba Town: 1 hour
Transportation to Cat Ba Island from Halong City
There are 2 ways to visit Cat Ba Island from Halong Bay.
- The 1st way is to join a tourist junk from Bai Chay Tourist Wharf, which visits Halong Bay before drop you at Cat Ba. Not every tourist junk includes Cat Ba in their itinerary so you must ask the boats owners if they can drop you off at Cat Ba Island and how much the price is. The price is usually disclosed and varies a lot. Thus, Discover Halong does not recommend you to go with this option.
- The 2nd way is using Tuan Chau – Gia Luan ferry.
From Halong City, go to Tuan Chau Marina on Tuan Chau Island, and then take the ferry to Gia Luan Pier in Cat Ba Island. The ferries are very busy at high season of local tourists (during summer) so you should go to the ferry terminal on time, to avoid waiting too long. In contrast, during low season, the ferries are quite empty and sometime the ferry operator will skip some ferry schedules to gather enough passengers before depaturing again. The ferries carry both passengers and vehicles such as car, motorbike and bicycle.
- Ferry time:
- From April 30th to September 30th
- Tuan Chau – Cat Ba: 7h30, 9h00, 11h30, 13h30, 15h00
- Cat Ba – Tuan Chau: 9h00, 11h30, 13h00, 15h00, 16h00
- From October 1st to April 29th
- Tuan Chau – Cat Ba: 7h30, 11h30, 15h00
- Cat Ba – Tuan Chau: 9h00, 13h00, 16h00
- Hotlines for Tuan Chau – Cat Ba ferry information:
- Tel: (+84) 332 473 668
- Hotline: (+84) 988 520 777
- Email: phatuanchau@tuanchau-halong.com.vn / phatuanchau@tuanchauresort.com.vn
- Ferry ticket price:
- Passenger: 60,000 VND/person (~3 USD)
- Motorbike: 50,000 VND/bike (~2.5 USD)
- 4-7-seat car: 300,000 VND/car (~15 USD)
- 16-seat car: 450,000 VND/car (~22.5 USD)
- 29-seat bus: 500,000 VND/bus (~25 USD)
- 45-seat bus: 600,000 VND/bus (~30 USD)
- Total ticket price = ticket for passenger + ticket for vehicle (if available)
The ferry will drop you off at Gia Luan Pier of Cat Ba Island. From there, to reach Cat Ba Town, it will take you from 30 minutes to 1 hour by car/bus or motorbike taxi.
- By local bus: 20,000 VND/person/way (~1 USD), running from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, passing every 90 minutes from Gia Luan Pier to Cat Ba Town.
- By taxi: ~500,000 VND/car/way (~25 USD)
- By motorbike taxi: ~80,000 VND/person/way (~4USD)
Note: There are many cruise tours include Cat Ba Island in their itinerary but they only bring you to Viet Hai area, the remote half of Cat Ba Island, there is no restaurants, beaches and only 1 bungalow option for overnight but you will have a great time to relax there.
In contrast, Cat Ba town is full of services, owns 2 beaches but can be really crowded. If you are interested in overnight in a resort or hotel then choose to stay in Cat Ba Town.
From Cat Ba Town to Viet Hai area, tourists can only go with a wooden boat leaving from Ben Beo Harbour (Cat Ba Town) to Viet Hai Harbour at 11.00 am daily for 100,000 VND/person/way (~2.5 USD) that takes around 45 minutes, or you can rent a boat for 250,000 VND/boat/way (~12.5 USD).
