Viet Hai village is an agricultural hamlet located in a valley amongst Cat Ba’s mountains. It’s picturesque, but literally the only thing to do here is walk or bike the single U-shaped road to the foot of the mountains, and back. It’s only accessible by boat or by hiking through the national park, so it’s very small and peaceful.

It is physically possible to do the whole route (Cat Ba town —> the national park —> Viet Hai Village —> Ban Beo harbor —> Cat Ba town; or the reverse) in a day, but it would be tiring verging on miserable. Either a taxi or a 3 hour walk is required to get from Cat Ba Town to the park entrance; the trek through the park to the village is is 4-6 hours if you don’t climb to the peak, an extra 2-3 hours if you do; it takes perhaps 40 minutes to explore Viet Hai village; the ride or walk to the harbor near the village is a further 5km, so a quick ride but a long walk; you must hire a boat in advance to bring you back to Ban Beo harbor because the ferry only leaves once per day at 1PM and boats there belong to locals who turn in early, no one is expecting tourists to turn up; finally, from Ben Beo harbor to Cat Ba town is another motorbike ride or quite long walk. Walking the whole thing, even if you are an incredibly fit trekker, would be a 12-16 hour hike with no breaks. Even benefitting from taxis or benevolent motorbikers when possible, it’s still a 7-8 hour round trip at best.

It’s far nicer to hike through the national park to Viet Hai, stay in one of the lovely homestays overnight, explore the village the next morning and take the ferry back to Ban Beo harbor at 1PM. You can also do the reverse: hire a taxi from Cat Ba town to Ban Beo harbor, hire a boat at Ban Beo Harbor to get you to the harbor near Viet Hai village, trek the 5km from the harbor to the village, stay there overnight, and trek through the park and make your way back to Cat Ba town the next day. More people do the first option because it’s cheaper, more convenient in terms of arranging transportation, and more time efficient. Also, the village is super relaxing, a much nicer place to rest after a long day!

If I would do it again, I would have rested an extra day at my comfy village homestay. I wouldn’t seek Viet Hai village out as a destination, but as a respite after a very long hike, it’s excellent.