Haiphong 2026: Vietnam's Port City and Cat Ba Gateway

Haiphong is Vietnam’s third largest city and the country’s main northern port. Located 100km east of Hanoi, it is primarily a transport and industrial hub but has a compact French colonial old quarter, a strong local food identity, and serves as the main gateway to Cat Ba Island and Lan Ha Bay.

What Haiphong is

Most visitors pass through Haiphong rather than staying. It is the transit point between Hanoi and Cat Ba Island — buses from Hanoi connect to Haiphong’s ferry terminal for the crossing to Cat Ba Town. The port city generates little of the tourist traffic that goes to Ha Long Bay proper, and the city itself is less developed for tourism than Hanoi or HCMC.

This is part of what makes it interesting. Haiphong is a functioning Vietnamese city without a significant tourist economy. The tree-lined French colonial streets, the Opera House, the local market, and the food scene are experienced alongside Vietnamese city life rather than in a tourist context.

The French Quarter

Haiphong’s city centre retains more intact French colonial architecture than many Vietnamese cities. The Opera House (1912), the old post office, and the blocks of tree-lined boulevard around Dien Bien Phu Street preserve the Indochine urban layout. The buildings are weathered and not all well-maintained, but the scale and density of surviving colonial architecture is genuine.

Food identity

Haiphong has a distinct local cuisine — banh mi dac biet (the Haiphong version of the Vietnamese sandwich, loaded with pate, ham, pickled vegetables, and egg) is considered one of the best in Vietnam. Local crab noodle soup (banh da cua) is the city’s signature dish.

Cat Ba connection

The Haiphong to Cat Ba ferry runs 4–6 times daily from Ben Binh pier. Journey time: 1.5 hours. Fare: ₫110,000–140,000 ($4.40–5.60). This is the main route between Hanoi and Cat Ba Island.

Many Hanoi–Cat Ba bus packages include the ferry — passengers travel by bus to Haiphong’s ferry terminal and board the boat without changing vehicles.

When to visit

Haiphong warrants a half-day stop rather than a dedicated trip. If travelling between Hanoi and Cat Ba, arriving from Hanoi in the morning, exploring the colonial quarter and eating banh da cua, then taking an afternoon ferry to Cat Ba is an efficient routing.

Haiphong gets hot and humid June–September. October–April is the more comfortable period for walking the city.