Ha Long Bay among world’s most beautiful places: British magazine

British travel magazine Rough Guides has included Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay in its selection of the 100 most beautiful places to visit next year.
Ha Long Bay among world’s most beautiful places: British magazine ảnh 1Boats travel in Ha Long Bay (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – British travelmagazine Rough Guides has included Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay in its selection of the100 most beautiful places to visit next year.

In the Rough Guides to the 100 Best Places onEarth, the magazine describes “the scattering of limestone pinnacles juttingout of the smooth waters of Ha Long Bay”, around four hours east of Hanoi, asan “incredible sight”.

The bay is the only Vietnamese destinationin the list.

Since its recognition as a UNESCO naturalworld heritage in 1994, Ha Long Bay has entrenched itself on the global tourismmap, receiving rave reviews from travel bloggers and filmmakers.

Around 5.2 million foreigners visited thebay last year, up 22 percent year-on-year.

In addition to the popular kayaking andcruise tour, visitors can also book Ha Long Heli Tours, a new helicopter tour,through Fastsky, the country’s first helicopter service offered by ride-hailingfirm Fast-Go.

According to deputy head of the Ha Long BayManagement Board Nguyen Huyen Anh, as of late 2018, there were around 500 shipsoperating in Ha Long Bay, including over 160 overnight ships, and 121 vesselsoperating around the Cat Ba archipelago, including 59 overnight boats.

Ha Long Bay, literally “descending dragonbay”, is a must-see destination in Quang Ninh province in the northeast ofVietnam. It was twice recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 and2000.

The bay spans 1,553 square kilometres andincludes 1,969 islands of various sizes. It features thousands of limestonekarsts and islets in various shapes and sizes. The limestone in the bay hasgone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions andenvironments. The geo-diversity of the environment has created biodiversity,including a tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea biosystem. Ha LongBay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species.

This year, Ha Long Bay has been listedamong the world’s most beautiful sunrise spots in 2019 by the Microsoft Network(MSN). It was also labelled as one of the most mentioned global cruisedestinations on Instagram by British magazine Woman and Home; among the 25 mostbeautiful places around the world by the US’s Cable News Network (CNN), andamong the most popular attractions in Asia by the Hong Kong-based South ChinaMorning Post (SCMP).-VNA
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