2-Day Hanoi - Ninh Binh - Ha Long Bay With Transfer

I would say positive (with something to review)

In my opinion, a very detailed but balanced review works well here, because the final judgment is positive, while clearly highlighting the parts that were not up to par. I also kept some practical details that can be really useful to those who are evaluating the tour. Overall it was a nice experience, very intense and full of activities, with some truly spectacular moments and others that could definitely be improved. In the end, considering everything, 4 stars are deserved, but there are some things that it is right to know before booking. ### Day 1 – Ninh Binh Our guide, Peter, was very good: friendly, helpful, with clear English and capable of providing detailed information throughout the day. The first visit was Hoa Lu, interesting and definitely worth it. The problem is the impressive number of people: hundreds of tourists and guides at the same time create a lot of confusion and, inevitably, you lose a bit of the magic of the place. The bike ride, on the other hand, was very fun, about 5 km, absolutely manageable even for those who are not particularly fit. You ride through the countryside until you reach a small monastery. It was really very hot, but it was still a nice experience. For those who do not want to pedal, the activity is not mandatory and it is possible to be taken by motorbike by paying about 100,000 dong. The absolute worst part of the day was unfortunately the lunch at Hoa Lu, which we found really terrible. Considering the general level and the cost of the excursion, I believe that on this aspect one can and must do much better. In the afternoon we went to Trang An for the long boat trip. You generally travel in groups of four with a rower and the route lasts about two hours for about ten kilometers. Despite the truly intense heat, the experience is very beautiful and the landscape is absolutely worth it. The last stop is the **Mua Caves**. The climb requires many steps and with heat and humidity it can be demanding, but once you arrive at the top the view completely repays the effort: probably one of the most spectacular moments of the day. The time left by the guide for the visit, in our opinion, was sufficient. ### The first night We then reached the **Luxury Tam Coc Little Charm Villa**. You need to be aware that it is a **truly very modest** accommodation. For one night it may be acceptable, but the room would need not simply a refresh, but a real renovation. In particular, **the bathroom is definitely on the limit of what I consider acceptable**. The optional dinner costs **12 dollars per person, drinks excluded**. The dinner was decent, as was the breakfast the next morning. However, we did not appreciate some behaviors in the management of the property. For dinner, we were insistently asked to pay in cash, without being allowed to use a credit card, later explaining to us that paying cash would actually be more convenient for us. Another episode left us perplexed: when ordering a beer, opening it with the bottle opener that had been provided to us, the neck of the bottle broke. We were offered to pour the beer into a glass anyway, something we obviously refused due to the possible risk of glass fragments. We then took another beer, which, however, we were made to pay for again. A small episode, certainly, but handled in our opinion in an inelegant way. ### Day 2 – Towards Ha Long Bay Meeting at 7:00 to leave for Ha Long Bay; the vehicle arrived around 7:20, which can absolutely happen. After about two hours of travel, we were stopped for a **stop of about 30 minutes at a huge tourist shop**. It was explained to us that a Vietnamese law would prevent drivers from driving for more than two consecutive hours. The explanation left us rather puzzled, especially because during the return trip, also thanks to the traffic, we traveled stretches well over two hours without any problem. The feeling was therefore that of an organized commercial stop, also because many buses headed to Ha Long converged in the same place and the staff was rather insistent in proposing purchases. Arrived at the port, another long wait: over an hour before actually leaving. It is probably the organizational aspect that I liked the least: getting up very early to then accumulate a total of about an hour and 45 minutes between the rest stop and waiting at the port does not make much sense. I would have preferred to leave later and spend less time simply waiting. ### La Casta Cruise – the best part From here, however, the experience changes decidedly for the better. The cruise was organized with La Casta. From the port, a launch took us in about 20 minutes to the ship, where we boarded with a transfer. I liked the ship a lot. In particular, our cabin was truly beautiful, elegant, modern, and functional, with a private balcony. The staff also deserves a mention: always extremely courteous, helpful, and smiling. As soon as we arrived, lunch was served, this time good, and subsequently we went out for a ride on the characteristic bamboo boats for about eight people. A very pleasant experience, even if we only saw the cave while passing by without being able to get off. Ha Long Bay is naturally spectacular, even if you have to be prepared for the enormous quantity of tourists and boats. In some places, this inevitably takes away a bit of that feeling of a remote and privileged place that photographs might make you imagine. Back on the ship, we participated in a cooking class preparing spring rolls, a simple but very fun activity. Following that was happy hour and then an elegant dinner, with very well-prepared and well-presented dishes. After dinner, we also tried squid fishing, another fun experience that pleasantly concluded the day. ### Last day Wake up at 6:00 AM for about half an hour of **Tai Chi on the ship's deck**. Doing it in the morning surrounded by the landscape of Ha Long Bay is definitely evocative and worth the early wake-up call. Following that, an **excellent breakfast** and then a **kayak ride around the ship**, which was also very fun. After settling the extras consumed on board, mainly drinks, we began the return trip to Hanoi, essentially retracing the same route as the outbound journey, including the stop at the large rest area/store. ### So, is it worth it? **In my opinion, yes.** In three days, a great many experiences are packed in: Hoa Lu, bicycle, Trang An, Mua Caves, Ha Long Bay, bamboo boat, cooking class, cruise, squid fishing, Tai Chi, and kayaking. It is inevitable that everything feels a bit rushed at times, but it is probably difficult to organize such a rich program differently. The best parts were definitely **Trang An, Mua Caves, and especially the cruise in Ha Long Bay**, where the ship, cabin, dining, and staff were of an excellent standard. On the other hand, **the first day's lunch and especially the first night's accommodation** definitely need improvement, as they did not seem up to the standard of the rest of the package. The organization of the transfer to Ha Long could also be optimized: leaving so early only to be physically on board the ship around noon, after almost two hours total of stops and waiting, is frankly not very pleasant. With some improvements on these aspects, it could easily become a 5-star experience. **As it is, for us it's 4 stars: a tour that is overall worth doing and that left us with many good memories, but with some rather evident weak points.**

via Tripadvisor (translated)

Poor communication, lousy transport vans.

Arranged for pick up at hotel in Old Quarter, however, we had to walk 2 blocks, with 4 pcs luggage to bus. Bus was full after making one more stop to pick up others. "Happy" was our guide on bus. Were told it would be a 4 hour drive with a rest stop half way. This did not happen! After about 3.5 hours, the bus quickly pulled off to side of road and bus driver and "Happy" jumped off for about a minute and got back on. Well it was obvious what they did. About 20 min later a very obnoxious beeping sound was coming from the front of the bus., You could see heads turning and all were wondering what the noiase was. Finally I called out to "Happy" to ask when were we going to stop for a washroom break and what was the annoying beeping. He told us we were late because of traffic and the beeping was automatic and a warning to driver to take a break as he had been on bus for 6 hours. A little communication goes a long way and "Happy" lacked that. We finally stopped after 4 hours. Continued on finally reaching our Bungalow Hotel 2 hours late. No chance to go to town. Dinner was at 7:30. Room was 3 star at best. In morning we had breakfast then 10 us were loaded into a van. No room for all the luggage. Four bags were in the centre of van between the seats and two were thrown up over behind the rear seats. Rather unsafe. I did take pictures of the cramped van. When we stopped for abreak we had to move the bags so passengers could get out. Finally arrived at dock. The next day were were transported back to Hanoi in a van with broken cup holders and charging ports that did not work. Overall a disappointing trip.

via Tripadvisor

Extremely touristy- avoid if you don’t want to be shepherd around.

Overall this trip was underwhelming, not super well organized, and a tourist trap basically. The feeling we got was that the problem is systemic and not specific to this company. They are doing it on auto pilot but don’t really care about the experience. It is more of a checklist that they are trying to go through, and very little focus on experience and zero culture that one would experience by doing such a tour. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is looking to do something different and want to experience culture. We travel around the world and have been to many touristy places but this must be the most touristy thing with no dash of culture we have ever done. This is coming from a person who is born and raised in India and now lives abroad. First day we went to Bai Dh temple, followed by Trang Ahn river cruise which was beautiful. However, the food for extremely bland and flavorless. Being vegetarian, it was extremely hard to find anything good to eat. Then we were taken to Dragon rock hike where we climbed 500 odd (very high) steps to get up but it was super crowded and we didn’t see the actual structure. However, we were happy to get some exercise. Post that they took us back to the hotel. We were dreading eating the food there so we decided to go to a nearby Indian restaurant called Kadahi, which was super good. We came back and tried taking shower and hot water ran out within first ten seconds for all of us and we ended up taking cold shower. Next morning for breakfast while we had told them that we are vegetarian, they gave us breakfast with meat and when we asked them to not give meat, they just removed sausages from our plate right in front of us. It was pretty crazy to watch. Then we were taken to Halong Bay City where we were dropped off without any instructions on what to expect and where to go. Then by asking several people we found our guide who took us to the waiting area. Then he came and gave us an invoice for return transfer. Our package included return transfer so we contacted the travel company and they got it sorted. But it was annoying to have to deal with it. The cruise boat was fine, however, they put us in the lowermost floor right next to the reception. When I asked why are we in those rooms, they said that’s the option we chose. The fact is that we were not given any choice to pick a certain type of room. We reconciled to it. They took us to caves where you climb up on the mountain to see the beautiful caves. Caves were pretty cool but very crowded. Then they had build up this island where we could go swimming- when we got there, it was just a sea of people and no place to swim (maybe it was low tide). It felt super pathetic. I couldn’t wait to leave that place fast enough. We came back to the cruise and we all got massage which was nice. After the massage there was happy hour and it was relaxing and not crowded since it got dark and we couldn’t see people around us in other cruise ships. They served dinner after that and made an effort on vegetarian food but in general the food tends to be very bland and flavorless. Even pastries and desserts are flavorless. Next morning we woke up early and did Tai-Chi on the roof deck with an instructor which was nice. Then they took us to an area to do Kayaking - it was nice to be on the water but again super crowded. People were bumping their Kayaks into each other. The person who tried helping my husband get out of the Kayak made him fall in the water. There is general apathy towards tourists and hospitality is not a thing which for some reason is expected of an Asian country. On the cruise they were trying to make an effort but it is so commercially driven and they are just ticking the checklist. Halong Bay is so beautiful and I kept thinking how would it feel to come here or another part of it which is not so touristy and commercial. We really wish our experience was different and this tour was more warm and hospitable because it is so beautiful.

via Tripadvisor

10/10! Book it now 👍

This tour was so so good! Starting from the beginning, the transfer to the Ha Long Bay area went as planned. Driver was on time and shuttle was in a good condition. Once we got there, we were asked for any special diets (vegan, vegetarian etc.) and along the two days I got excellent vegetarian options. The ship was in a very good condition, clean and the whole staff was so so friendly and helpful. The activities on board were also nicely planned (kayak tour, swimming, little cooking class, Thai chi unit in the morning) and it was a pleasure participating. It’s not so easy to put those two days in some simple sentences but if you have the chance I’d highly recommend to book this tour, it’s absolutely worth its money!

Response from the operator: Dear Client We love to read such positive feedback about our cruise and we are thankful to your kind words. Thank you for taking time to give us such a personal and informative review. We are delighted to read that you were satisfied with your stay as well as the service in the cruise. Delivering excellent services has always been our core value, it is always gratifying to receive such praise. We would love to share your kind words with all crews on the boat , your complement will make their day. Once again, we thank you for your sharing and recommendation. We wish you all the best in the future. Sincerely yours,

via Tripadvisor

Awesome Tours

Had a wonderful time with Peter for Nin Binh tour and Sunny for HaLong bay tour. Both are very friendly and knowledgeable. Had a great time with these tours

Response from the operator: Dear Client We love to read such positive feedback about our cruise and we are thankful to your kind words. Thank you for taking time to give us such a personal and informative review. We are delighted to read that you were satisfied with your stay as well as the service in the cruise. Delivering excellent services has always been our core value, it is always gratifying to receive such praise. We would love to share your kind words with all crews on the boat , your complement will make their day. Once again, we thank you for your sharing and recommendation. We wish you all the best in the future. Sincerely yours,

via Viator