By Mr. Phoenix - Hoang Anh Nguyen, Cat Ba Nomad · Last updated 24 August 2026 · Written on Cat Ba Island

Cat Ba is an island, so getting here means a crossing, and getting around once you arrive means picking between a scooter, a boat and your own legs. Two of the piers most guidebooks still list have closed. Here is what actually runs in 2026, with real times and fares.

Crossing to the island: the three real options

First, the correction that saves people an hour of confusion. Got Pier and Dinh Vu Pier are no longer in operation. Plenty of blogs and older printed guides still send travellers there. The working crossings are Dong Bai on Cat Hai Island, the cable car from the same area, and the Tuan Chau route from Ha Long.

Option 1: Dong Bai to Cai Vieng ferry

The workhorse crossing, and the one almost every bus transfer from Hanoi uses. Ferries run every 30 minutes from 05:30 to 18:30 and take 30 minutes. A hydrofoil covers the same water in 20 minutes.

Arrive early in summer if you are bringing a vehicle. The passenger queue moves, the vehicle queue does not.

Option 2: The cable car, and it is a record holder

The Cat Hai to Phu Long cable car opened on 6 June 2020 and it is a genuinely absurd piece of engineering. The line runs 3,955 metres straight over open sea and crosses it in nine minutes. Its two support pylons stand 214.8 metres tall each, recognised by Guinness World Records as the highest cable car pylons in the world. Sixty cabins carry 30 passengers each, giving the line a theoretical capacity of 4,500 people an hour.

Nine minutes in a cabin versus a ferry crossing that can involve a long wait for a slot in peak season. On a busy August weekend the cable car is not the scenic option, it is the fast one.

Several Hanoi transfer packages now route via cable car instead of the ferry, typically for 15 to 19 USD per person all in. Details in our Hanoi to Cat Ba guide.

Option 3: Tuan Chau to Gia Luan, from Ha Long

Useful only if you are coming from Ha Long City rather than Hanoi. The ferry takes 50 minutes, the hydrofoil 30. Departures are seasonal: five a day in summer, from 25 April to 5 September, dropping to three a day in winter, from 6 September to 24 April.

Three departures a day in winter is not many. Check the timetable the day before rather than turning up.

Once you are on the island

Scooter

The island road is good, traffic is light outside the town strip, and the run from Cat Ba Town to the national park takes about 25 minutes. Most hotels rent scooters by the day. Agree the price before you take the keys, photograph any existing damage, and test the brakes on the flat before you commit to a hill. An international driving permit with the correct motorcycle category is what your travel insurance will ask for if anything happens.

Boats from Ben Beo

Ben Beo pier sits about 2 kilometres from Cat Ba Town and it is the gateway to Lan Ha Bay. Day boats, kayak trips and transfers to Viet Hai all leave from here. The bay sightseeing ticket runs roughly 3 to 5 USD on top of the boat itself.

Taxis and hotel transfers

Metered taxis exist in town and are straightforward for short hops to the Cat Co beaches or Ben Beo. For the national park or Cannon Fort, agreeing a return fare with waiting time is usually better value than paying twice.

On foot

Cat Ba Town itself is small enough to walk end to end in twenty minutes, and the path over the headland to Cat Co 1, 2 and 3 is a pleasant fifteen minute cliff walk rather than something you need wheels for.

Distances that matter

What the road transfer actually costs in 2026

Almost every visitor arrives on a shuttle that combines a coach leg with a sea crossing. Operators price it as a single through ticket, and the market has settled into two clear tiers.

Buy the return at the same time if your dates are fixed. Every operator discounts it, and the seats on the afternoon return fill first in summer.

Departure windows, and why the afternoon bus is a trap

Operators run four to five departures a day in each direction, clustered into an early morning group and an early afternoon group. Morning departures from Hanoi are typically between 06:00 and 08:00, then a mid morning service around 10:30, then an early afternoon service between 12:30 and 14:00. Returns from Cat Ba are typically between 09:00 and 09:30, around 12:30, and between 15:30 and 17:00.

The total journey is roughly 160 to 170 kilometres and takes three to three and a half hours in good conditions, made up of about two hours on the expressway, a 30 to 40 minute local leg, and the crossing itself.

Take a morning departure. A 14:00 bus from Hanoi puts you on the island around 17:30, which costs you the swim, the sunset from Cannon Fort and any chance of a boat that day. On a three day trip that is a third of your water time gone for the sake of a lie in.

Comparing your options honestly

Renting a scooter on the island

Expect around 200,000 VND for a full day from a shop or hotel in Cat Ba Town, with fuel extra. That is the cheapest way to reach the national park, Cannon Fort and the quiet north of the island on your own schedule.

Four things before you ride. Agree the price and the return time out loud. Photograph the bike from every angle before you leave, including existing scratches. Test the brakes on flat ground, because the road to Cannon Fort is steep and it is a bad place to discover a problem. And carry an international driving permit with the correct motorcycle category, since that is what your travel insurer will ask for if anything happens.

Getting here in the first place

This guide covers moving around once you have arrived. If you are still working out how to reach the island, every route in, from Hanoi, Noi Bai Airport, Hai Phong, Ninh Binh, Ha Long, Sapa and Ha Giang, is collected with current fares and timetables here: Cat Ba Transfers: Every Route In and Out.

For the crossings specifically, we keep two dedicated pages up to date: the Cat Ba ferry schedule with every sailing and its last departure, and the Cat Ba cable car guide with 2026 prices and the 15:45 cut-off.

Frequently asked

Related: Getting here from Hanoi and a three day itinerary.