Haiphong: Island Landscapes, History and Local Cuisine
Accommodation in Haiphong
Haiphong combines a striking seascape with archaeological sites, museums and regional cuisine. The city area includes the Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago: a landscape of vegetation-covered limestone islands and tall limestone pillars of varying shapes rising from the sea. When planning a trip, you can first decide whether to focus on nature and activities in the bay or on culture and history.
Islands, Nature and Things to Do
The Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Archipelago covers 65,650 hectares and comprises 1,133 islands and islets. The Cát Bà Archipelago was declared a national park in 1986 and a marine protected area in 2010. A distinctive animal species is also associated with the island: the golden-headed langur, Trachypithecus poliocephalus, is found exclusively on Cát Bà and nowhere else in the world.
The visitor routes in Cát Bà National Park include the 12-kilometre-long Ao Ếch–Việt Hải route. Its length is a useful point of reference when including the route in your day’s plans. In Lan Hạ Bay, visitors can swim, observe corals, go boating and climb. These activities offer different ways to experience the bay; which ones you want to shape your trip may also influence your choice of where to stay.
Hòn Dấu offers a different natural setting, with old trees and rocky shores in an almost untouched landscape. The island is also home to the temple of Nam Hải Thần Vương and the Hòn Dấu lighthouse. The temple preserves the coastal population’s religious traditions; the lighthouse is associated with the history of resistance to foreign invasions during the Vietnam War.
Historical and Cultural Discoveries
Núi Voi–Xuân Sơn is home to an archaeological site. Tools and weapons found there and displayed at the Núi Voi Museum provide evidence of a period of development in Đông Sơn culture. The Núi Voi area includes facilities for visitors and those interested in research, including Họng Voi Cave, the Nam Tào and Bắc Đẩu caves, and a museum. The traditional Núi Voi Festival takes place every year in the middle of the first lunar month: on the 15th, 16th and 17th, it features cultural and sporting activities.
On Cát Bà, Hang Quân Y is a tourist destination on trips exploring the archipelago. Between 1963 and 1965, during the Vietnam War, the cave was converted into a field hospital inside the mountain. For another perspective on the city’s history, the Hai Phong Museum has 17 permanent exhibition rooms. It introduces the public to the nature and historical, cultural and social development of Hai Phong.
Other historical and religious sites offer their own points of interest. The incense ceremony and water procession take place at Đền Nghè, and are associated with the annual Đồ Sơn buffalo fighting festival. This festival is recognised as national intangible cultural heritage. Gắm Temple was classified as a national historical and cultural monument in 1992.
Local Cuisine and Choosing Where to Stay
Food tours in Hai Phong introduce visitors to local dishes such as bánh đa cua, bún cá and nem cua bể, as well as seafood. Together with the museums and historical sites, they offer a cultural side of the trip that differs from the nature and water experiences in the Cát Bà Archipelago.
When choosing a holiday apartment in Haiphong, it is helpful to weigh up the experiences you want rather than treating the city as a single destination. If you mainly want to explore the islands and seascape, make Cát Bà and Lan Hạ Bay the focus of your plans. If your interests lie more in history, archaeology or the city’s past, Núi Voi, Hang Quân Y and the Hai Phong Museum offer different areas of focus.
For further guidance, you can also explore the subregions of Lê Chân, Trân Châu and Hai Phong.
For the broader travel overview: Vietnam.
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