Bai Chay, Vietnam

Leisure junks parked in the sea at Bai Chay. (14 September, 2016)


Bai Chay is a town in northern Vietnam whose only call to fame is that it is the gateway to the world renowned Halong Bay. Bai Chay itself is a town of little character or attraction. It has a harbour when all the leisure junks are parked, and tacky souvenir shops selling tourist trinkets like keychains. I had to stop at Bai Chay to board my leisure junk when I was visiting Halong Bay with a small group of AsiaExplorers members.

There isn't much to tell about Bai Chay, except that it now has the 3rd longest suspension bridge in Vietnam. The 903m Bai Chay Bridge connects Bai Chay to Hon Gai across Cua Luc Straits. Both Bai Chay and Hon Gai are parts of Halong City, created in 1994 to encompass these two town as well as the surrounding districts.

The tour office at Bai Chay for booking trips to Halong Bay. (14 September, 2016)

Getting there

Let's get this straight: Bai Chay is not a tourist destination, Halong Bay is. We would only pass by Bai Chay on our way to Halong Bay. You can choose plenty of tour options for Halong Bay at any travel agency in Hanoi.

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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