Understanding Ha Long Bay (it's not just one place!)

When people refer to "Ha Long Bay", they are usually referring to the region around Ha Long. There are five main areas here: 

• Ha Long (City)

• Ha Long Bay 

• Lan Ha Bay 

• Bai Tu Long Bay 

• Cat Ba Island

Over Tourism and Things to Consider Before You Go

We had originally planned to spend a week in Ha Long Bay area, although ended up cutting our trip short after our third night. As a world famous UNESCO site, everyone told us Ha Long Bay was somewhere we couldn't miss. However, if you've ever sat on a pristine clean beach with no one in site, or if the site of mounds of plastic blocking up waterways make you feel sick to the stomach, it may be worth reconsidering your trip to Ha Long Bay... 

All the caves and sites around Ha Long Bay are overflowing with tourists. At any cave, grotto, or day trip destination, you'd be lucky if there's less than 1000 people with you at the same time - regardless if you go first thing in the morning or later in the afternoon. Plastic waste and rubbish is everywhere. At one place we visited, you're given a two person kayak to paddle through a low hanging cave and into a beautiful open air natural enclosure. We spent a full hour there paddling around and picking up rubbish, yet we hardly made an impact. We saw other people doing the same, which suggests that lots of visitors have the same idea to try and leave a positive impact on this place, yet the amount of rubbish there felt endless and we watched several local tour operators throwing rubbish into the water themselves. Drastic change is needed to save the natural beauty of Ha Long Bay, and until that happens, the devastation of mass tourism and unregulated pollution are impossible to avoid. 

In addition, each night hundreds of boats flock into the bay for overnight and two night trips. The pollution in both the air and water is unbelievable - you can smell the fumes from the boats constantly, and the water is so polluted that visibility is less than a foot. As someone has spent more nights than I can count sleeping in my hammock on a beach, I thought this could be a great and cheap place to do my first overnight cruise on a boat. I am glad that I went here, and I'm glad to have finally done my first (and last) cruise, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend Ha Long Bay if it hasn't been a life-long dream to visit.