Ha Long

The town beach at Bai Chay is a long strip of imported sand on the bay. The water warms to around 29°C in summer, but it is shallow, often cloudy and busy with Vietnamese families at weekends. Better swimming comes on the water itself. Cruises stop at small island beaches such as Ti Top, and many let guests swim off the boat in quieter corners of the bay.

The cleanest sand is on Quan Lan and the other Bai Tu Long islands, but those are an overnight trip rather than an afternoon. From December to March the air and sea are too cool for most swimmers. Beach time here fits around the bay, it is not the reason to come.

Seafood is the point. The local speciality is cha muc, pounded squid cakes fried until springy, sold everywhere and well worth eating. At the seafood halls around Ha Long market in Hon Gai and along the Bai Chay waterfront, you pick crabs, clams, mantis shrimp and sea snails from tanks and have them steamed or grilled on the spot. The usual northern staples are cheap and good in the backstreets: pho, bun cha and banh cuon for breakfast.

Beyond that the scene is thin. The cruise boats serve set menus, many tourist restaurants in Bai Chay are big and impersonal, and there is little café culture, wine or fine dining.

Ha Long is a young, mostly modern city, and its famous sight, the bay, is a landscape rather than a monument. The best cultural stop in town is the Quang Ninh Museum in Hon Gai, a striking black glass building with good sections on mining, the sea and the province's history. Long Tien pagoda and the climb up Bai Tho mountain add a little more.

Out on the bay, the old floating fishing villages such as Cua Van give a sense of how people lived on the water. Visitors with a day to fill in town will run out of sights quickly.

Evenings centre on Bai Chay. Locals go to beer halls, karaoke rooms and seafood restaurants, and there are a few bars aimed at foreign visitors near the waterfront and the night market. It is cheerful but small, and most places are winding down well before midnight.

Many visitors spend the night on a cruise boat, where going out means a drink on the sundeck, squid fishing off the stern and an early night.

Ha Long Bay is one of the great seascapes on earth: close to two thousand limestone towers and islets rising sheer from green water, most of them uninhabited and cloaked in forest. Day and overnight boats thread between them to caves such as Sung Sot and Thien Cung. Kayaks and bamboo rowing boats slip under arches into enclosed lagoons, and Ti Top island has a short climb to a famous viewpoint.

The quieter Bai Tu Long and Lan Ha bays have the same scenery with fewer boats, and Cat Ba island adds national park trails and rock climbing. Summer is hot and stormy, while winter brings mist that softens the karsts and spring is often the clearest season. On land around the city, the outdoors amounts to coastal viewpoints and a short hill climb.

The strongest outing is Yen Tu, about an hour inland, the holy mountain where the Truc Lam school of Zen was founded. Pagodas and stupas climb through old forest to the summit, reached on foot or by cable car. Hai Phong, about an hour away, is a real port city with French colonial streets and its own food. The Bach Dang battlefield, where Vietnamese commanders twice wrecked invading fleets with hidden stakes in the river, is close by.

Cat Ba town and the Bai Tu Long islands can be reached by boat. Hanoi is about two and a half hours by expressway, so it is better as a separate stop.

Children usually love the bay itself. The boats, the caves full of strange rock shapes, kayaking and the chance to swim off a deck make a cruise a real adventure. Back in Bai Chay, the big Sun World complex has a cable car over the water, a giant Ferris wheel, rides and a water park, and the town beach is shallow and calm.

The harder parts are summer heat, heavy motorbike traffic and few pavements. On cheaper boats, check the railings and lifejackets with small children. Overnight cruises suit older children better than toddlers.

The city is strung along the bay in two halves: Bai Chay, where most hotels are, and Hon Gai across the long Bai Chay bridge. The waterfront in Bai Chay is easy to walk, but distances beyond it are long and pavements patchy. Local buses exist but are of little use to visitors. Most people take metered taxis or ride-hailing cars, which are cheap.

Cruises leave from Tuan Chau and the other harbours, usually with transfers included. Getting here from Hanoi means a shuttle bus or car on the expressway.

Shopping is modest. Bai Chay's night market sells souvenirs, clothing and trinkets, and showrooms near the bay specialise in cultured pearls. Ha Long market in Hon Gai is worth a wander for its dried seafood, fish sauce and local produce, and a bag of dried squid is the most authentic thing to take home. There is little in the way of crafts, design or fashion, and no street or district where browsing becomes a reason to stay longer.

On land, Ha Long is very cheap. Comfortable hotels in Bai Chay, street food, seafood at the market and taxis all cost a fraction of Western prices. The bay is where the money goes: an overnight cruise is the biggest cost of most visits, and boats range widely from basic to genuinely luxurious. Waterfront seafood restaurants charge tourist prices, so agree on the weight and price of what you choose before it is cooked.

There is little to attend. Performances mostly take the form of staged shows in the big entertainment complex at Bai Chay, folk singing on some cruise boats, and occasional events in the city's public squares. There is no theatre, concert hall or live-music venue with a programme of its own, so evenings are better spent on the water or over a seafood dinner.

The calmest part of a stay is out on the water: a slow day among the karsts, tai chi on the sundeck at dawn, and a quiet night anchored in a sheltered cove. Many of the better boats have small spas. In town, Vietnamese massage and foot reflexology are cheap and easy to find in Bai Chay, and the large resort hotels have full spas.

The real bathing option lies about forty minutes east at Quang Hanh, where mineral hot springs feed a large Japanese-style onsen resort. On land the town is loud with motorbike traffic, and the Bai Chay resort strip fills up with tour groups and weekend crowds, so the restorative part of a stay mostly happens out on the bay.