Ha Long City, Not Long Enough

Written By Campbell Mattinson

An amazing view of Ha Long City, nestled against Ha Long Bay, as viewed from an apartment high-rise building. PHOTO: Campbell Mattinson.

Ha Long City sits on the northern shore of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam's north-east, about 178 kilometres east of Hanoi. The name translates as "descending dragon". The city took its current name in 1993, when the old coal town of Hon Gai was renamed Ha Long and absorbed Bai Chay across the water. It's the gateway to the bay's UNESCO-listed field of limestone islands, but the city itself has long been a working place too – coal mining and processing, shipbuilding and building materials sit alongside the tourism. From above, the two worlds meet: dense streets on one side, the bay on the other.

I visited in 2025. Ha Long Bay itself is incredible, if disturbingly polluted. Ha Long City – no longer officially a city, though everyone still calls it one – is equally fascinating although, unfortunately, I’d allocated very little time to explore it. Most travellers make the same mistake.

Campbell Mattinson

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He founded The Winefront, is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion (and former editor of Halliday magazine), and is the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He is 100% independent, and tastes between 5,000 and 10,000 wines each year, blind and in comparative brackets as often as is practicable.

More about Campbell Mattinson

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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