[chloe69]

Hi,

I'm planning a trip to Hanoi over the Easter break and was thinking of visiting Halong Bay. I would like to spend a night there on a junk boat and do some sightseeing in the nearby caves & islands.

Has anyone on this forum done this before? Can you pls recommend a good cruise service provider? I would ideally like a smaller boat with fewer people on it rather than the relatively bigger cruise ships.

There are just so many sites on the internet offering cruises in Halong Bay, I have no idea which one's any good!

Thanks!

Chlo

[Jakeharp]

Hi...We went to Hanoi in October and spent one night in Halong Bay and highly reccomend it...

The tour group we booked with was Handspan. Their website is:

HANDSPAN - Explore the Hidden Vietnam

We thought they were very good. We booked the Dragon's Pearl one night cruise and were very satisfied...

Halong Bay is very relaxing with great sites...

Have Fun!

[crystal1234]

we used Handspan too. They are a professional company and we enjoyed a private tour with overnight stay. It included the food, chef on board, ensuite bathroom with hot water too. I took a draft cheque in USD to pay them but they did not except which was really inconvenient. I had to rush around at the last minute looking for a bank which was open. Have a look at their website and the weather conditions first though. THey also do bigger tours which are cheaper. It was a breathtaking, exciting & amazing trip.

[jgl]

I went with Huong Hai Junks via Queen Travel. Good quality junks, pretty good food (mostly seafood). the transfer from Hanoi was in a fairly packed little van (pretty normal, from what I saw).

I'd suggest looking into the cruises run by the Kangaroo Cafe. Their transport is a proper bus. The photos scattered about the cafe looked good (and the whole abmiance of the cafe suggested that they don't exaggerate outrageously) and they were significantly cheaper than Huong Hai.