Cat Ba Ferry Schedule 2026: Every Crossing and Its Last Sailing
There are five ways across the water to Cat Ba and every one of them has a last departure that is earlier than people expect. The workhorse ferry runs every 30 minutes until 18:30. The Ha Long ferry stops at 15:00 and drops to three sailings a day from 6 September. The cable car shuts at 15:45. Here is the full 2026 timetable in one place.
The one table to screenshot
If you read nothing else on this page, read this. The last departure is what decides whether you sleep on Cat Ba tonight.
| Crossing | First | Last | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dong Bai to Cai Vieng ferry | 05:30 | 18:30 | Every 30 minutes |
| Cat Hai to Phu Long cable car | 08:30 | 15:45 | 6 or 7 a day, fixed times |
| Tuan Chau to Gia Luan ferry (from Ha Long) | 07:30 | 15:00 | 5 a day in summer, 3 a day from 6 September |
| Ben Binh speedboat (Hai Phong city) | 08:45 | 12:45 | 2 a day |
| Dong Bai speedboat | 09:40 | 13:30 | 2 a day |
1. Dong Bai to Cai Vieng, the everyday ferry
This is the crossing almost every through ticket from Hanoi and Ninh Binh uses, and the one to fall back on when anything else fails. It runs every half hour from 05:30 to 18:30, takes about 30 minutes, and it is very cheap.
| Fare | Price |
|---|---|
| Foot passenger | About $0.50 |
| Motorbike | About $2 |
| Car | About $8 |
| Hydrofoil on the same route | About $10, around 20 minutes |
Buses drive straight onto this ferry on several routes, which means you stay in your seat and your luggage stays in the hold. That is worth more than it sounds when you are on your fourth hour of travel.
2. Tuan Chau to Gia Luan, the Ha Long crossing
The scenic one, 45 minutes through the karst, and the one with the trap in it. It runs on two seasonal timetables and the winter version is thin.
| Season | Departures from Tuan Chau |
|---|---|
| Summer, 25 April to 5 September | 07:30, 09:00, 11:30, 13:30, 15:00 |
| Winter, 6 September to 24 April | 07:30 or 08:00, 11:30, 15:00 |
| Fare | Price |
|---|---|
| Foot passenger | 80,000₫ |
| Motorbike | 100,000₫ plus your own ticket |
| Car up to 9 seats | About $19 for the vehicle |
| Hydrofoil | About $7.50 |
| High-speed canoe | $12 to $15 |
From 6 September there are three sailings a day on this route and the last is at 15:00. There is no evening backup. If you miss it you are going the long way round through Hai Phong, which is three hours and a different set of tickets.
One more thing about this crossing: it lands at Gia Luan on the far north of the island, about 25 km from Cat Ba Town. Add 40 minutes and a small fare for that leg.
3. The cable car, Cat Hai to Phu Long
Not a boat, but it is one of the five ways across and it has the earliest cut-off of them all. 70,000₫ one way, 110,000₫ return, nine to fifteen minutes, running 08:30 to 15:45 with a long gap between 11:30 and 13:30. It carries foot passengers only. Full detail in our cable car guide.
4 and 5. The two speedboats from Hai Phong
These are the fast option if you are already in Hai Phong, and the source of the most common ticket mix-up on this whole network. There are two different piers with two different prices and two different departure times, and both of them get called the Hai Phong boat.
| Pier | Adult | Child | Departures | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Binh, in Hai Phong city centre | 250,000₫ | 180,000₫ | 08:45 and 12:45 | About 2 hours |
| Dong Bai, out towards Cat Hai | 220,000₫ | 150,000₫ | 09:40 and 13:30 | About 1 hour 20 |
The two piers are roughly 40 minutes apart. Check which one your ticket says before you get in a taxi, because arriving at the wrong one means missing the boat, not just walking a few streets.
Piers that older guides still list but that no longer run
Got Pier and Dinh Vu Pier are out of service. Plenty of blog posts and printed guides from a few years ago still route you through them, and drivers will occasionally still use the old names out of habit. Dong Bai is the pier that replaced them. If a plan you have read online sends you to Got, it is out of date.
When crossings get cancelled
Wind, not rain, is what stops the boats. A grey drizzly day makes no difference. A tropical storm warning in the Gulf of Tonkin will suspend the small fast boats first, then the cable car, and the big car ferry last. Between roughly July and October this is worth watching if your plans are tight.
If a crossing is cancelled while you are already committed, the Dong Bai ferry is the one most likely to still be running, and it runs latest. That is the practical reason to treat 18:30 as your real deadline for the day rather than the time on your own ticket.
How this fits with your bus ticket
On a through ticket from Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Sapa or Ha Giang, the crossing is already included and the operator picks which one you use based on your departure time. You do not choose. What you do control is the departure time, and that is what determines whether you get the cable car, the speedboat or the last ferry of the evening.
Leave in the morning and you have every option. Leave after 15:00 and you have exactly one.
Want us to work the timings out for you?
Send us your date, where you are coming from and what time you can leave. We will tell you which crossing you will actually make, and book the whole thing so you are not standing at a pier watching a boat go.
Related Reading
- Cat Ba Transfers: Every Route In and Out, With 2026 Prices
- Cat Ba Cable Car: Prices, Timetable and Whether It Beats the Ferry
- Cat Ba to Ha Long Bay: Ferries, Buses and 2026 Prices
- Getting Around Cat Ba: Ferries, Cable Car and Island Transport
- How to Get from Hanoi to Cat Ba Island
Common questions
18:30 on the Dong Bai to Cai Vieng route, which is the latest crossing of any kind. The Tuan Chau ferry from Ha Long stops at 15:00, the cable car at 15:45, and the Hai Phong speedboats by early afternoon.
The Dong Bai to Cai Vieng ferry runs every 30 minutes from 05:30 to 18:30. Every other crossing runs to a fixed timetable with between two and five sailings a day.
About $0.50 for a foot passenger on the Dong Bai ferry, $2 with a motorbike and $8 with a car. From Ha Long, the Tuan Chau ferry is 80,000₫ on foot and 100,000₫ for a bike. Fares checked September 2026.
Yes, but on two timetables. Five sailings a day from 25 April to 5 September, then only three from 6 September to 24 April, with the last at 15:00 in both seasons.
No. Got Pier and Dinh Vu Pier are out of service and Dong Bai replaced them. Older guides and some drivers still use the old names, so check that any plan you have read online is not routing you through a closed pier.
Want to actually do Cat Ba, not just pass through?