How to Choose a Halong Junk and Activities during Cruise?

What junk to choose when cruising in Halong Bay is a question that many travellers ask. This article is to give travellers some advice to this issue.


HOW TO CHOOSE  A  HALONG JUNK AND  ACTIVITIES DURING CRUISE?

 

 With over 300 junks, travellers can have different options for their choice to meet their expectations and also their budgets. In general, there are two kinds of cruises in Halong Bay: cruise during the day (duration of 4h, 5h or 7am) or cruise with overnight on junk.

 

1. Cruise during the day:

 

This is aimed at people who do not have much time or do not want to spend the night in the boat. The cruise starts at 8 am for people who already sleep in Halong city or a little later, around noon for people who start from Hanoi.

 

You can take a private or shared boat for this cruise. The price is of course different but the real problem is time. We lose a lot of time waiting in case of taking a shared junk and sometimes you cannot have enough people for a cruise. So a private junk is recommended for not wasting unnecessary time.

 

After boarding, the cruise begins. People can surely admire and photograph the magnificent beauty of Halong Bay with karst rocks in multiforms hiding many legends. When crossing a fishing village with floating houses we stop and get off the junk to see very welcoming local people, and to eyewitness seafood like fish, crabs, shrimp, calamari, lobster ... Often people buy them for taste and of course the cook in the junk will prepare you unforgettable dishes.

 

A meal served while the cruise stops in the middle of the sea, surrounded by various rocks - landscape "postcard" for the meal.

 

A good meal with delicious food and Vietnamese wine makes you sleepy? So a swim in the turquoise waters of the Tonkin Golf will help your digestion. LIFE IS A BED OF ROSES!

 

The cruise continues on to a cave where we take a walk on foot to discover it. The caves that hid pirates in the past, with the varied beauty of stalactites and stalagmites which give different local legends for romanizing your cruise before returning to port.

 

An unforgettable day in a wonderful world!

 

2. Cruise for 1, 2 or more nights in the junk

 

Different kinds of junks meet different demands of customers. Small and well-equipped junks are reserved for people who want a private cruise. It' s convenient and easy to take this kind of junks like Prince, Princess, Paloma family, Paradise Privilege, Bhaya Legend, White Dolphin and Small Victory.

 

These junks are ranked by the way hotels are ranked, for example Paradise, Emerald, Bhaya, Indochina Sail, Violet, Ginger, Jasmine, Victory as luxury junks, Bai Tho, Huong Hai, Hai Long Junks as superior junks.

 

Most of the junks were several cabins, often 6 to 20 cabins, some even have 30 or more cabins but tourists generally prefer boats that do not have many cabins.

 

Each cabin is like a small hotel room without TV because there' s almost everything like bed (double bed or 2 single), bathroom, toilet, towel, hot water, air conditioning ... They are really well equipped.

 

Boarding is at noon. Very good lunch is served while cruising along. Sometimes we must leave the table with so delicious dishes to take pictures .. because of the beautiful landscape.

 

Around 15h, visit a cave so pretty before bathing in the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. An enjoyable time on the beach for a walk to the summit which gives a beautiful view over the bay. Most panoramic photos of Halong Bay are made here. Sometimes  after the walk, do a swimming race from the beach to the boat. Others do canoing to get closer to the rocks, sometimes monkeys can be seen living on limestone rocks.

 

 The day ends with pictures of the sunset. A quiet night in the bay with a good dinner and free time to relax as rest on the deck, go fishing with the team, or in some junks we watch the film Indochina which was filmed in Halong Bay with Catherine Deneuve