Quan Lan Island

Quan Lan is a large island, located in the Van Don island district, in Bai Tu Long Bay, 45 km to northeast of Halong. Quan Lan Island is a large island with an area of 11 square kilometers..

Since the 11th century, Quan Lan had been a centre along the commercial route. In the 12th century, Quan Lan was the first trading port of Vietnam built under the Ly dynasty.

In 1149, King Ly Anh Tong took this place to set up Van Don town and Van Don trading port in order to speed up commercial relationships between Vietnam and Southeast Asian countries. Relics of former trading port have been discovered with traces of ancient architecture and grazed terracotta of metres thick to prove that this place used to be a crowded urban.

 

In 1288, the beach was also the site of the well-known defeat of invading Mongol troops, who were destroyed by General Tran Khanh Du's army. Tourists in Quan Lan can visit a temple dedicated to the General, where they can learn about the history of the region and the achievements of the commander. The temple's roof is hidden under pine canopies. Approximately 100 steps lead to the temple's entrance that is halfway up a mountain.

 

Quan Lan has a series of beautiful beaches. Viet My Beach has high, fine white sand & Minh Chau Beach has a beautiful curved sandy shoreline. The clean and clear deep blue waters reflect the white sand and the blue sky. Along the coast is the hundred-year-old Tram Forest.

 

Cycle on the slopes of the hills, to the beach, across the white sand dunes with many wild flowers, and back to talk with local people. Then you will really feel the “soul” of the island.

The island is also the residence of many aquatic species such as squid, butterfish, mackerel, sea cucumbers, shrimp, etc.

Among the network of inhabited islands, the beautiful isle of Quan Lan still remains largely unexplored. The undeveloped island and its gorgeous white sand beaches have been tagged by major investments that are aiming to expand its shaky tourist infrastructure.

 

The sand on Quan Lan Beach is stranger than the sand on other beaches. It's white, tiny, pure and smooth. The transparent water allows you to gaze at the bottom of the sea where you can watch fish swim around colourful coral.

Visitors can stay in bungalows on the beach or with locals in a quiet village. In the future, tourists are bound to discover the gorgeous shores of this island paradise, and its unsullied beaches are likely not to stay isolated for too much longer. 

For tourists resting on the beach in evening, the illuminations from the lighthouse look like a twinkling star.

The dearth of post-midnight electricity makes night life a wee bit difficult to sustain in this town. During the evening hours, locals and a few tourists stroll along the village's main street, where sugarcane juice vendors and a few cafes stay open. The only sounds that dare to disturb the island are the melodic vibrations of karaoke bursting from living rooms and local cafes.

 

Sa sung (kind of sea worm) is a speciality of the region. It's used in cooking soup, which helps provide a wonderful taste and adds nutritional sustenance to dishes. Fishing for sa sung with the locals is a popular activity for tourists.

"While men in the village go fishing in the sea, we catch sa sung and sell them to tourists and businesses on the main land as our secondary job," says a local woman.

There are no five-star hotels at Quan Lan Beach, but tourists are able to enjoy a pristine atmosphere that has yet to be overdeveloped

Minh Chau Beach

Minh Chau Beach is a private beach located on Quan Lan Island, Quang Ninh Province, which is only 15 kilometers away from Quan Lan Beach. For those who want a long journey, a trip to Minh Chau Beach would be a wise choice.

The unique feature is the pristine white non-sticky sand that gives a comfortable sensation walking on. The beauty of the beach resembles the famous Snow White.

On Minh Chau Beach, tourists would love to enjoy a variety of beach activities, camping, exploring the island, looking for rare sea animals of the island, or releasing your body and mind into a quiet and relaxing ambiance on the beach under the moonlight.

Tourists who are interested in visiting Minh Chau Beach can depart from Cam Pha District (Halong) and get a ferry for 9 kilometers to Cai Rong Town. Then, canoes would be the last transportation to Quan Lan Island, where Minh Chau Beach is located, for around three hours. I that three hours, tourists can also visit fishing villages and tropical green islands to enjoy the stunning landscape of the bay.

Besides the opportunity to enjoy the magnificent landscape and beach activities, tourists will be pleased with a lavish menu of delicacies from Halong Bay from high-end hotels and restaurants on the island.

Van Don island

Van Don is an island district which is50km from Ha Long (Quang Ninh province). Located in the country's northeastern sea, Van Don (Vandon) island has been gradually turned into one of the four key economic-tourism areas in the northern border province of Quang Ninh . Its population of 23,000 people belong to the Kinh, San Diu, Dao, Tay, Hoa, Muong and who are living in 20 large and small islands, including the Cai Bau, Quan Lan, Ngoc Vung, Ban Sen...

About 60 km from Bai Chay resort in HaLong city, Van Don island has 600 islets, covering an area of 584 square metre. These islets form firm screens and small bays, facilitating vessels.

Cai Rong (Cairong) Town , the major town of Van Don Island , was one of the first prosperous commercial ports under the Ly and Tran dynasties. In the recent years, Van Don has experienced great changes in its economy. The wharf is lively crowded with ships and fishing boats. Every year, ships catch hundreds of tons of fish, which assures the inhabitant significant revenues and a comfortable life. 

Visitors to Van Don island can see lovely white-sand beaches with clear blue water, the Van mountain at the height of 445 metres on Ban Sen islet and the Bai Tu Long national park on Ba Mun island. The national park boasts a primeval forest with precious trees like erythrophleum fordii, burrettiodendrom hsienmu, madhuca pasquieri, vatica tonkinensis and podocarpus fleuryi, and wild animals such as wild boars, monkeys, nemorrhides, gibbons, varans, eagles, squirrels and deers.

Unspoiled natural beauty and cultural, historical values are favourable conditions for tourism development in Van Don. Over recent years, changes have been seen with the increasing flow of tourists to Ha Long bay. Together with strength in aquaculture and fishery industries, the tourism industry will help Van Don's economy take off. In the near future, Ngoc Vung, Minh Chau, Quan Lan, Bai Tu Long park and Cai Rong town will form a maritime tourism complex with various kinds of activities such as trekking, relaxing and caves to explore. Tourists are attracted by the green water and white sand, especially at Dai beach in Cai Bau, Ngoc Vung beach, Son Hao, Quan Lan, Minh Chau beach. Tourists can stay in fishing villages and join with local residents activities.

When the bridge linking Cua ong to Cai Bau island as well as the project to build an airport and upgrade infrastructure facilities become operational, Van Don is expected to be a new destination for island tourism.

Bai Tu Long Bay

Bai Tu Long is a beautiful Bay lying within the area of the gulf of Tonkin, on the northeast of Vietnam. The bay comprises a part of Halong’s sea, Cam Pha town and Van Don Island District. It shares the border with Halong Bay on the southwest, with the sea on the east, with Cam Pha town on the west and with Co To island district on the northeast. Bai Tu Long Bay includes hundred of islands and islets, several among which are residence for local people.

Along with Halong Bay, Bai Tu Long Bay is one among the wonderful natural wonders, with beautiful islands and long-white-sandy beaches. Bai Tu Long is well-known for foreign tourists not only for its natural beauty, but also for a special tourist attraction – Bai Tu Long eco-tourist site. Bai Tu Long eco-tourist site lies within the area of Van Don Island district. It covers a total area of 100 ha with over 10km coastline. The construction style is the combination of the Asian and Western architecture style with coastal self-contained stilt houses harmoniously lying among the natural scenery.

Bai Tu Long National Park is another must-see destination, which represents Vietnam’s sea preservation site, which has attracted a larger number of both domestic and foreign tourists.

Bai Tu Long Bay’s eco-system is a highly diverse one with typical ecosystems such as mangrove forest, coral reef, tropical forest ecosystems. It is estimated that there are 391 species of marine creatures, most of which bring about high economic and scientific value.

Bai Tu Long Bay has great potential for developing tourism. Recently, the Bay has received much concern from visitors. With fascinating beauty and originated landscape, Bai Tu Long Bay promises to be a popular tourist attraction in coming time.

Co To Island

Located in Co To Island District, Quang Ninh Province,Vietnam. Co To Island, described as a green pearl with smooth white sand and wild beaches, clear blue water and primeval forest, has become a popular tourist destination in recent years. In general, Co To Island District is comprised of 40 islands varying in size. Three ofthe largest islands are Co To Island, Thanh Lan Island and Tran Island.

From Hanoi, tourists can take a bus to Cai Rong Town, Van Don District. From there, Co To Island is just a two-hour high-speed boat trip away. The boat travels across Bai Tu Long Bay with its mountainous scenery, like hundreds of baby dragons sleeping on a giant green carpet.

A statue of Uncle Ho and the Memorial House are the two most noteworthy sites on the island. Co To lighthouse, known as the ‘roof of the pearl island’, is also an attractive place for visitors. After climbing up 72 stairs, visitors can take in a panoramic view of the island from the top of the lighthouse.

Beaches on Co To Island, including Hong Van, Van Chai, Bac Van and Vung Ong Vien, are very clean and beautiful with white sands and blue water. Hong Van, with its small waves and peaceful aura, is considered the most beautiful beach on Co To. Visitors should not miss out on the chance to admire the sunrise over the beaches of Co To Island.

Additionally, tourists should visit Thanh Lan Island under Co To island district to admire its primitive forest and beautiful beaches, take tours of the jellyfish processing facility or fish with the local fishermen.

During the first six months of 2013, Co To Island welcomed nearly 30,000 tourists. Its tourism sector brought in VND20 billion (US$940,000) in that time. The pearl island is expected to welcome 60,000 tourists in total this year.

Halong Bay - one of the most beautiful destinations of Vietnam

I’ve been haunted by Halong Bay for years. This beautiful spot on the north coast of Vietnam screams ‘dream holiday’ from every photo, with its famous blue skies, clear seas and towering limestone columns.

We ignored the hundreds of touts offering organized tours and arranged an independent trip from Hanoi. Our reward was a personalized, cheap and flexible weekend, minus the crowds.

Transport was easy to arrange. We bought a local bus-boat-bus combination ticket from Hanoi’s Luong Yen Bus Terminal to Cat Ba Island. To return, we organized a speedboat and bus trip which took us directly to Ninh Binh. Our bumpy bus rides passed beautiful rural scenes and we felt like pirate explorers when our boat approached Cat Ba Island - the first views of around 1,600 islands and islets are dreamlike.

Budget accommodation was readily available on the sea front and our evenings were spent exploring the many restaurants which sell delicious sea food and Vietnamese dishes at low prices.

On our first day we hired scooters and traversed the length of Cat Ba Island. We stopped off at the national park and went hiking for hours, listening to the call of monkeys and tropical birds. At sunset we went to the public beach - a glistening expanse of white sand and turquoise waters.

The second day was water based, with a boat tour round the islands by a local fisherman. We stopped off at a floating village to marvel at life-lived-on-water and share some rice wine with fishermen.

Did I mention the weather? Sadly, it being January, there were no blue skies and not a drop of sunshine. Testament to the wonder of the place, the poor weather did not detract from our experience. Whatever the conditions, Halong Bay - Quang Ninh is one of the most beautiful places on earth to visit and a attractive destination of Vietnam's tourism.

Experiencing a wonderful summer holiday in Sam Son

Sam Son is a resort town in Thanh Hoa province in northern Vietnam.

In order to go from Hanoi to Thanh Hoa, you can choose to go by coach or train. The coaches start from My Dinh, Giap Bat bus station. The price of ticket is 60,000-100,000 dong. You go by coach to Thanh Hoa city and then catch a bus to Sam Son. It just takes you about 10-15 minutes. If you go by train, the ticket is 70,000-120,000 dong. You will feel safe when swimming in Sam Son beach because there are always a rescue team of nearly 50 people here. Since early summer in 2013, the rescue team rescued successfully more than 200 drowned tourists. Besides, Sam Son also has Truong Le mountain that is 76 meters in height with imposing cliffs. There is Doc Cuoc shrine, Co Tien shrine, To Hien Thanh shrine on the mountain. You should not miss Trong Mai  isle, a symbol of Sam Son. On Truong Le mountain, there are a lot of large lawn, and old pine trees so this is an ideal place for camping and outdoor activities. You also can visit relics and tourist spots in Thanh Hoa such as Ba Trieu temple at Gai mountain, Phu Dien village or city walls of the Citadel of the Ho Dynasty. In addition, being 60 kilometers from Sam Son, Ben En National Park in Nhu Thanh district has mountains, river and lakes with an area of over 16,000 hectares. There are many rare species of animals here such as elephant, tiger, bear, monkey, etc. If you are a romantic person and you want to travel around Sam Son and enjoy the atmosphere, you can hire a tandem bycicle. This service is about 50,000 dong an hour. Besides, on the way to leaving Sam Son, you can stop at Thanh Hoa city and visit Dien Bien market on Phan Chu Trinh street to buy fresh seafood.