The BBC appreciated that the amazing landscapes in Halong Bay is spotted and portrayed by limestone "pillars", domes, and caves. These rocks were formed from sea's level rising and reducing during the last 500 million years. With thousands of small and large islands, Vietnam has been protected from being invaded. Apart from Halong Bay in the list, there are other amazing landscapes and rocks in the world: Fairy Chimneys of Turkey, Eye of the Sahara of Mauritania, The Great Blue Hole of Belize, Moeraki Boulders of New Zealand, Zhangye Danxia of China, Valley of the Moon of Argentina, Wave Rock of Australia, Chocolate Hills of the Philippines, Giant's Causeway of Northern Ireland, Bryce Canyon National Park of Utah, Vermillion Cliffs National Monument of Arizona, Cave of the Crystals of Mexico, and San Andreas Fault of California.
Halong Bay is located in the Northeast of Vietnam, a part of the Gulf of Tonkin including the waters of Halong City, Cam Pha town, and Van Don Island District. Halong Bay is near Cat Ba Island in the southwest, near the mainland with a 120-km coastline. Halong Bay has an area of 1,553 square kilometers, including 1969 islands (989 named islands and 980 ones unnamed). Halong Bay - the National World Heritage in Vietnam is recognized with an area of 434 square km with 775 islands. It looks like a triangle with three tops as Dau Go Grottoes in the west, Ba Ham Lake in the south, and Cong Tay Island in the east.
Halong Bay is one of unique heritages in Vietnam which hides important traces in the formation and development of earth's history, the cradle of the Vietnamese ancient residents, while the bay is also the artwork of the great visual nature with the presence of thousands of diversified stone islands with many interesting caves clustering into a vivid and magical world. Besides, Halong Bay is the home to a high biodiversity with typical ecosystems of thousands of abundant and diverse flora and fauna species. It is also associated with cultural and historical values of Vietnam.
Aesthetic values of Halong Bay – one of the most famous destinations in Vietnam are portrayed by a system of rocky islands and beautiful caves. Islands in Ha Long are categorized into two types of limestone and schist islands, concentrating in two main areas (southeast region - Bai Tu Long Bay and southwestern part of the bay. This is the oldest image of terrain tectonic aging from 250-280 million years ago because of tectonic motion. The process of karst erosion, weathering almost created a unique Halong Bay in the world.
Among hundreds of stone islands, each island carries a lively different shape. Such attractions in Halong Bay as Man head's Islet, Dragon Islet, La Vong Islet, Canh Buom (Sail) Islet, Fighting Cocks Islet, and Dinh Huong Islet (Incense Burner Islet)... Hiding behind the rock islets and islands, there are wonderful and spectacular caves and grottoes such as Thien Cung Cave, Dau Go Grotto, Sung Sot Cave, Trinh Nu Grotto, an and Three Caves Grotto which are associated with many miraculous legends. They are castles of the Creator on earth. For hundreds of years ago, Halong Bay was dubbed "landscape wonder amid the heaven". Over the time, Halong Bay is voted as one of 10 most attractive destinations in the world. Also, the bay is listed in top 26 wonderful destinations in the world. And, it is voted in Top 8 most green space in Asia.