Cát Bà National Park: Hiking the Peak, Trung Trang Cave & Hospital Cave| Vietnam

If you are in the mood for nature and light exercise, a day at Cat Ba National Park is great! It’s an easy ride on a motorbike, which you can rent for less than $10/day. I don’t feel confident on a motorbike and Grab doesn’t work on Cat Ba, so I walked down to the taxi stand on the main strip and struck a deal with a cab driver to chauffeur me to the park and caves for the day then bring me back. I don’t remember exactly but believe I paid around $40. If you really want a workout you can walk from Cat Ba Town, but it would take around 3 hours.

Right inside the entrance to the park is a really nice homestay with a restaurant, so if you want a coconut coffee to get you going or need to eat lunch, it’s convenient and the food is good. With a 9 or 9:30 start, I was easily able to have a coffee at the homestay, hike the peak, eat a relaxing lunch, visit both Trung Trang and Hospital Caves, and be back in Cat Ba town by late afternoon.

For a nature reserve there’s not much flora or fauna in the park. Despite its World Heritage Site status, security has been lax enough to allow poaching, to the point where endangered species like the Cat Ba langur are on the brink of extinction. However, if you just want to breathe fresh air and hike in nature, the trail to the highest point on the island is really short, taking just an hour or so, and pretty easy too: it’s 90% steps and 10% scrambling when you get to the top. The views are beautiful and it’s high enough to get that vertiginous feeling!

There’s an alternate difficult hike from the park entrance to Viet Hai village nearer the east coast of the island. This hike requires some trekking skill and serious endurance; it takes 8 to 12 hours. It’s not marked on the park map, but can be arranged in advance with a guide.

Trung Trang cave is actually the name for a system of 150 connected caves, where different stalagmites and stalactites grow, and some ancient human remains have been found. Of course, the section tourists can access is much smaller, but still very interesting looking. The entrance is a quick walk down the road from the park entrance.

Hospital cave was built with Chinese aid during the Vietnam war; it’s a three story concrete building with emergency exits, freshwater access, and air shafts, all built within a preexisting cave system. It was in continuous use for around 12 years, serving both as a hospital and safe house for VC leaders. It’s sparsely decorated with mannequins of soldiers, but that wasn’t the strangest thing I saw here . . . It seems they rent out the third floor for parties and events?!

Again, Hospital Cave is just a minute’s walk down the main road. I wouldn’t want to get married there, but I did really enjoy the day!

Cat Ba: The Classic 1 Day Boat Tour | Vietnam

The classic Full Day Boat Tour from Cat Ba to Monkey Island is one of the best experiences I had in Vietnam! I went twice and would do the exact same tour a third time, that’s how fun it was. No matter which company you use, the tour is exactly the same; Lan Ha and Ha Long bays are national parks/UNESCO sites, so entry and exit times are strictly controlled. For the same reason, the prices are ultra competitive, between $15 and $30 per person (depending on company and season). You can buy them on tripadvisor, klook, or in cash the day before (or even the morning of).

I went with L’s Travels, which I was happy with. A friend did Captain Jack’s twice and highly recommended them. L is more chill and Captain Jack is more of a party boat. If you want to get a feel for the vibes of different companies, check out their reviews on TripAdvisor. All the companies use the same type of boat and serve the same basic lunch (rice, tofu and tomato, morning glory, scrambled eggs).

The first hour or so is spent just cruising the bay. As you leave the port, you sail through a fishing village, and see how fisherman literally live on the water, with floating houses, a floating market, bar/restaurant, etc. Once you get past the village and into more open water, the views are just incredible. They’re still beautiful on a cloudy day, but it’s worth it to wait for a beautiful day!

The next big activity is kayaking. There’s a central kayak station that all the tour companies visit at slightly staggered times. The lagoons are grand and scenic, and didn’t feel crowded even with lots of people on the water. The water is totally calm, zero skill or strength is required. There are caves dripping with stalactites to row through, and areas shallow enough that you could wade in. A couple local fishermen did, to retrieve their shellfish baskets.

Kayaking these lagoons is the only time I saw the elusive, critically endangered Cat Ba langur up close. There are only 70 or 80 of these indigenous, large white headed monkeys left. I was incredibly lucky; some tour guides go a whole season without seeing one. The langur I saw was not at all shy, and seemed interested in watching us!

The third stop of the day is a lovely secluded beach for swimming. As a weak swimmer I was worried, but you don’t have to go very far before the water is so shallow you can stand up. There are also life jackets available.

The last stop of the day is the appropriately named Monkey Island; the minute you get off the boat there are so many monkeys, who love to pose for pictures and beg for snacks. The little island restaurant may serve real food and drinks; all anyone seemed to buy was beer, bottled water, Oreos and potato chips to give the monkeys.

There’s a tough scramble to the top of Monkey Island, where the views are beautiful. If, like me, you don’t know what a scramble is, it’s halfway between a rock climb and a hike. It requires sneakers or hiking sandals, there are sections that are vertical, and you do take the risk of hurting yourself badly should you misstep. This is craggy rock, not stairs or dirt. Most reasonably fit youngish people can get all the way to the top, but it is a bit scary.

There’s plenty of time for both scrambling to the top of Monkey Island and sunbathing or swimming, so don’t worry about choosing.

Finally, the trip back to the harbor has the same magical views, and you get on land and ferried back to the office around 4:00 or 4:30. Local restaurant owners line up outside and hand out coupons for free drinks or discounts at their places, so most people grab a free beer with their new acquaintances from the boat.

I only wish the tour ended after sunset; I’d love to experience a sunset among those karsts. I can’t recommend the classic boat tour highly enough; I think it’s a fantastic deal for a fantastic day.