Cat Ba Island Or Halong Bay: Which One Is Better?

Cat Ba Island or Halong Bay? Which one is better for traveling? Located in Vietnam's North region, Cat Ba Island and Halong Bay both have shocking scenes and normal magnificence that offer you numerous superb encounters on your travel journey. We will help you learn about the key features of both places, including their overview features and unique differences. Thanks to that, you'll choose Cat Ba Island or Halong, which destination best suits your travel preferences.

1. Overview Of Cat Ba Island And Halong Bay

First of all, we will briefly learn about these two wonderful tourist destinations to have a more specific view on choosing to travel to Cat Ba Island or Halong Bay.

Cat Ba Island

Cat Ba Island, also known as "Pearl Island," is a well-known goal found south of Halong Bay in Hai Phong City, Vietnam. Around 50 kilometers from Hai Phong City, this island offers a different scene, counting lavish woodlands, flawless shorelines, and tough limestone mountains.

You can explore Cat Ba National Park, culminating with trekking, or climb the island's challenging shake faces. You can also find covered-up shorelines and douse up the sun. With its common magnificence, authentic locales, and island way of life, Cat Ba Island is a must-visit goal for both local people and worldwide travelers.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994, was moreover named one of the New Seven Wonders of the Natural World in 2012. This brilliant place offers a mix of common magnificence, nearby legends, and energizing activities.

With its perfect shorelines, new fish, different natural life, and one-of-a-kind karst arrangements, Halong Bay caters to all sorts of travelers. Investigate covered-up caves, set out on exciting travels, or basically unwind and appreciate the breathtaking view. In specific, located 165 km east of Hanoi, Halong Bay is effortlessly open by arrival, ocean, or air.

2. Differences Between Cat Ba Island And Halong Bay

Next, we will direct you through the fundamental highlights of Cat Ba Island and Halong Bay, counting their geological highlights, brilliant attractions, tourism exercises, number of sightseers, and transportation. At last, you will be prepared to make an educated choice when choosing Halong Bay or Cat Ba Island for travel.

Geographical Features

First of all, we will learn about the geographical features to choose Cat Ba Island or Halong Bay, which one is better for traveling.

Cat Ba Island

Cat Ba Island is found in the Cat Hai locale, Hai Phong City. Cat Ba Island is approximately 60 km seaward from Hai Phong City center, and around 25 km from Halong City. Cat Ba Island offers borders with Halong Bay (Quang Ninh Province) to the North, Cat Hai Island (Cat Hai District, Hai Phong City) to the West, and the East Ocean to the East and the South.

Cat Ba Island has a typical terrain of limestone areas in general with their ability to dissolve during the formation process, creating many caves with great depth and width. In addition, the limestone terrain of Cat Ba Island also forms alternating valleys. 

Besides 367 little islands, Cat Ba is one of the few places in the Red River Delta geological locale that has a differing biological system including tropical rain timberlands, mangrove woodlands, coral reefs, cave environments, and timberlands. protoplasm,...

If Halong Bay is recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage, the Cat Ba archipelago is moreover honored by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve. Indeed this island is considered by numerous individuals to be the pearl island of the Gulf of Tonkin.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay, located in Northeastern Vietnam's Quang Ninh Province, is a shocking normal pond covering 1,553 square kilometers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

This breathtaking scene highlights roughly 1,969 islands, each with a special shape and measure. The islands are essentially made of limestone and schist, dating back 250 to 280 million years.

Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is eminent for its thick concentration of limestone islands, caves, and grottos. This breathtaking zone, covering 434 square kilometers with 775 islands, is a ensured characteristic wonder.

Wonderful Attractions

Secondly, about wonderful attractions, is Cat Ba or Halong Bay better? We will learn the details below.

Cat Ba Island

Below are some of the top famous tourist destinations that attract the most tourists to Cat Ba Island.

• Cat Co Beach: Cat Co Beach has three separate beaches, each with its own unique beauty, especially the clear blue sea water and rows of green casuarinas, creating a poetic and charming scene.
• Monkey Island: Monkey Island is an excellent little island in the center of Lan Ha Bay, popular for its smooth white sand and naughty monkeys that you can engage with, making an interesting scene.
• Light and Dark Caves: Light and Dark Caves are like two contradicting universes, one side is sparkling light, and the other is strange obscurity, making a special disclosure experience.
• Hospital Cave: Hospital Cave is not only a great cave but also a gallant chronicled location, which was changed over into a field clinic amid a long time of resistance against the US.
• Lan Ha Bay: Lan Ha Bay is found following Halong Bay, east of Cat Ba Island. This is one of the most lovely narrows in Vietnam with a wealthy view, flawless limestone mountains, sentimental straits, and coastal angling villages,...
• Cat Ba National Park: Cat Ba National Park is a profitable organic treasure with differing biological systems, from mangrove woodlands, and tropical woodlands, to wealthy marine life, making an excellent and one-of-a-kind normal picture.
• Viet Hai Fishing Village: Viet Hai Fishing Village, a biological pearl, captivates visitors with its peaceful scenes and sees into the covered-up charm of nearby life.

Halong Bay

We will list some famous attractions in Halong Bay to make you easily compare and choose to travel to Halong Bay or Cat Ba. 

• Sung Sot Cave: Sung Sot Cave is a showstopper of nature, with a framework of stalactites and stalagmites of different shapes, making a mysterious, gleaming space like an underground royal residence.
• Thien Cung and Trinh Nu Caves: Thien Cung Cave and Trinh Nu Caves are like a cherished couple in the heart of Ha Long Cove, with sparkling stalactites, making a sentimental, mysterious space.
• Dau Go Cave: Dau Go Cave is not only a wonderful cave but moreover a historical place, where Vietnamese individuals once stowed away weapons to battle Mongol invaders.
• Ti Top Island: Ti Top Island is like a valuable diamond in the heart of Ha Long Bay, with fine white sand, clear blue ocean water and towering limestone cliffs.
• Soi Sim Beach: Soi Sim Beach is a heaven for those who need to discover calm, elude from the clamor of the city, with forsaken shorelines and new air.
• Cua Van Fishing Village: Soaks in convention, Cua Van Fishing Village holds its old-world charm and special social legacy. In 2012, Journeyetc.com indeed recorded it among the world's 16 most lovely old villages.

Tourism Activities

Thirdly, we will learn almost the distinction in tourism exercises between Cat Ba Island and Halong Bay.

Cat Ba or Halong Bay, both places offer shocking normal scenes perfect for water sports, particularly kayaking. You can investigate the inlets by kayak is a well-known movement that permits guests to interface with nature and encounter the excellence of the islands up close.

Halong Bay offers various kayaking goals, including Cua Cua Van Fishing Village and Luon Cave. These areas give dazzling views and a peaceful kayaking involvement. Ho Dong Tien, in particular, offers a quiet elude amid the breathtaking scenery.

Like Halong Bay, Cat Ba Island too has a bounty of spots for sightseers to go kayaking. Visit Viet Hai Fishing Village on Cat Ba Island, you are given a chance for visitors to get included in kayaking action. Undoubtedly, Halong Bay or Cat Ba is an ideal attraction for kayaking activity after all.  

Numbers Of Tourists

Next, the number of tourists is also a notable difference between Cat Ba Island and Halong Bay.

In recent years, it has been observed that Cat Ba Island has received a lot more tourists than it did before, about 3 million in 2023. Although these figures will change according to the source and the year in question, it has been suggested that this island hosts between two and three million tourists in one year. This includes both local and foreign visitors.

Halong Bay is another famous postcard spot in Vietnam and welcomes millions of tourists every year (about 2.6 millions in 2023). Interestingly, these figures will change depending on how accurate the year source is but it has been estimated that Halong Bay attracts between five and six million visitors every year. This includes both local and foreign visitors.

Transportations 

To help you decide on Halong Bay or Cat Ba Island, here are some of the top transportation to both places.

Currently, Quang Thang Cat Ba offers you Cat Ba Island tours by bus and boat, extremely economical, convenient, and suitable for both solo travelers or the whole family. You can refer to Quang Thang Cat Ba's transportation to Cat Ba Island so you can choose the most suitable option for yourself.

3. Cat Ba Island Or Halong Bay: Which One Is Better?

In short, choosing to travel to Cat Ba Island or Halong Bay is completely based on your own preferences.

Halong Bay is suitable for you if you would like to see the astonishing site recognized as one of the natural wonders of the world and unmatched in its raw beauty. In case you wish to see one of the parts of the Cat Ba National Park, which is famous for its beautiful landscapes and many places to go, it would be Cat Ba Island. Also, in Cat Ba Island, there are still many unspoiled and simple features, less industrial tourism development, which is ideal for those who wish to seek simple kinds of tourism.

So will you select to travel to Cat Ba Island or Halong Bay? The reply depends on each person's inclinations. If you adore fervor and need to unveil puzzling caves and different amusement exercises, Ha Long is a culminating choice. Cat Ba will be the perfect destination if you need to discover peace, investigate wild nature, and be involved in the life of neighborhood individuals.

If you want to discover the unique beauty of Cat Ba, let Quang Thang Cat Ba Travel accompany you. With many years of experience, we will bring you the most vital encounters at the pearl island of Cat Ba. Everything will be fully explored from perfect shorelines, and secretive caves to conventional angling towns.