Top things to do in Cat Hai islands district you should not miss
Located near Halong Bay, Cat Hai islands district still has a unique and rich nature, offering travelers several exciting things to discover and enjoy.
Where is Cat Hai islands district
Cat Hai islands district is located in the Northwest Haiphong city and the Northeast Quang Ninh province. The terrain in the district is complex with an area of about 345 square kilometers of which the mountainous forests occupy two-thirds of the area. Cat Hai district has nearly 30 thousand residents. It consists of two islands: Cat Ba and Cat Hai islands, of which the administrative area of the district is located in Cat Ba.
Best time to travel
In Cat Hai district, tourists can feel the cool climate all year round. The seasons in the island district are clearly distinct with the fresh air making people feel comfortable. The best time to go to Halong is from June to October for domestic tourists and November to March for foreigners.
July and August usually have storms and strong south winds. In the last months of the year, there are also rain and fog. Therefore, you should not visit Cat Hai islands district at these times.
Top attractions in Cat Hai
Discovering the rich flora and fauna
Cat Ba islands have 336 islands in which Cat Ba island is the largest one. This is where Cat Ba National Park is located. The National Park is home to the rare gene resources including the white-headed langur which is listed in the World Red List. Cat Hai island has a sand that is easily in the risk of cavitation and tidal erosion. The island has nearly 200 species of fish, 600 species of marine animals, 75 species of phytoplankton, 200 species of zooplankton, and 27 types of mangroves. In addition, Cat Hai beach has many kinds of mollusks such as penaeid shrimps, spiny lobsters, tortoises, crabs, pearls, green mussels, and geoducks, etc.
The rich seafood resource of the sea area
Swimming in the beautiful beaches
In the middle of the bay, nestled on one side of the mountains is many beautiful beaches with the incredibly flat and quiet white sand such as Cat Co, Cat Tien, Tung Thu, Cat Dua, and Van Boi beaches. This is one of the characteristics that nature has given to Cat Ba. Every afternoon, after participating in fascinating water sports on the beaches like volleyball, basketball, and boat racing, etc, guests will have a dreaming dinner right near the beach.
Visiting the ancient Cai Beo floating village
Cai Beo is one of the oldest fishing villages in Vietnam, very famous in Cat Ba, Haiphong. This place is not as noisy as the pier to Lan Ha bay but there are many ships, boats, ferry going around the peaceful fishing village. Visiting Cai Beo fishing village, travelers will have a chance to watch the beautiful scenery while listening to the interesting and closing stories about the life in this fishing village, or stopping right at the houses here to admire the growing of seafood here.
Enjoying seafood
Coming to Cat Hai islands district, tourists not only get into the fresh nature, the cool blue water and lie on the smooth white sand beaches but they also become the luxury guests here. There are various fresh and unique seafood of the temperate tropical sea that you can hardly forget such as shrimp rice noodle, steamed geoducks, or horseshoe crabs, etc.
Exploring the traditional village in Cat Hai
Visitors can choose to eat at a restaurant or the hotel where they stay. If you want to be sure about the quality of the food, you should buy fresh seafood in the markets and have the delicious dishes cooked by the host of your hotel which costs about VND 100,000-150,000. Besides, travelers can choose to eat on the floating houses with the cost of about VND 120,000/person with the specialties in Cat Ba and Cat Hai.
Exploring fish sauce village
The fish sauce production in Cat Hai and Cat Ba has lasted for centuries. Cat Hai fish sauce originates from the name Van Van fish sauce. Hence, just stepping your foot on the island, the first thing you can smell is the aroma of salinity and warmth. That is the smell of the fish sauce from the village of Cat Hai spreading over the island. It is also the unique flavor of this small island. In the past, Van Van fish sauce was very famous in the Indochina because of its quality and rare taste.
For people in Cat Hai island district, Cat Hai fish sauce is indispensable in every meal of the family that there is no sauce that can replace it. The characteristic aroma of Cat Hai fish sauce is made from anchovies, cuttlefish, or “nham” fish combined with sea salt. The method of making Cat Hai fish sauce which determines the quality is the manual processing. Most of the ingredients are still “nham” fish because it is very popular in Cat Hai - Long Chau sea area. It is the fish used for making the fish sauce with a special aroma.
Cat Ba National Park is one of the tourist spots in Cat Hai islands district
With its potential of tourism and nature, Cat Hai island district has become a favored destination for travelers in Quang Ninh, Haiphong in particular and Vietnam in general. If you’d like to book Halong Bay tour online, feel free to contact us for more information and don’t forget to like and share this guide with others. Thank you and hope you will have a wonderful time here.