With a rich history influenced by centuries of international trade, Vietnam’s northern seaboard is the picture of serenity, laced with ancient temples and pagodas overlooking popular beaches. From the powder-fine beach of Móng Cái, littered with hundreds of curly, conical seashells, to the isolated white-sand wonders spread across Bái T Long Bay, to the fractured golden shores of Cát Bà Island crowded with Vietnamese vacationers, the Northern Coast has bloomed into a popular destination for domestic and foreign travelers alike. Most beloved in tourist circles is the coast’s world-renowned Hå Long Bay, populated by fishing villages of floating blue-gray houses inhabited by families, dogs, and the occasional pool table. Visitors to this area are charmed by the poetic grandeur of limestone treasures that protrude from the bay’s frothing, foam-capped waters washing picturesquely against the shore.
A quiet city of wide, shady avenues, big plazas, and crumbling colonial buildings, H=i Phòng, Vietnam’s third-largest city, offers little other than a stopover point for travelers en route to Cát ...more
Home of Cát Bà Island National Park , this island is a tourist trap with charm. Backpackers, families, and Vietnamese vacationers alike have descended in increasing numbers on its 350 sq. km of natural ...more
Established in 1986, the park encompasses an area of 152 sq. km—over 50% of Cát Bà Island. Its terrain is composed of limestone mountains which average 150m in height, with its highest peak, Cao ...more
The gross and unbridled commercialism of this grimy city acts as a serious turn-off to travelers looking for the quiet beauty of Hå Long Bay. Though 15-story neon hotels and an entire artificial beach ...more
With its 1969 limestone islands and 23 grottoes, this natural marvel has twice been proclaimed a national heritage site and remains under the watchful eye of UNESCO. In 1994, the international committee ...more
Passing from Hå Long Bay to neighboring Bái T Long Bay takes visitors out of UNESCO-protected World Heritage territory, but not away from the region’s overwhelming majesty. As in Hå Long Bay, the ...more
Though it is the most developed city in the Bái T Long archipelago, Cái R·ng has none of the tourist spectacle of Hå Long’s Cát Bà town or the grime of Hå Long City. Removed even from the ambitions ...more
Near the eastern side of Bái T Long’s network of inhabited islands, the beautiful island of Quán Lån still remains largely unexplored. With no more than 7000 inhabitants spread throughout a few ...more
Móng Cái’s bustling atmosphere seems to revolve around its border crossing into China, with hotel signs protruding from every corner and motorbike drivers crowding the streets, ready to sweep Chinese ...more
Stretching for 17km along the Vietnamese coast, Trá C% is a tiny, laid-back fishing village that doubles as a hot spot for Chinese and Vietnamese vacationers. Sometimes called Northern Vietnam’s best ...more
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For 52 years, we have published the world’s favorite budget travel guides, written entirely by students and updated every year. With pen and notebook in hand and a few changes of underwear stuffed in our backpacks, we spend months roaming the globe in search of travel bargains.
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