What‘s Included

Reviews

• Pleasant day with some aspects to improve

  Alice P,

  Jan 25, 2025

  - Viator

  4.00

  Things we appreciated: Overall it was a really lovely experience. The boat was clean and well maintained, the pace good enough that it allowed us to enjoy the view and also do plentiful of activities. I loved the kayaking tour of the caves and the stop at the fishermen’s village, which allowed us to admire local species of fish studied by biologists. The area was much less touristy than Halong bay and the waters very clean, so I also enjoyed swimming there. The lunch was abundant in quantity and good enough in quality although we definitely had better food in Vietnam. Last but not least, our guide Tyler was really good and took good care of us. His English was really impressive and he explained everything in great detail, whilst also having humorous moments that made us smile. Thank you for that! Aspects to improve: First of all the pick up. If you are staying in Hanoi it is really far away. Since we didn’t know that (the tour is called Hanoi/Cat Ba activity) I discovered the night before that we had to wake up at 4:30 in order to get to a meeting point because if your hotel is not in the old quarter they don’t pick you up (nonsense imo since we were staying very close to the old quarter). Moreover we ended up paying basically 50 pounds more because transport costs 13$ per way per person. I wish this aspect was better clarified because it would have definitely influenced the way I organised the trip. Therefore the activity costs 25 pounds only if you are staying in Cat Ba which is a really small island with not much to do. Second: the drinks. Drinks were not included and we knew that. In fact, every drink was ordered and made from scratch. However at lunch time the waiter came in every table holding a tray of ready made juices asking us whether we wanted orange, pineapple etc. we took the drinks thinking they were included in the lunch, but at the end of the activity we had to pay for them. I feel like that aspect was unnecessarily deceiving -I would have been happy to order a drink without the need to hide it from me, it was deliberately misleading. Lastly, the cooking class is not a cooking class: don’t be fooled by the name. Actually we just spent the last 15 minutes of the activity making spring rolls on the boat which were not really great but I appreciated the thought. Overall a great experience that I am happy I did with some aspects to improve.

• Vietnam Boatscape

  Daphne P,

  Dec 31, 2024

  - Viator

  4.00

  The experience was good. But those that took the boat ride to the caves were disappointed as the boatman took them only a short distance and brought them back. Tom, the tour guide was good.

• Perfect customer service

  Aislin W,

  Dec 4, 2024

  - Viator

  5.00

  We had an absolutely incredible time on this tour, the operations and customer service were brilliant and handled with such care - happily fixing our booking mistake on the day and staying in contact with us every step of the way! Plus the tour itself was so much fun! We really chatted with the group and got to see some of the most beautiful scenery in the bay, swimming and kayaking in the morning - the fish farm was unexpectedly educational and fun! Plus the lunch included was absolutely delicious family style Vietnamese food. You can’t go wrong booking this tour or anything else with Beka!

• Misleading Tour with Poor Service—Avoid This!

  Kenan G,

  Nov 26, 2024

  - Viator

  1.00

  This tour was a complete disaster and entirely misleading. The name “Ha Long Bay-Lan Ha Bay” suggests you’ll visit both bays, but not a single minute was spent in Ha Long Bay. This is blatant false advertising—Ha Long Bay wasn’t even on the itinerary! I specifically booked this tour to see Ha Long Bay, so this was incredibly frustrating and unacceptable. The food was horrible—poor quality, left me feeling sick, and far below expectations for the price. The boat facilities were disgusting, with dirty toilets and wet, slippery floors that were never cleaned despite complaints. The transfer process was chaotic, with unnecessary bus changes and delays, making the so-called “hotel pickup” completely pointless. That said, the natural beauty of Lan Ha Bay is undeniable, and the local boat rowers and guides were incredibly kind, helpful, and passionate about sharing their knowledge. Avoid this tour—it’s not what it claims to be!

• Beautiful bay but no kayaking

  Viktoria B,

  Nov 23, 2024

  - Viator

  4.00

  Overall the tour was ok, the guide was super nice and knowledgeable. However we were disappointed because we did not do the kayaking, which was the part that we were looking forward to the most. They said that the activity was stopped because a tourist drowned 2 days ago while kayaking. As this was not a new information they could have communicated this earlier (by sending message to let us know) or update the information in tour description (we booked the tour 1 day ahead of the tour) so we would consider other options. We saw other tours kayaking so it was not halted in all parts of the bay. Also we did not find any information of the drowning on the internet or no one heard of it when we asked in other tour agencies afterwards. The bay was beautiful and information on life in the fishing villages was interesting.