What to expect when visiting Cat Ba island

Experience the life and culture of the local people in the Cai Beo fishing village

Cai Beo fishing village hides in the heart of the sea but always looks relaxed before the waves. More than 500 households living by fishing and aquaculture here, the oldest fishing village in Vietnam.

The village is quite diverse, with ships and boats ready to take guests to discover the inherent peaceful beauty. With a calm and bright bay like a mirror, Cai Beo fishing village also converges the beauty of limestone mountains covering all three remaining sides. The atmosphere here always keeps fresh and pure because the people understand that the sea gives them food, fishing, and nurturing their lives.

If traveling in groups, travelers often rent large boats to discover the life of coastal residents and admire the peaceful beauty of a painting of the river. Following the sound of oars in the water, visitors will listen to exciting and close sharing about the fishing village through the story of the ferryman. You can also stop at the households here to admire seafood species from familiar to fancy. This place is an ideal "hide" place for you to escape daily life's chaos and worries.

Discover Cat Ba cuisine

Favored by nature, Cat Ba Island is a habitat for many marine species, and therefore, it has also become a culinary paradise with seafood dishes.

Grilled horseshoe crab 

Sam with a strong sea flavor is probably the most popular seafood dish in Cat Ba. They are skillfully processed in many ways creating quite diverse flavors. The ingredients for making grilled egg sam are blood pudding, salad, and eggs. No one can resist the delicious taste of this dish no matter how it makes: sweet and sour fried horseshoe crab, fried horseshoe crab with chili pepper, steamed horseshoe crab, fried horseshoe crab with vermicelli.

Geoduck 

Geoduck is a bivalve mollusk that lives in saltwater environments. This rare seafood species have high nutritional value and extraordinary taste. However, this dish is not as popular as clams, oysters, or snails. If anyone has tasted it once, it is hard to forget its unique taste and will want to enjoy it again and again.

Immerse yourself in the natural scenery of Cat Ba island

Cat Ba Island owns many beautiful landscapes and beaches ideal for visiting and checking-in beautiful virtual living that you can not miss. Here are the most popular tourist attractions of Cat Ba.

Monkey island

Monkey Island is a small island located 2km from Cat Ba town. To get here, visitors will take a boat from Beo wharf. The beach is about 1 km long, located on Monkey Island, and called Cat Dua, a beautiful beach in Lan Ha Bay.  

Some pretty monkeys 

Coming to Monkey Island, visitors can not only swim, climb mountains to admire the scenery, learn about the life of monkeys here, but also take super beautiful pictures. Perhaps the most attractive thing for visitors is the experience of feeding monkeys and resting at Resort - Monkey Island with traditional houses (thatch, bamboo, leaves).

Than Cong Fortress

Than Cong Fortress is a famous historical relic on Cat Ba Island; in addition to two cannons, it is also a complex system of observatories and trenches. The works are still almost intact despite the war and time.

From this high point, visitors can admire the spacious four-sided nature. Many people here feel close to heart, where heaven and earth, mountains and sea harmonize. The majestic and poetic scenery, the pristine scenery, and the heroic evidence of the people move the emotions of every visitor.

Visitors enjoy the winding road from the center of Cat Ba town, about 10 minutes by car. One side is mountains and trees; one side is Cat Ba bay, a green Beo wharf.

National Park

National Park was established on March 31, 1986, including marine ecosystems, terrestrial forest ecosystems, and mangrove ecosystems, and locates 30 nautical miles east of Hai Phong city center.

The forest here has a primary type of evergreen tropical rainforest. Still, due to topographical conditions, soil, and water regimes, there are several sub-types of the forest: limestone forest and island mangrove forest. Freshwater flooded the woods on the mountain. Especially this land has up to 60 rare and endemic species listed in the Red Book of Vietnam. 

With its biodiversity, this archipelago was officially recognized by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve during the International Council for Coordination of Human and Biosphere Programs held in Paris on October 29, 2004.

Lan Ha Bay

Lan Ha Bay is located in the eastern area of Cat Ba Island, overlooking the Van estuary and adjacent to Ha Long Bay. Lan Ha Bay is surrounded by over 400 small islands creating an incredibly poetic scene. The rocky mountains here are also quite thick, surrounded by caves with shimmering stalactites.

Lan Ha Bay has 139 small and beautiful golden sand beaches like "blue straits," inviting visitors to explore. Many sandy beaches stretch between two tranquil rocky mountains, which is an ideal beach. Under the clear blue sea water are colorful coral reefs such as Van Boi beach, Van Ha beach, etc. The calm seas such as Monkey Island and Sen island are places where visitors can snorkel and watch coral.

If you are interested and want to explore the beauty of this bay, you can refer to Sealife's cruises such as 2-Day Indulge in Lan Ha Bay on Luxury Cruise và 3-Day Luxury Getaway on Cruise. 

Take part in exciting experiential activities on Cat Ba Island

Kayaking on the bay

Kayaking is one of the most impressive experiences in Cat Ba, taking you through the bobbing waves, your hands at the wheel as if you have mastered the majestic nature.

Climbing 

Not only with the sea, but Cat Ba also has the charming beauty of wild and strange mountains. Visitors always have beautiful experiences coming here every minute only in Cat Ba. Therefore, mountain climbing is one of the favorite subjects of adventure travel lovers in Cat Ba.

The climbing places include Dau Be island after 2 hours by boat from Cat Ba tourist port, cliffs in Ben Beo 2 km from Cat Ba center, and Ba Trai Dao island, 22 km south of the tourist port. If you don't like adventure, you can climb the mountain on Monkey Island.

Squid fishing

Night squid fishing in Cat Ba is an exciting form of entertainment but quite expensive. A short fishing trip costs about 500,000 VND. You can ask the hotel owner to contact you or directly ask the rafters and ferrymen at the pier in the town center.

The beauty of Cat Ba is like the most beautiful pearl in Northern Vietnam. We hope that you will have a great experience when coming here. If you want a package tour, both being served wholeheartedly and still experiencing all of the above activities, please refer to Sealife's cruise tours here.