hi We are going to vietnam in october,we will be in hanoi on the 14th.From hanoi airport,witch way is best to get to catba,taxi or bus.We have booked accommodation in catba for 4 days and i would like to know if we could get a tour boat from catba to see halong bay and surrounding islands and how much it will cost.Then we have another 2 weeks left and dont know where to go next any ideas? we are thinking about nha trang.thanks sharon;

Hi Sharon.
It's so nice to visit CatBa.From Hanoi airport,the best way to go to Catba Island is to go by taxi.However,you know that there're lots of scram about Taxi drivers in Noi Bai airport.

To visit Cat Ba island,we have local bus from Hanoi city,daily and cheap.But you have to go to the city,come to the bus station (Luong Yen station) and take the bus Hoang Long - route Hanoi - Cat Ba.It takes about 6 hours on bus,the price : 10 USD (Not sure).So from the airport,you have to go to the city (35 kms),price : 20 USD for taxi,or the local bus number 7 Airport - Hanoi city.After that,go to the bus station.Buy ticket and go.This bus will take you directly from Hanoi to the town of Catba island.this is the best way for the backpackers,but there's 1 thing : nobody on the bus can speak English,so it's quite difficult for you.

Or you can visit Ha Long bay from Hanoi by local bus,or book a car (175kms),and go to Cat Ba island by ferry from Tuan Chau island.By this way,you also can visit Halong bay.The ferry takes 1 hours to go to Cat Ba,price 60.000 VND (about 3 USD) per person.And when you go to dock in Cat Ba,you also have to pay for 5 - 7 USD to the bus to take you to the town.From the dock to the town in Cat Ba,it takes about 20 kms.You can book for the pick up services in the hotel in Cat Ba,it's not so expensive.
We don't have the bus from Hanoi airport to go to Cat Ba,and can go by taxi,but it's not safe for your pocket ;) so the best way to go to Catba is going to Hanoi city by local bus or taxi,and continue by these ways I show you.

If you have 2 more weeks in Vietnam,you can go to the mountainous areas of Vietnam like Sapa,Mai Chau...with the marvelous and breathtaking views (with the harvesting time of the fields).In the South,you can go to Nhatrang,with beautiful islands and nice beach,but you also visit Catba,so it's quite boring in Nha Trang.You also can go to Phu Quoc island,they have beautiful resorts and beaches there.Hoi An is amazing town,but small and quiet.But there's a beach near Hoi AN (18kms) also so amazing.You can go there all by bus (sleeping bus),trains or flights.

Hope it helps :)

thanks for the info.very very helpful.cant wait to get there,if anyone has any more that would be great.

Hi, I went to vietnam last year for a month and did the same thing. We got a bus from Hanoi to Haiphong, then from there we got a boat across to Cat Ba. We had read that you would get a better deal, and less chance of being ripped-ff.

However, it was very disorganised and at first we were not even allowed to board the boat at the port - I ended up having to chuck my stuff on and jumping onboard as it was leaving! then the boat just spent the next 3 days going to-and-from Halong Bay to Cat Ba ferrying people backwards and forwards, occaisionally stopping at points of interest!

My advice would be get something from Halong Bay that drops you off at Cat Ba afterwards, then you can combine transport and your trip through Halong Bay. I think it is hard to know whether you will get scammed or not, a lot of the time it is just down to a lack of organisation so you just get chucked on the nearest available boat regardless of what you paid for.

To be fair, the guy who sold us the trip on Cat Ba actually refunded us a fair chunk of money - which is fairly remarkable in Vietnam - so maybe we were just unlucky with the trip itself.

Sorry this is a bit late, but for future reference:

You can do this quite easily and cheaply.

With Hanoi being Vietnam's 2nd most populous city and Haiphong the 3rd you can imagine that the transport links between the 2 are both easy to find and cheap. Just rock up to the correct bus station a day or 2 in advance and grab a ticket for a local bus, they are fun! Once in Haiphong it should be easy enough to get a boat over to the island. After my previous experience I would actually avoid the tourist-frenzy of Halong City, which is just horrendous (imo). Halong City is a good place to find tours of Halong Bay but if all you want is to vist Cat Ba then I would personally avoid it.

Now, I don't have any experience of this as I went via Halong City, but this is from the yellow bible that is the lonely planet guide: Once in Haiphong contact Transtour who operate a service called Mekong Express. It costs about $6 and takes about an hour (hydrofoil I think) and comes recommended as both safe and comfortable.

You can get an all-in ticket (bus+boat) from Hanoi but in my experience the agents there are less than honest in their dealings with tourists and who knows what you are going to end up with? Or what kind of hard sells are going to be involved once you are the proverbial fish in a barrel?? (yes, been there, done that)

So anyway. I think you can get a bus from Hanoi to Haiphong for about $2-$3 and then a ferry to Cat Ba for $6. Not bad!

As for your extra 2 weeks, there is a well-trodden tourist route down through Hue (historically very interesting), Danang, Hoi An (which I thought was lovely), Nha Trang (also nice with lots to see) and down to Saigon. Bear in mind that the distances are fairly large from Haiphong. It will take a couple of days to get down to Nha Trang unless you do it non-stop (night buses etc). I would recommend Hue and Hoi An as the places I enjoyed the most.

Alternatively, get ya batty up to Sapa in the mountains in the north. It's a very interesting and picturesque place to spend a few days. Much cooler than the rest of Vietnam (well, the bits I experienced).

As you want to experience Halong bay on boat, you'd better book a tour with a dependable travel company in Hanoi. They can pick you up at the airport and bring you to your hotel or guest house (cheaper). The next day you can share a trip to Catba island on their bus as part of your Halong cruise tour but you can take it anytime later.

You may go to Hanoi City first and stay there 1 night,then the day after you can take a bus from Hanoi to Halong. From Halong city you can easily choose local boats to visit Halong Bay and Catba Island.