Lan Ha Bay is often called Ha Long Bay’s quieter, greener sister — more than 400 limestone islands and islets, far fewer crowds, and water clean enough to swim in almost anywhere you stop. Based at Lan Homestay in Viet Hai Village, we’re lucky to have most of the bay’s best spots within a short boat ride. Here is our local guide to the six places most worth visiting.
1. Cai Beo Fishing Village
Cai Beo is widely considered the oldest fishing village in Vietnam, with archaeological evidence of human settlement dating back roughly 4,000 to 7,000 years. French archaeologist Madeleine Colani first identified the site during a research expedition in 1938, and later excavations — particularly a major dig in 2006–2007 — uncovered more than 1,400 pottery items and 137 stone tools. Today it’s still a living village of around 400 households, located just 1.5 km southeast of Cat Ba Town.
2. Monkey Island (Dao Khi)
True to its name, Monkey Island is home to a resident troop of wild macaques that roam freely along its sandy beach. Beyond the monkeys, the island has a genuinely beautiful beach for swimming, and a short trail leads up to a viewpoint with panoramic views across the bay’s limestone islands.
3. Ba Trai Dao Beach (Three Peaches Beach)
Named for its three peach-shaped coves, Ba Trai Dao is one of the most photogenic and least-crowded beaches in the bay — remote, quiet, and framed by dramatic limestone cliffs on both sides. Because access is boat-only, it never gets the crowds you’ll find on mainland beaches.
4. Dark & Bright Caves (Hang Toi – Hang Sang)
This pair of connected caves and lagoons is the single most popular kayaking spot in Lan Ha Bay. Paddling from the sunlit “Bright Cave” into the shadowed “Dark Cave” opens onto a hidden, enclosed lagoon ringed by vertical limestone walls — one of the bay’s official conservation areas. Keep an eye on the cliffs above the water: this is one of the best chances anywhere to spot the critically endangered, golden-headed Cat Ba langur in the wild.
5. Viet Hai Village
Our own home. Viet Hai is one of the only car-free villages left in northern Vietnam, tucked inside Cat Ba National Park and reachable only by boat or jungle trail. Read our full guide to Viet Hai Village and how to get here.
6. The National Fish Gene Conservation Farm at Viet Hai
This is one of Lan Ha Bay’s most overlooked attractions — and one we’re proud to have on our doorstep. In the early 2000s, Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture established national centers to research, conserve, and breed valuable native marine fish species. The cage-farming site for the Northern Center for Marine Fish Breeding and Research was moved to the Viet Hai estuary in Lan Ha Bay in 2003, specifically because the water conditions here were ideal for the species being conserved.
Today the site holds more than 100 cages containing 15 species of marine fish and 12 species of mollusks, including grouper, yellowtail, and cobia broodstock collected from all along Vietnam’s coast. Researchers here recently achieved Vietnam’s first successful captive breeding of yellowtail (cá cam), a milestone that even larger aquaculture nations like China and Japan had not yet achieved.
See all of this on one trip. Our full-day Lan Ha Bay boat tours combine several of these stops with kayaking, swimming, and lunch on board — bookable directly through Lan Homestay via WhatsApp.
Staying with us? Browse our guest rooms or read our full travel guide to Lan Homestay.
Sources: Vinpearl Wonderpedia, VinWonders, Hanoi Ecotour, BestPrice Travel, and Doanh Nghiep & Kinh Te Xanh magazine (Feb 2026).
