Things to do in Cat Ba

Cat Ba is the largest island found off of Ha Long Bay. The stunning island has received a tourism surge in the last couple of years, so we were quite shocked to see how built up and busy the main town was. Most of the tourists seemed to be from different parts of Vietnam, who flock here for a break and to enjoy the beautiful landscapes and beaches of the island.

We stayed in Ha Long Bay for a night before heading to Cat Ba to break up the journey a bit. Again we were shocked to see how busy Ha Long Bay was, again due to a large insurge of Vietnamese tourists.

The next day we caught a cab to Ben Pha Tuan Chau pier and then jumped on a ferry. It took around 2 hours to get to Cat Ba. Once we arrived there was a 40-minute drive to the main town, in which we had to get a taxi too. This made getting there very expensive. We didn’t know until we were already on the island that you could book bus tickets to take you all the way to the town from Ha Long Bay or even Hanoi, so I think that is what we would recommend.

Things to do

Hospital Cave

Just a short drive away from the main town you can find Hospital Cave. During the war the cave was used as a hospital built from the natural limestone on the mountain. It served as a place or treating wounded soldiers and a safe haven for locals who needed somewhere to hide whilst bombings were taking place.

Cat Ba National Park

Cat Ba National Park is 102 square miles of beautiful green mountains, ecosystems and hiking trails. There are a couple of different viewpoints there that you can hike too. Most of the hikes are quite steep and take around an hour to get to the top, so make sure you are able to do that and bring plenty of water. There is a restaurant in the park, as well as areas to buy drinks and ice creams.

When you pay for entry in to the park you also get the Trung Trang Cave entry included.

Trung Trang Cave

The Trung Trang Cave is around 300 metres long. It was used as headquarters in the Vietnam war. This impressive cave is well worth a visit, especially if you are heading to Cat Ba National Park anyway.

Rock Trail

Rock trail is found within walking distance of the main town of Cat Ba. The mountainous trail that has some seriously stunning ocean views, connects Cat Co 1 beach and Cat Co 3. Although the trail isn’t long, it is something you can’t miss out on.

Cat Ba beaches

We have already mentioned two of the beaches above, however there is also a third, Cat Co 2 which is found a bit further away from the town. These beaches are all really stunning to visit and don’t really get too busy until around 4pm, when the Vietnamese tourists flock to go swimming.

Watch the sunset on the town front

We were not very lucky when it came to sunsets whilst we were on Cat Ba. Each day at sunset clouds formed over what would be the sunset itself. However, on one of our last nights we got to see a glimpse of what it might look like if it wasn’t cloudy when the clouds were quite thin. We sat on the promenade that overlooks Cat Ba town. Bring a towel to sit on and some beer and relax.

Boat tour

There are a few different options when it comes to boat tours on Cat Ba. As one of the most impressive things about the area is the sheer amount of small islands dotted around, we highly recommend getting on some sort of boat trip to take you around there.