Cat Ba Kayak Adventures

If you seek an adventure filled with nature, fun, and unique experiences, Cat Ba Kayak Adventures is the ideal destination. Steering clear of conventional tourist paths, we spent three days kayaking, swimming, and hiking through the bay with Ming, an incredibly friendly and helpful guide.

Our three-day tour included an overnight stay in the floating village, another on a boat, and a hike on Cat Ba Island. We highly recommend the unique experience of spending a night in the floating village. Had we known in advance, we might have opted for two nights there, as the boat experience didn't quite match our personal preferences 😉

Ming not only immersed us in the local culture but also adjusted plans based on our preferences—for instance, changing our swimming location to avoid a beach crowded with party tourists (yes, even on an adventure, sometimes you need a break from the party scene). Lan Ha Bay, being less crowded than Ha Long Bay, still has its share of large tourist and party boats. Therefore, communicating your preferences to the Cat Ba Kayak Adventures team ensures they can tailor the experience to your liking.

Moreover, we embarked on this tour during our honeymoon, and the entire team went above and beyond to make it unforgettable for us. A massive THANK YOU to the entire team!

We rented a double kayak for a full day of paddling in Lan Ha. Equipment was totally fine and really appreciated that they reduced the price when we shared the water taxi with another couple. They also provided return taxi to our hotel free of charge. Really nice and friendly guys running this business and very happy to recommend :)

I cannot recommend this place enough. We booked a 4 day tour with them and got amazing experiences every day with everything superbly organised, it ran like clockwork. And the activities were amazing - kayaking through caves, swimming at deserted beaches, a night on the floating village, night on a junk, Cat Ba itself including hiking and a little bit of cycling. Superb guide - thanks Minh! We made the most of every hour we had and loved every minute of the tour. Oh! And the tours are private / very small groups which suits us as well.

This was the highlight of Vietnam! Minh guided me on a full day (0800-1700) adventure around the bay. We navigated through a cave, swam from a beach, paddled from island to island, ate a delicious meal, and he explained everything about local life and fish farming. Indescribable!

I booked a 2 day kayak tour with a home stay on a houseboat. Kayaking Lan Ha Bay was amazing, and there were times we were the only ones on the water. The home stay was very comfortable, and the food was plentiful and delicious.

If you are wanting to go kayaking around Lan Ha bay, these are your guys! It can be really stressful trying to get someone to take you, locals trying to charge you ‘good deals’ and not really saying what is on offer so it was such a relief to find this company! They are super helpful, very professional and speak great english. They cover everything and you do not need a guide, just a whole day of kayaking through the beautiful bays and they pick you up at the end! We were even lucky enough to see Cat Ba Langurs and the driver stopped to let us admire them eating and hanging out! Thank you again for a wonderful day 🙏

We got kayak adventures recommended and it exceeded all our expectations. Kayaking in a small group (4 people and a guide) made the experience somehow personal and peaceful. Just us paddling around the islands was incredible. Our guide Minh (I hope I wrote it right) was very knowledgeable and told us a lot about history, governmental plans with the bay, cusine, culture, education system etc. This guy was funny and smart and his English was great. He chose the pace which suited us and showed us also many hidden places (caves, lagoon). We had lunch on a beach which we had all for ourselves and the food cooked by Harry was the best we ate in Vietnam. He cooked so many various delicious dishes and even packed us many fruits. I cannot recommend this company more!! We loved it ❤🌟

we booked a private tour, booking was really easy and also the organization was great
pick-up in time, transfer was good
in Cat Ba we met Mr Henry and our guide for the 2 days Mong
both were really caring about us and explaining what we will do next 2 days
Mong was amazing, telling us a lot of things about Cat Ba and Lan Ha bay and answering all of our questions
we had an amazing Kayaking experience, a fantasic tour in Lan Ha Bay.
Blue Lagoon homestay was so nice and dinner as well as lunch (2 times) was really delicious and authentic
2nd day we had a fantastic trekking in the national park and saw the amazing cave and even got a private market & walking tour in Cat Ba City following by an delicious seafood lunch
2nd day was little bit adapted to the original booking, but this was not decreasing the fantastic experience we had with CatBa Aventures!!!
Thank you Mr Henry and especially Mong for creating great memories for us!

Truly amazing experience. Mr. Henry is very responsive via email and Whats app, and organized an amazing tour for us. Our guide spoke incredible English and gave us an amazing tour. We even visited one of the floating village homes and were able to walk around and look at the fish! The lunch on the boat may have been the best meal we had the entire trip! From the hotel pick up to drop off, everything was perfect. Highly highly recommend if you are in Cat Ba and looking to do a kayak tour in the bay. It is all day (8am-5pm or so).

Our family (2 adults, 2 teenagers 14 + 17 yo) had the most amazing experience with Cat Ba Kayak Adventures. We did a day tour to Cat Ba National Park (10km hike to Viet Hai village, bike ride & boat back to Cat Ba Harbour), followed by a 2 day / 1 night kayak trip around Lan Ha Bay, staying overnight in the Floating Village (such a unique experience would definitely recommend over staying on board a boat!). On both tours, we were the only travellers and Minh, our guide for all three days, was fantastic. We were complete beginners at kayaking and he was a great teacher. The kayaks used by this company are Sea Kayaks and looked much sturdier than other groups we saw on the water. Minh and the Captain of our small boat took us to places where we were often the only people around - we were kayaking in such peaceful, beautiful surroundings it was truly breath-taking! As a bonus, Captain was an amazing Chef and lunch both days was some of the best food we tasted in 4 weeks!
Although not cheap by Vietnam standards, this tour was absolutely the highlight of our holiday and we would definitely do it again!!

Super nice experience! The guy working there was really friendly and explained so much. We rented a Kajak for half a day, we were picked up by a boat and drove through the floating villages where we picked up the Kajak and then dropped at a nice beach in the bay. From there we could easily paddle around the bay and go to empty beaches. It was truly amazing and we felt safe at all times, mainly due to the good explanation in the beginning.

I HIGHLY recommend this company above the competition on Cat Ba! My sisters and I rented a double and a single kayak for a self-guided tour and we all agree it was the best experience we’ve had in Vietnam. The kayaks were well-equipped and in decent shape, they sent us with comfortable life jackets, a hand bilge pump, dry bags, drinking water, towels, and a map. We packed our own lunch. We saw the other company’s kayaks and Cat Ba Kayak Adventures clearly had superior equipment. The owner, who told us to call him Henry, even met with us the day before to show us the drop- off point on a chart so we could plan our route. We’re experienced kayakers and have a decent grasp of navigation, we ended up traveling over 20 kilometers by the end of the day through absolutely stunning passages. I would recommend only doing a long trip on your own if you are self-sufficient and feel very comfortable navigating through island passages that can look confusing from a kayak. We found google maps on satellite view even more helpful than the map. And keep in mind the tides are quite large, there was a 15-foot tidal change for us on a half moon, so plan any shallow passages on a high tide. I have no doubt that their guided overnight tours would be exceptional as well, we passed one of their guides with a small group in a beautiful channel. Traveling Lan Ha bay by kayak is the way to do it as the karsts deserve time and so many areas are accessible only by small boat, you will often have the entire space to yourself. And the beach where we were dropped off and picked up was one of the prettiest of all, so allow yourself time at the end to enjoy. 😊

We highly recommend Cat Ba Kayaking Adventures if you are looking for a beautiful and personalised experience on the waters of Lan Ha and Halong bays.
Our 2 days kayaking, swimming and boating with Minh and Tuan were idyllic - incredible scenery (lagoons, caves, beaches, temples, wildlife), lots of local knowledge and insights, and impeccable timing so that we were in popular places at quiet times. Minh is a calm and knowledgeable guide with great English. Tuan is the perfect captain and also a very talented chef - we ate like kings, including delicious local seafood and specialities.
Thank you Henry (Xuan Cuong) and team for an unforgettable experience!!!

This was probably the top event of our trip, definitely in Cat Ba, maybe in all of Vietnam. We did the one day trip, and it was the WHOLE time advertised, from 8 to 5:30 - truly a full day of kayaking! Partner and I are fit but not insanely athletic, so the rowing was a bit challenging, but definitely doable. And it was truly worth it.

We had hoped to see the islands and rock formations without the trappings of a large group, and that's exactly what we got. Our guide was wonderful, and provided lots of great information about the area and the people living there. He was also very flexible and gave us many options about what beaches were nearby, paths we could take, distances and times, so we could assess our energy levels and never felt "dead in the water."

There was a lunchtime stop at an island bungalow, where they were very accommodating with vegetarian dishes, and a supremely comfortable afternoon nap/swim before continuing.

This was the experience we were hoping for: paddle from beach to beach and see the karst up close and personal.

Absolutely would recommend.

Had an amazing tour with minh lunch was delicious and it was amazing to see all the secluded spots around lần hả bây

An alternative travel agent for Halong Bay cruising with more activities (kayak and swimming) rather than the classic touristic staff. The guide was very knowledgeable and helpful and the boats very clean.

Never been to Cat Ba? Mate. Picture this. Beers, birds, and most importantly, lads. Absolutely mental night, cant beat it

We had Happy as our tour guide and he was SO fantastic!! Loved the trip !!
Happy made the day the best!

Really fun! I took the nocturnal ride to see plankton and it was really magical

Would definitely recommend. Very responsive to emails and the owner even lent me his hat as I didn't have one!