Tuan Chau Island

Tuần Châu is not a place that people come to remember. It is a gate.

But this gate has a story of its own.

In 1997, a company called Âu Lạc Quảng Ninh was founded and set up its headquarters on Tuần Châu Island. At that time the place was still an island at the edge of the bay, reached mostly by water. At the end of 1998, the company finished a road across the sea. It was more than 2 kilometers long and 15 meters wide, and it joined the island to National Route 18. That road changed everything. An island that depended entirely on boats became a place reached by car, by motorbike and by bus.

But the greatest role of Tuần Châu is not as an island. It is as a port.

Tuần Châu Port 1 began operating in 2009. Its quay is 2,000 meters long. It can take more than 200 ships and boats, large and small, at the same time. The Tuần Châu International Passenger Port is usually called Port 2. Work on it began in 2012, and it was declared complete in 2015. Its quay is almost 7 kilometers long, and the water beside it is 15 meters deep on average. This is where thousands of tour boats set out every day to carry visitors into Ha Long Bay.

Standing at the port terminal and looking out over the berths, it is worth being clear about one thing. Tuần Châu itself is not a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The heritage site is Ha Long Bay and the Cát Bà archipelago, out there beyond the water.

UNESCO describes this site as a seascape of limestone. It covers 65,650 hectares and holds 1,133 islands and islets. It stands out for its tower karst landforms, worn by the sea over millions of years. It also stands out for its distinctive ecosystems. Tuần Châu is a departure point for services beside the heritage site, not its core.

That does not make Tuần Châu any less important. It shows the island's role clearly. This is where every trip out into the bay truly begins.

From Tuần Châu, the Heritage Management Board runs eight routes for visiting Ha Long Bay. Each one leads to a different corner of the bay. Route 2 passes Sửng Sốt Cave and Ti Tốp Island, and then Luồn Cave. Route 6 leads to Hòn Chân Voi and Vụng Ba Cửa. It goes on to Tùng Lâm Island and Hòn Cặp Bài. Route 8 is a coastal route between Tuần Châu Port and Nam Cầu Trắng Port.

Tuần Châu is also a ferry landing, with boats to Cát Bà and Gia Luận. This waterway links two heritage areas within the same stretch of sea. The crossing takes about 50 minutes and carries passengers over open water between two limestone archipelagos.

For many families, Tuần Châu is where each day on the bay begins and ends. The boat leaves from here in the morning and returns here in the evening. The most memorable moments are usually not at the port but out on the water, among limestone islands that stand straight up from the blue sea. But to reach those moments, one has to pass through Tuần Châu.

That is the role of this island. It is not a place to stay. It is a gate into one of the most beautiful natural wonders in the world.