Checking into Cat Ba Island: Hotel Chaos, Room Changes, and Faulty Towers Energy in Vietnam

Just when we thought we had left our countryside version of Fawlty Towers behind, Cat Ba decided to offer us the seaside edition.  

We arrived at the coastal town with the optimism of people who believe their next hotel will definitely be the one that works. It was not. In fact, we managed to recreate our countryside experience almost perfectly. Same Faulty Towers energy, different coastline. True to form, we moved rooms. Then moved again. And possibly once more for good measure, though by that point it was hard to keep track.

At one stage, Craig was on his hands and knees attempting to mop a floor that appeared to have been last cleaned sometime during the French colonial period. The dirt wasn’t so much ingrained as historically significant.

Craig’s Birthday on Cat Ba Island: Cake, Wine, and Cleaning Our Own Hotel Room

It was Craig’s birthday, so in advance I had arranged for the hotel to deliver a bottle of red wine and a birthday cake. A simple plan. A wholesome plan. A plan that did not account for Craig being on his hands and knees mopping a floor that was so thick with dirt it could have been farmed.

Right in the middle of this domestic crime scene, the reception lad appeared holding the cake and wine with the proud smile of someone who thinks they are about to make your day. Craig still crouched on the floor looked up, sweaty, annoyed, clutching a filthy rag, and said, 

“thanks for the gesture mate but as you can see I have my hands full trying to clean your dirty rooms.” 

The lad froze. I froze. Even the dirty rag froze.

Timing, as they say, is everything.

Birthday Recovery and Unexpected Kindness in Vietnam

Fortunately, the day recovered.

We went out for a really nice meal, the kind where the chairs are clean, the floor is reassuringly dry, and nobody feels compelled to fetch a mop mid-course.

Later that night, Craig apologised for shouting at him. They swapped smiles over the cake and wine and the whole thing softened into one of those oddly sweet travel memories that only exist because everything else briefly fell apart.

Cat Ba Town, Vietnam: Fishing Boats, Local Life, and the Sun World Development Project

Cat Ba town has a cheerful scruffiness about it. Fishing boats bobbing in the harbour like they are gossiping. Hills rising behind the bay as if posing for photos. Tour groups marching around with the determination of people who paid too much to be here.

Then you notice the Sun World construction. A huge section of the bay being filled in, machinery humming away, a resort slowly rising where water used to be. The locals are not thrilled, and you can see why.

It feels like you are watching the place mid-argument with itself, unsure whether it wants to stay wild or become something far more packaged. A shame, because the natural curve of the bay is beautiful. But you can also see where it is heading.

Exploring Cat Ba Island: Quiet Beaches, Fishing Villages, and Limestone Karst Views

Cat Ba itself was a different story. The island is gorgeous. 

Quiet coves, green hills, fishing boats drifting like they have nowhere urgent to be.

We explored properly and it was lovely from every angle. Even the air felt calmer, as if it had taken one look at our hotel situation and decided to compensate.

The roads wound through the hills in long lazy curves. Every bend revealed something new, and it felt rude not to stop. One moment we were looking down on a fishing village, the next at cliffs rising straight out of the sea.

We passed small villages where life moved at a slower pace. Women sitting outside sorting vegetables. Men repairing nets. Kids tearing through the streets with the kind of energy adults can only remember. The sort of everyday life that makes you feel like a guest rather than a tourist.

Cat Ba to Ha Long Bay Ferry: The £2 Local Boat Through Vietnam’s Limestone Karsts

The highlight was catching the local ferry to Ha Long Bay. 

No tour groups, no megaphones, no matching caps. Just a handful of locals, a two pound ticket and a boat that wove through the limestone karsts like it had all the time in the world.  

The ferry engine rattled steadily, smelling faintly of diesel and salt, as the karsts slid past us like they were moving more slowly than we were.

Craig’s helmet nearly didn’t make it to the ferry at all. It had a big crack running through it, and somewhere on the dock we managed to find a piece of black sticky tape. Miraculously, it held it together for a few hours, like a very optimistic repair job holding up against gravity and poor decisions.

These were the same karsts the organised tours charge several hundred for, except ours came with chickens, plastic stools and a man swinging in a ferry hammock with the confidence of royalty.

It was simple, slow, and perfect.

Ha Long Bay Coastal Road by Motorbike: Vietnam’s Most Scenic Ride Through the Karsts

After the ferry we rode the coastal road of Ha Long Bay, which turned out to be one of the best coastal motorbike drives in Vietnam. 

But first, we headed to KFC in Ha Long Bay, which we are not proud of, but after weeks of travel we were deeply, almost scientifically, ready for something recognisably Western.

The road hugs the coastline, dipping and bending with the landscape, forcing you to slow down just to take it in. Limestone cliffs, open water, fishing boats drifting past. The kind of scenery that makes conversation feel unnecessary.

Riding through the limestone karsts felt like slipping into a different world. One minute you were on a normal coastal road, the next you were surrounded by these enormous green towers rising straight out of the water like they had been dropped there by a bored giant. 

The cliffs stood close enough to see every crease and crack, like the island was showing its age. The road curled around them in long smooth bends, each corner opening into something new. Jade water, jungle-clad cliffs, quiet bays tucked away like secrets.

At times the karsts lined up like a parade of giants. At others they stood alone, dramatic and brooding, trees clinging to impossible ledges. It felt wild, ancient, and slightly theatrical.

By the end we had stopped talking entirely, reduced to pointing like two people who had run out of adjectives. It wasn’t about what happened. It was about the fact the landscape decided to show off for a while.

Brilliant from start to finish.

Why We Skipped the Ha Long Bay Tour: A Better Budget Travel Experience by Ferry and Motorbike

We had planned to book a tour, but after today we realised we had already experienced the highlights in a better way. A little messy, a little improvised, very us.

Cat Ba gave us chaos, cake, coastline and a birthday story Craig will be telling for years. Faulty Towers or not, it was perfect in its own ridiculous way.

Tomorrow we leave for Hanoi where we will spend a few days chilling before our flight home.