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Cat Ba Archipelago is made up of 388 large and small limestone islands rising up from the sea, covering an area of ​​345 square kilometers, located in the east of Hai Phong City, about 150 km southeast of Hanoi. Cat Ba archipelago belong to Cat Hai district, Hai Phong city. It has been recognized by UNESCO as a world biosphere reserve in 2004.

The infrastructure for serving people and tourism in Cat Ba Island has developed strongly in the past years, at the time of July 2017, there are 210 accommodation including 1 four-star hotel; 03 three-star hotels; 13 two star hotels; 22 one-star hotels with a total of 4,154 rooms.
The number of cruise ships is 80; Car 115, restaurant 63, including 13 floating restaurants.
In 2015, There are over 1,5 million visitors came; 2016 is estimated at 1,7 million, 2017 estimated 2 million visitors, international visitors are over 22% of total visitors.

Cat Ba is the largest island of 1,969 islands in Ha Long Bay, a beautiful and romantic island, located at an average height of 70 meters above sea level (ranges from 0-331 m). On this island, Cat Ba is main town in the southeast and 6 communes: Gia Luan, Hien Hao, Phu Long, Tran Chau, Viet Hai, Xuan Dam.

Formerly Cat Ba island of Cat Ba district, in 1977 merged with Cat Hai district into new district Cat Hai. Cat Ba town is now the administrative center of Cat Hai district.

On the Cat Ba, there is a tropical rain forest on the limestone mountain, a good place for ecotourism. The south east is Lan Ha bay, with 139 small sandy beaches, clear blue water and not much waves, best for development of bathing and resort.

Located in the tropical monsoonal zone, Cat Ba influenced by the ocean, the average temperature, humidity and rainfall are the same as in the surrounding areas, but it is characterized by less cold winters And summer is less hot than land. Precipitation: 1,700-1,800 mm / yr, seasonal fluctuations. The rainy season is mainly July, August. Average temperature: 25-28 ° C, seasonal fluctuations. In the summer it can be above 30 ° C, with average winter temperatures of 15-20 ° C but some times below 10 ° C. Average humidity: 85%. Tidal oscillation: 3.3 to 3.9 meters. Sea salinity: From 0.930% (rainy season) to 3.111% (dry season)
The main road crossing Cat Ba Island is 27 km long, with many winding, winding and winding passes along the coast, through the national park, beautiful scenery, charming area.

Cat Ba National Park covers an area of ​​15,200 ha, including 9,000 ha of forest and 5,400 ha of sea, it is make new ideal for ecological environment.

Trung Trang cave: There are many natural stone stalagmites lying about 15 km from the island. This cave can hold hundreds of people.

Hospital cave: 13 km from town, across the island. The cave also called Dong Quân Y, because during the War in Viet Nam a hospital with hundreds beds were built in the mountains.

Thien Long cave, in Phu Long commune, is said to be more beautiful than Trung Trang cave.
Beaches: Cat Co 1, Cat Co 2, Cat Dua (Monkey Island), Cat Ong, Cat Trai Gai, Duong Danh etc ... are small, beautiful beaches, secluded, white and sandy, transparent to the bottom. Some beaches have resorts such as Monkey Island Nam Cat Resort, Cove Beach resort …. It is planned to build here the "aquarium" for humans. You can directly observe dolphins, lobsters, sea turtles, squids, sharks swimming around the coral reefs.

Cat Ba with pristine beauty and grandeur, it is dubbed Blue jade in the Tonkin Gulf.