Since 1 April 2026 a licensed boat can run from Ha Long waters into Lan Ha Bay without the old transfer at Tuan Chau, which changes the day you can do from Viet Hai. For years the two bays were run as separate worlds: your Ha Long boat stopped at an invisible line and you changed vessels to carry on. Quang Ninh and Hai Phong signed the cooperation framework on 26 March 2026, four numbered itineraries opened on 1 April, and tickets went on sale on 4 April at Tuan Chau Port and Ha Long International Port. Two of those four routes end at Viet Hai, which is the part that matters if you are staying with us.
At a glance
| What changed | One licensed boat may now cross between Ha Long Bay and Lan Ha Bay |
| In force since | 1 April 2026; tickets from 4 April 2026 |
| Routes | Four, numbered VHL3 to VHL6 |
| Routes ending at Viet Hai | VHL5 and VHL6 |
| Who runs it | Quang Ninh and Hai Phong, under the Ha Long–Yen Tu World Heritage Management Board |
| Lan Ha Bay ticket | 120,000 VND adult / 60,000 VND child |
| Ben Beo to Viet Hai | Boat, about 15 minutes, then about 10 minutes by electric cart |
| Ask us | WhatsApp +84 363 934 325 |
What actually changed on 1 April
The old arrangement was a transfer. A boat licensed in Ha Long could not carry passengers into Lan Ha, and the other way round, so roughly half a million visitors a year changed vessels at Tuan Chau to see both. It cost an hour or more and a lot of standing on a pontoon with luggage. The deputy chairman who announced the change described the point as ending the separation between the two bays rather than adding a new product.
What exists now is four numbered itineraries that a single licensed boat may run end to end. They are not new scenery — the caves and the fishing villages were always there — but they are a new shape of day. A boat can start in Ha Long, work south through the karst, and finish at a pier on Cat Ba, instead of turning round at the line.
If you are weighing up the two bays before you book anything, our comparison in Lan Ha Bay vs Ha Long Bay still holds, and should you skip Ha Long Bay in 2026 is the blunter version of the same question. What the new routes change is that the answer no longer has to be one or the other on the same day.
The four routes, and which ones reach us
| Route | In Ha Long | In Lan Ha | What it means from Viet Hai |
|---|---|---|---|
| VHL3 | Van Cua, Tien Ong Cave, Ba Ham Lake | Tra Bau, Sang and Toi caves, Ba Trai Dao, Cai Beo fishing village | Ends in the bay, not at the village — good as a day out, not as an arrival |
| VHL4 | Co Cave, Thay Cave, Vong Viem | Sang and Toi caves, Ong Cam, Gia Luan pier | Lands at Gia Luan on the north of Cat Ba; road from there |
| VHL5 | Thien Cung and Dau Go caves | Gia Luan, Tra Bau, Sang Cave, Viet Hai entrance | Reaches our side of the island — the useful one if you are coming to stay |
| VHL6 | Chan Voi islet, Tung Lam island | Service points and Viet Hai pier | Ends at the village pier itself |
VHL5 and VHL6 are the two worth knowing by name. Both finish on the Viet Hai side, which means a boat that began the morning under the Thien Cung caves can put you down a short cart ride from our door. From the village pier it is about 10 minutes by electric cart, 50,000 VND per person each way.
The other two are day-trip routes rather than arrival routes. VHL3 keeps you on the water and ends among the fish farms — our floating fish farm guide and the note on Cai Beo village and Monkey Island cover what you are looking at. VHL4 lands at Gia Luan, which is the north of the island and a drive from both the town and the village.
Tickets, fees, and what nobody has published yet
Here is where we will be honest rather than confident. The framework and the four routes are official and dated. What has not been published in any source we can check is a single combined ticket price, a fixed duration per route, or a ruling on whether a visitor pays one heritage fee or two. Tickets went on sale at Tuan Chau Port and Ha Long International Port from 4 April 2026, and the two provinces manage the routes jointly through the heritage board — but joint management is not the same thing as one ticket, and we are not going to tell you it is.
What we can say plainly: the Lan Ha Bay entrance ticket is 120,000 VND for adults and 60,000 VND for children, and that part has not changed. Boat and transfer rates move with the season and the size of the group, so message us with your dates and we will tell you what a crossing actually costs for your party rather than quoting a number that will be wrong by next month.
If you are costing out the whole trip, the Cat Ba budget guide has the rest of the numbers, and money and ATMs on Cat Ba covers where to get cash for the piers.
Is a two-bay day better than a Lan Ha day?
Not automatically. A combined route covers more water, and more water means more hours sitting on a boat and fewer stops you actually get off at. If what you want is the quiet end of Lan Ha — the kayaking, a swim off the boat, a long lunch — a full day on Lan Ha will give you more of it than a route that has to be somewhere else by three o’clock.
The combined routes earn their place in two cases. The first is arrival: if you are coming from Hanoi via Ha Long anyway, VHL5 or VHL6 turns a transfer day into a sightseeing day. The second is the one-shot visitor who will not come back and wants to have seen both heritage areas. For everything in between, our note on a Lan Ha cruise or a day tour and the overnight cruise guide set out the trade-off, and the cable car and new bay route page tracks the other access changes on the island.
Season still beats routing. A clear day on one bay is worth more than a grey day on two — the best time to visit Cat Ba is specific about which months those are, and kayaking for beginners explains why the water matters more than the itinerary.
How we work with the new routes
We are a family of 15 rooms in Viet Hai, one of the 87 households in a village with no road in, so every guest of ours arrives by water and we have watched this change from the pier. Tell us your dates and where you are coming from and we will say whether a two-bay route is worth it for you or whether the straightforward crossing from Ben Beo is the better day — about 15 minutes across the bay, then about 10 minutes by electric cart. Breakfast is included, bicycles are 30,000 VND a day, and the Lan Ha Bay ticket is 120,000 VND for adults and 60,000 VND for children. Boat rates move with the season and the size of the group, so message us rather than working from a table.
Questions we get
Can one boat visit Ha Long Bay and Lan Ha Bay in a day?
Yes, since 1 April 2026. A licensed boat may now run the full way across instead of handing passengers over at Tuan Chau. Four numbered itineraries, VHL3 to VHL6, were opened for this, and tickets went on sale on 4 April 2026 at Tuan Chau Port and Ha Long International Port.
Which routes are allowed under the new rules?
VHL3 runs Van Cua, Tien Ong Cave and Ba Ham Lake into Tra Bau, the Sang and Toi caves, Ba Trai Dao and Cai Beo. VHL4 runs Co Cave, Thay Cave and Vong Viem into Sang Cave, Toi Cave, Ong Cam and Gia Luan pier. VHL5 runs Thien Cung and Dau Go into Gia Luan, Tra Bau, Sang Cave and the Viet Hai entrance. VHL6 runs Chan Voi islet and Tung Lam island to Viet Hai pier.
Does the combined trip cost two entrance fees?
We do not know yet, and we would rather say so. The two provinces run the routes jointly through the Ha Long–Yen Tu World Heritage Management Board, but no combined ticket price has been published that we can point to. The Lan Ha Bay entrance ticket itself is unchanged at 120,000 VND for adults and 60,000 VND for children. Ask us close to your dates and we will tell you what is actually being charged that week.
Which route should I take if I am staying in Viet Hai?
VHL5 or VHL6. Both end on our side of the island — VHL6 at the village pier itself, VHL5 at the Viet Hai entrance — so the route doubles as your arrival. The other two end in the bay or at Gia Luan on the north coast, which means a road transfer afterwards.
Send us your dates and your route into the north and we will tell you whether the two-bay day is worth it for your trip.
Read next
- The Cat Ba cable car and the new bay route — the other access changes on the island
- Lan Ha Bay vs Ha Long Bay — which bay suits which traveller
- Lan Ha Bay overnight cruise guide — if you would rather sleep on the water
- How to get to Viet Hai village — the crossing, step by step
