Hai Phong Travel Guide: How to Visit and What It Costs

This Hai Phong travel guide is written for someone flying into Hanoi and heading east, because that is how almost every foreign visitor arrives. The city is one of the easiest places in northern Vietnam to travel independently: a fast expressway from the capital, its own airport, a train line, and rooms at every price. The one genuine complication is that the best part of the province is an island, and a stretch of open water sits between you and it. Plan around that and everything else falls into place.

Getting to Hai Phong

• By road from Hanoi: about 100km (60 miles) on the expressway, roughly two hours, plus tolls if you have hired a car and driver
• Bus or limousine minivan: departures throughout the day, an estimated 120,000 to 250,000d one way, roughly US$5 to 10
• Train from Hanoi: two and a half to three hours, slower but it arrives in the middle of the city
• By air: Cat Bi airport is a few kilometers from the center and useful if you are coming up from Da Nang or Ho Chi Minh City
• Straight through to the island: through connections run from Hanoi to Cat Ba if you would rather skip the mainland entirely

Getting around, and getting to the island

The city center is compact and well covered by taxis and ride-hailing apps, so there is no need to drive yourself. Do Son is about 20km (12 miles) south, an easy taxi or motorbike ride. The leg that needs real thought is the crossing to Cat Ba: either the fast boat, leaving your vehicle behind, or the bridge onto Cat Hai island and then the Got to Cai Vieng ferry, or the cable car over the water. On the island itself, a rented motorbike is the most flexible way to move, at an estimated 120,000 to 200,000d a day.

Where to base yourself

• The center around the Opera House and Tam Bac Lake: the widest choice of hotels, and you can walk to the food
• The Lach Tray and Ngo Quyen area: cheaper rooms, right beside the late-night shellfish streets
• Do Son: for people who want to wake up near the sea without crossing to the island
• Cat Ba town: busy and well supplied, walking distance from the harbor and the beaches
• The southern coves and inland villages on Cat Ba: quiet, at the price of a ride to every meal

Split your days by direction, not by sight

Four directions run out from the city center: the downtown core itself, south to Do Son, east to Cat Hai and Cat Ba, and north to Thuy Nguyen for the Bach Dang Giang memorial site. Since the 2025 provincial merger there is a fifth, inland to Con Son and Kiep Bac (formerly Hai Duong province). Give each direction a full half-day or day, and never combine the island crossing with anything else. One day covers the center and Do Son; two adds Bach Dang Giang; three is the shortest trip that includes Cat Ba and Lan Ha Bay properly.

Eating, which is the easy part

Breakfast is banh da cua, a crab noodle soup with wide reddish rice noodles. Lunch is bun ca cay, a hot fried-fish noodle soup, or nem cua be, deep-fried sea crab rolls. Late afternoon means the shellfish tables, and the evening ends with banh mi cay, a two-finger baguette filled with liver pate and fermented chili sauce. Almost every good stall keeps its own narrow hours and shuts when it sells out, so spread the eating across the day instead of saving it all for dinner.

What a trip costs

• Return road transport from Hanoi: an estimated 240,000 to 500,000d, roughly US$10 to 20
• City rooms: guesthouses around 300,000 to 500,000d and mid-range hotels around 600,000 to 1,200,000d a night
• Cat Ba rooms in summer: an estimated 700,000 to 1,500,000d a night, noticeably higher on peak weekends
• A day boat tour of Lan Ha Bay: an estimated 500,000 to 900,000d per person, about US$20 to 36
• Eating well at street stalls: roughly 250,000 to 400,000d per person per day, around US$10 to 16
• Three days and two nights including the island: an estimated 2,000,000 to 3,500,000d per person

Weather and peak season

The swimming season runs from roughly May to September, which is also when Vietnamese families travel and island room rates climb hardest. July to September is the storm window in the Gulf of Tonkin, when boats to Cat Ba can be suspended for days at a stretch, so avoid non-refundable island bookings in those months. September to November is dry, cooler and much quieter, and is the better choice if you are here for the city and its food rather than the beaches.

If you remember one thing from this guide, make it this: every problem on an independent trip here comes from the sea crossing. Check the marine forecast the day before, confirm your ferry or boat time the previous evening rather than on the morning, and always leave half a day of slack on the day you come back to the mainland.

Hai Phong travel guide: the pre-trip checklist

• Sort your Vietnam e-visa well before you fly, and carry a printed copy alongside the digital one
• Book Cat Ba rooms early for summer weekends, choosing free cancellation because of the storm risk
• Check the marine forecast and the boat timetable the day before you cross
• Carry small notes for street stalls, ferry tickets and motorbike hire, since cards are patchy
• Bring your passport for hotel check-in and boat tickets
• Pack sunscreen, a hat, shoes with grip for the climb to Cannon Fort, and a light rain jacket for summer downpours