Cruise in Halong Bay
The Bay of Descending Dragons
Ancient Vietnamese junks, with their bright sails cast open like a geisha’s fan, snake their way between the sheer and tree-covered limestone cliffs that rise straight up out of a calm jade sea like giant teeth; welcome to Halong Bay.
Take a Halong Bay cruise with Tucan Travel and experience one of the top tourist attractions in the region. In 1994 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. Halong itself lies in the Gulf of Tonkin, some 165 kilometres from the capital Hanoi. In November 2011, Halong Bay was announced as one of the provisional ‘New Seven Wonders of the Natural World’. With our thrilling Halong Bay cruises, it's not hard to see why!
The bay gets its name from ancient folklore which christened the area the ‘Bay of Descending Dragons’ as local mythology says the dragons descended from heaven to aid the locals by spitting jewels into the sea to create the steep limestone formations, thus forming a natural fortress to protect against invaders. The very outcrops that offered the locals a natural line of defence to keep intruders out are now the spectacle that draws people to take a cruise in Halong Bay today.
Covering a vast area of some 1,600 square kilometres, the bay features thousands of these limestone karsts of varying shapes and sizes. When you take a Halong Bay cruise with Tucan Travel, you will be able to explore some of the larger islands which feature their own lakes that create a Russian-doll like series of smaller stunning landscapes. Because of their sheer cliff faces the majority of islands are uninhabited and retain their rugged exterior that has been forged over thousands of years of geological activity. The resplendent waters of the bay themselves are always alluring to those on Halong Bay cruises, as they host a magnificent diversity of ecosystems including freshwater swamp forests, offshore coral reefs, mangrove forests, small, freshwater lakes and sandy beaches.
The greater region enjoys a tropical climate and has two seasons: the hot and wet summer that runs from May to October, and the drier and cooler winter months from November to April, with average temperatures ranging from 15 degrees Celsius to an agreeable 25 degrees.
Tucan Travel offers eight adventure tours that run all year round that include a stunning Cruise in Halong Bay. Visitors will be able to really penetrate this spectacular work of nature in the relaxed and timeless fashion on the decks of a traditional Vietnamese junk.
