Ha Long Things to Do

I can't remember what tour operator I went with but my friend and I booked a 3 day/2 night trip to HaLong Bay from Hanoi for about US$40 each. It included a night on the junk, a night on Cat Ba island (or you can have 2 nights on Cat Ba if you don't want to stay on the junk - you can decide once you board the junk), kayaking and swimming in Ha Long, cavern tour, hiking, all meals, and all transportation (to and from Hanoi and everything in between). We booked when we arrived in Hanoi with a local tour operator in the backpacking district. It was a fabulous trip and we saw other tour groups when we arrived at our destinations as well, so I think you pretty much do and see the same tour as other groups...just for a different price.

We shopped around at a few places before we signed up with our tour operator. We did see some places where the price was over US$100 and thought that was too much considering you could get a bowl of pho for 50 cents (this was back in 2003).

Not sure how much tours are now, but I would book when you arrive so you can compare - and negotiate!