Magical Sunset And Evening With Glowing Plankton By Cat Ba Local

The guide was not responsible and didn't care for the safety of the group. He took us to a hiidden beach while coming down from the radio tower..That hike was not for everyone and he didn't give clear indication what we are getting into. In the Plankton tour as well, he didn't give clear instructions. I had done kayaking before bot not in the dark. He didn't keep the group together. I almost went with another group as I couldn't understand where i was going in the dark. The vegan food option was just ok. The good things were the good views at the top of radio tower and we did see some planktons which was amazing

Honestly, this was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had while traveling. We started by hiking up to Radio Peak in the town center and stayed there until around 5:45 PM to watch the sunset. We were so lucky that day—the sunset was absolutely beautiful. From the top, you can see the sun slowly going down over the bay, with the fishing village behind it. It felt super peaceful and just incredibly scenic. Later, we had dinner at a floating house in the fishing village. What I really appreciated was that they contacted me in advance to ask about my diet. As a vegetarian, that made things so easy and stress-free. The food was great and everything was well prepared. After dinner, we went out to the middle of Lan Ha Bay for bioluminescent kayaking—and this was definitely the highlight for me. Even on the boat, we could already see the water glowing a little bit. But once we got into the kayak, it was just… wow. Every time we moved the paddle or touched the water, it lit up like magic—seriously like something out of Life of Pi. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time. Our guide spoke really good English and explained that we were actually quite lucky, because the water doesn’t always glow that brightly. That made the experience feel even more special. And kayaking in the dark, under a sky full of stars, was just unreal. If you’re coming to Cat Ba, especially around March or April, I 100% recommend trying this with Cat Ba Local. It’s something you really shouldn’t miss.

Our tour guide Ryan gave this excursion the hype it deserved. He showed as much enthusiasm as someone doing it the first time. He knew exactly where to go to see the Cat Ba Langar, how to position our kayak to see the bioluminescence the best, and to have fun. If you are looking for something to do, this is an experience you’ll never forget.

Our tour was disrupted by the weather conditions that tragically hit the Philippines just the day before. The tour operators immediately offered us a full refund, an exchange or a rescheduling to the following evening. We chose to go the following night but unfortunately again, the government didn’t allow tour boats after 18:30 or late night kayaking, but didn’t inform the tour operators until after our departure. This meant that we couldn’t continue with the kayaking as planned or see the plankton, but the operator still took us on a tour of the majestic Lan Ha bay and the floating village, AND refunded us for the whole thing. Completely out of their hands, but they handled it beautifully. Such is the gamble when touring the natural world. Communication with Cat Ba Local was quick and easy, transport from our hotel was seamless and they really tried their best to make sure we got the most out of our tour. Can’t fault Cat Ba Local one bit for unfortunately weather - just one more reason for us to come back to the wonderful Cat Ba!!

It was well organised and a wonderful experience. Although it rained ithe end, it was great. Thank you

I loved the tour, we went on a bigger boat and swam and saw the sunset over the islands, and then kayaked with the glowing plankton. It was pretty magical, the moon wasn’t up so we were lucky to have a really good view of them- you love your hand or paddle and they really sparkle, pretty special! Our tour guide was so kind and friendly, we had a great time with him. Highly recommend!

Fantastic trip, beautiful views and sunset. Lovely dinner followed by the night kayaking which was amazing. Our guide Ryan was brilliant at every stage, he made booking and payment easy, was knowledgeable and interesting and a lot of fun. An absolute highlight of our trip to Vietnam.

Had an amazing time on this tour with our three kids (aged 10, 7 and 3). Ryan was the best tour guide we’ve had in Vietnam, he has really good English and was fun and had heaps of interesting stories and local insights. Scenery was beautiful, food was great and plankton were super cool. Highly recommend.

We went to the beach for swimming, climbed (which was super cool) to a viewpoint, and saw the plankton. Really beautiful. Tour guide was lovely.

This tour was excellent. We were picked up on time and taken to our boat. Our guide Ryan was local and so interesting to talk to. He pointed out wildlife as we went through the bay. We stopped for a swim and jumping off the boat. Then had a nice meal before kayaking. Ryan guided us around the islands to see the phosphorescence, it was magical. An experience that will live with us forever.

A truly magical experience and well worth it! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Vietnam.

This was the best thing we did in Vietnam! Going swimming with them was amazing! Bring snorkels and fins for the best experience.

Great tour! Tour guide Ryan was excellent and made the experience very enjoyable. We really enjoyed the kayak trip looking at the bioluminescence.

Had a great evening kayaking with the bioluminescent plankton! The trip was well organised, dinner on the boat was good and kayaking at night and seeing the plankton glow was really special. They weren't super bright (photos have been brightened) but still easy to spot with a bit of splashing and swirling your paddle in the water.

Really enjoyable and well organised, we had a lot of fun. The plankton was very cool to see, and the dinner was really tasty as well.

This tour was amazing! We saw so much of the bioluminescent plankton, it was beautiful and blue like stars in the water! Great tour guide Ryan, and great dinner on a lovely boat too - thank you!

It was a magical experience. It was very misty the day we went which added to the magical and fairy-like feel to the location. We planned the tour on a new moon night and the bioluminescent experience was at its peak. We felt we were in avatar!! Luu, our guide, was great. Very knowledgeable and fun. His passion & enthusiasm are contagious :) Also dealing with the team was very smooth. They helped us book our bus tickets and advised on accommodation while at the island. Definitely recommend this tour!

It was a excellent experience. Swimming in the water with the glowing plankton around you and the stars in the sky was just magical. The guide Kevin was so full of energy and very nice.

We did not have the best weather and therefore did not get a sunset but the kayak experience with the bioluminecent plankton was very cool! I have no comparison as this was my first time seeing this phenomena but we really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it seemed hard to photograph or film with our limited equipment. Our guide, Ryan was friendly and knowledgable and made sure we enjoyed our experience. Also we had a great dinner (and they were able to provide some additional gluten free options).

Such a great experience! Seeing the bioluminescent water spark kayaking and swimming was one of the highlights of the trip

Ryan was an excellent guide and made us feel at home in Cat Ba. The tour was very well organized with a great nighttime kayak adventure, followed by a lovely family style dinner that encouraged getting you to know your fellow travelers. Loved the camaraderie that this tour created! Although Cat Ba was recently hit by typhoon Yagi, it had no impact on our experience, and those seeking a beautiful escape into one of the most beautiful parts of the bay should consider joining.

Lovely boat ride to see the floating village and Luu and Ryan had lots of information about the village. Then we stopped for a swim in the warm sheltered water before having dinner, and finally we kayaked a short way to see the magical plankton, a must-do if you haven't seen bioluminescence before!

A truly unforgettable experience! I discovered Ruby and CatBa Local by hijacking a friend's Facebook enquiry, on one of the Vietnam Tourist Groups. To say that my experience, with Ruby, was a breeze, would be the understatement of the year! I'm a VERY lastminute.com, solo traveller, who almost NEVER has a plan, but nothing was ever too much for Ruby to manage. She is an extremely efficienct and dedicated individual, and an absolute asset to Cát Bà Local! I was VERY hesitant once I had reached the island, as I could not find their office. I was informed very quickly that Yagi was the result of that. Despite the above, Ruby still kept in contact and, being true to her word, a car picked me up the Thursday evening and I embarked on my unforgettable evening out at sea. I managed to conquer two lifelong fears, soak in the MOST spectacular views and, despite Yagi having swept most of the concentrated bioluminescent plankton away, I atleast got to see some oceanic fireflies! I was also treated to a delicious meal, included in the package. Despite my business with Ruby having technically ended the evening before, she had no problem organizing a VERY last minute trip back to Hanoi. Thank you, Ruby, for being so helpful, incredibly kind and efficient! You are the reason that tour groups are so popular!

Amazing tour in the Cat Ba harbor. Excellent guiding and a plesant amount of people on board. Great dinner and sightings. Simply beautiful. Thank you!

Viet was the b st guide, thank you again for the experience, he had really good English better than mine, He gave us many information about Vietnamese culture

Great tour from experienced local Guide Luu! Additional to the tour Luu told us aboit Vietnamese Culture especially around Cat Ba. The glowing plankton may be different than expected, however it is a fascinating natural experience. Thank you

Great trip! Ryan, our guide, was engaging and fun. A great experience to kayak at night and see the water sparkle with the bioluminescence! Highly recommend.

the trip exceeded my expectations. beautiful views in the bay at sunset, an hour of swimming with jumping from the boat, a very good dinner with local, Vietnamese delicacies, and all this topped off with an hour of kayaking in search of glowing plankton - it was really exciting and beautiful. a great Viet guide reigned over everything. I definitely recommend it.

The Cat Ba Local Glowing Plankton Tour was absolutely incredible! Kayaking through the glowing waters at night felt like moving through a galaxy of stars. Luffy, our guide, was fantastic—knowledgeable and attentive, making sure everyone had an amazing time. This one-of-a-kind experience is a must-do when visiting Cat Ba. Highly recommend!

This tour is incredible and really special. The glowing "plankton" (not really plankton, they're single-celled organisms) were beautiful to view at night. They sparkle in the water, just magical. Our night coincided with a lightning storm that really added a show on the way back. Our brilliant guide, Luffy, was a fount of knowledge about the local area, the people living in the fishing villages, and the local wildlife. An amazing evening and a highlight of my travels through Vietnam.

We were initially doubtful of how the tour would turn out. In the end, we were blown away! If you are thinking of booking this tour, please do yourself a favor and do it! Luffy, our tour guide was outstanding. As a Cat Ba local, he gave us so much information on the history of the area and the wildlife. If you are doing a Ha Long Bay day tour, this one is a nice respite from the heat. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous, we even got to ride a banana boat to check it out closer! Great dinner, beers/water/sodas offered. After dinner, we embarked on our kayaking journey in the darkness. Safety measures and organization were all there. After a short kayak ride, the plankton blew our mind! Luffy will give you time to swim if you’d like. After the plankton, he took us to a fisherman’s house boat and explained the daily life of these hardworking men. Can’t recommend enough!

The food and the view was amazing. We saw so much Plancton. We got to swim at Night in the plancton. It was magical. I Can only recommend

My favourite thing we have done in Vietnam so far! Our guide was so lovely, fun, knowledgeable and took the best care of us. The plankton was incredible was able to see it after a short amount of time kayaking. Would 100% recommend everything about this. And bring your bathers to swim!

Our group of 10- 2 families and a couple loved every part of this tour. Having done the day tour in the Bay, this experience added even more to our special time getting to know the Cat B side of Ha long bay. Our guide Luffy was simply the best. From his to the minute precision on the itinerary, to the freedom we felt on the tour. His knowledge and stories left us wanting to spend more time getting to know the bay, the research that happens there and the people that work and live there. The boat, the food, the destinations left us all with the most special of memories from our time in Vietnam. The bar was set so high early on in our trip for day trips we were worried for the rest of Vietnam. Vietnam has continued to no doubt impress us all but this tour remains well at the top.

Honestly such an amazing experience! The tour guides were incredible and we spent so long talking to them. They shared insights into Vietnam life and how we as tourist can help the locals even just by waving and smiling! The whole evening/night was perfect definitely recommend!

The most perfect experience of the bay from Cat ba! Loved the kayaking and getting to experience how beautiful nature is in Vietnam. Our tour guide was perfect and he catered to everyone’s needs.

Went July 15th, group of 15-20. We were looking for a 1 day tour visit of the bay area without it being too crowded. This wonderful experience starts in afternoon. There was barely any boats where we were in the bay. Ryan the local guide had an amazing contagious energy, rain or sunshine, and could've easily been the highlight of the experience just by how awesome he was. The dinner was great. Never felt rushed in all the activities, and felt like the amount of sightseeing and activities in the bay was enough for our liking. Materials such as light and waterproof bag were provided. We didn't really expect to see anything going in the activity, but with Ryan's tips and tricks, the bioluminescent plankton were visible (you can definitely see the sparkles and glowing, of course not oversaturated like on google pics). All in all, we really loved our experience, and found it extremely good value if you are looking to see the bay efficiently and a little twist of sparkled night kayaking/swimming.

We would definitely recommend booking this tour with Local Adventure. Our guide Ryan was absolutely amazing, giving us loads of local information and stories. He was so enthusiastic and knowledgeable having grown up living on the water in the bay & spoke amazing English! The trip was excellent, including visiting the bay, travelling through a local fishing village, a sunset swim, sightings of endangered monkeys, a beautiful local meal and an amazing nighttime kayak and swim through bioluminescencent plankton. Furthermore, on the day we did the tour unbeknownst to us the other people booked on that day were forced to cancel, instead of cancelling our booking the company and Ryan ran us a private tour for me and my girlfriend for no extra cost. I can only imagine that they must have made a net loss running the trip, with the cost of the boat and three staff members to run just a two person trip. The experience was truly amazing and the fact they pushed ahead and ran us a private trip at no profit for themselves shows how dedicated they are to guest satisfaction. If you are in Cat Ba I would definitely recommend.

Very fun experience! Our tour guide Luffy is really nice, fun, and knowledgeable. I definitely recommend doing the tour with him.

The tour was so much more than expected. Our guide Luffy was amazing!! 10 ⭐️’s!! The swimming in the bay, dinner.m, dinner, and bioluminescent bay was awesome.

Luffy was incredible! It was a great cruise through the bay and dinner was delicious. Luffy taught us a lot about Vietnamese culture and the plankton was awesome! 10/10 recommend.

Our guide Ryan was so friendly, knowledgable and welcoming. The tour left promptly and everything ran smoothly. Suitable for all ages but most on our tour were early to mid 20s. The family style dinner was amazing (which is rare for guided tours but it seriously was). We loved swimming while watching the sunset and drinking beer and the plankton were beautiful. UNFORGETTABLE!!!! :)

This trip was definitely worth the money, the draw originally was the bioluminescent plankton which was a very cool and unique experience, as was kayaking in the dark but the highlight was dinner and the amazing guides! We had Luffy and Rio and they honestly made the entire experience one of the best tours I’ve ever been on, I would recommend for anyone looking to try something a little different and enjoys beautiful views on the water

Very nice experience. Our guide was really nice and explained us a lot. The kayaking tour to see the plankton was amazing. 100% to recommand!!

AMAZING experience seeing bioluminescence! I’m surprised more people haven’t heard of this tour, which was so lovely! Beautiful sunset boat cruise in Lan Ha Bay, including nice dinner on the boat, and then very peaceful night kayaking to experience the glowing plankton, which can only be described as absolute MAGIC 🤩 This tour is a must. When in your life do you get to see this phenomenon? The plankton glows with motion, so when you dip your hand / paddle in the water it activates swirls of glowing sparkles…like thousands of bright blue firefly orbs. Absolutely stunning! Our guide (Luffy) was incredibly knowledgeable and lovely to be around. The whole team was warm and welcoming, ensuring we all had a wonderful time. Magnificent experience. Absolutely do this tour! A must if you are in the area. Tip: research moon/tide schedules ahead of time to determine when conditions are most ideal for your visit. For best visibility you want complete darkness (new moon) and ideally low tide with lots of algae. Enjoy!

Kayaking was amazing, the plankton were beautiful and we could see them clearly. The tour guide Ryan was knowledgeable and friendly!

It was an amazing day out on the sea with tony and ryan!! we did the day & night tour! never crowded or too touristic! could definitely recommend it to abybody! we would do it again!!

This was the best part of my trip to Ha Long. We had the best tour guide who happened to be a photographer as well and he took some wonderful photos too. It was not only the most beautiful and wonderful place to travel to but also the most interesting and informative because our guide told a lot about the nature of bioluminescence. His English speaking abilities were impressive. I really loved the tour and definitely suggest everyone to try it out. Oh and the food for dinner was delicious 😋 And kayaking was super fun and easy unlike my expectations that it's gonna be difficult and slow, we managed to make great team with my fellow "kayaking professional". By the way Solo travellers don't need to worry about going there alone because it's a great opportunity to meet and greet amazing people from around the world.

Experiencing the bioluminescence was amazing! Loved the entire boating experience with evening views, friendly and insightful tour guides, and delicious dinner. Definitely one of the highlights of my Vietnam trip.