Visiting Cannon Fort Cat Ba Island — Everything You Need to Know

Written by the Beka Travel guide team on Cat Ba Island. We do not run a tour to Cannon Fort and we do not send guests up there, for reasons this guide sets out plainly. What follows is what we tell people who ask us about it.

Last updated: 1 August 2026

Quick Summary: What is Cannon Fort, and can you visit? Cannon Fort, also called Entrenched Fortification 177, is a hilltop military relic 177 metres above Cat Ba town, with two large anti-sea cannons, trenches, tunnels and a bomb-proof bunker. It is not currently open to visitors. Vietnamese tourism listings describe the site as having stopped receiving guests, and no official ticket is on sale. Treat it as a landmark you read about rather than a stop you plan around.

Perched 177 metres above the sea, Cannon Fort is one of Cat Ba Island's best known viewpoints, part military relic, part panoramic lookout. If you are mapping out your time on the wider Cat Ba Island Travel Guide, you will see it on almost every list of island sights.

What makes Cannon Fort stand out is that it works on two levels at once. It is a genuine piece of Vietnam's wartime history, with tunnels and cannons left in place, and it is also the highest easy-to-reach viewpoint over Cat Ba town and the bay. That mix is why it earns a spot on almost every itinerary, and it is also why so many guides still describe it as though you can simply turn up and walk in.

Is Cannon Fort open to visitors in 2026?

No. Cannon Fort is not open, and there is no ticket on sale. Vietnamese tourism listings describe the site as having stopped receiving visitors, one dates the closure to late 2023 for conservation work, and TripAdvisor now carries a permanent-closure notice on the listing. No reopening date has been announced by the city or the site's managers.

The date matters because it is widely misreported. Several English-language guides, including an earlier version of this page, said the fort closed in 2019. We could not find a single source supporting that year. Traveller reports of a closed gate start appearing in 2022, and Vietnamese listings put the formal closure in late 2023.

What does it cost to visit Cannon Fort?

Nothing, because nothing is for sale. When the site operated under formal management it opened to the public on 13 June 2010 and charged 80,000 VND per person. That ticket has not been sold for years, and no replacement has been announced.

What travellers describe instead is a man on the path collecting cash. Reported amounts range from 40,000 to 100,000 VND, there is no ticket and no receipt, and the outcome is inconsistent: some visitors are waved through, others are turned back at a barrier, and one 2024 review describes foreign visitors being refused while local visitors walked past.

We do not tell our guests to pay it. That is a deliberate editorial decision by Beka Travel, and here is the reasoning in full:

• You are not buying entry. No ticket, no receipt, nobody with authority behind the transaction. If you are stopped further up, the money does not help you.
• You are not covered. Travel insurance and our own operator cover both rest on you being somewhere you are entitled to be. A closed, state-managed military relic is not that.
• The ground is not maintained. The reason given for the closure is degradation. Unmaintained trenches, tunnel mouths and cliff edges are exactly where an ankle or worse happens, and there is no one on site to call.
• It is not a fair thing to ask of a guest. Sending international visitors to hand undocumented cash to an individual at a barrier puts them in an awkward position in a country whose rules they do not know. We are not willing to do that on Beka Travel's name.

If the site reopens with a published ticket, we will put the price here and say so.

Where is Cannon Fort located on Cat Ba Island?

Cannon Fort sits at 239 Cai Beo Street in Cat Ba town, about 3km from the town centre. A taxi or motorbike gets you there in a few minutes, and the road up the hill is public, so you can see the hill and the approach even though the site itself is shut.

Also known as Entrenched Fortification 177, the site includes tunnels, military trenches, and two large anti-marine cannons left over from the 1940s. Its position facing the sea on three sides gave Vietnamese troops a major tactical advantage during past conflicts, and it is that same position that made it the best view on the island when it was open.

What historical relics are inside Cannon Fort?

Cannon Fort holds several relics dating back to the 1940s, including an observatory, a bunker, a traditional room, and a love room. Each one tells a small part of the fort's story, and together they make the site feel like an open-air museum rather than a single lookout.

The descriptions below are drawn from the record and from the years when the site was open to the public.

Anti-sea cannons

The two large anti-sea cannons, each weighing tens of tons, are the fort's most eye-catching feature and the reason most visitors came. Standing beside them, with the open sea behind, was the shot almost everyone left with.

Observatory

Set at the fort's highest point, the observatory offers the best vantage point for admiring Cat Ba's natural beauty from above. It is the spot most people headed for first to get their bearings over the town and the bay.

Bunker

During wartime, the bunker sheltered Vietnamese soldiers. It later functioned like a miniature history museum, displaying military weapons of historical significance, and it was a cool, shaded stop on a hot afternoon.

Traditional room

This room keeps memorabilia from the island's wartime struggles, weapons, models, guns, and photographs. It gives useful context for everything else around the site.

Love room

Named for being the place where soldiers reunited with loved ones after long separations, the love room also served to boost morale among the troops. It is a small but memorable reminder of the human side of the fort's history.

U-shaped tunnel

This atomic bomb-proof bunker has a high-dome structure and could accommodate up to 500 people. It is very dark inside, which is one more reason an unsupervised visit to a closed site is a poor idea.

What about Fort Coffee?

Fort Coffee sat within the fortress area, where you could sip a coffee while using long-range binoculars to take in the landscape. As of the most recent guide we could find, updated November 2025, the café is reported to be no longer operating. Assume there is nothing for sale on the hill.

Where can you get the same view instead?

This is the useful part. Cannon Fort was never the only high ground on Cat Ba, and everywhere below sells you a ticket, keeps its paths, and lets you plan around it. Two of these are better than the fort ever was for a specific kind of photograph, and all four are open to you today.

For the summit walk, our Cat Ba National Park guide has the ticket routes and gate hours. For the cable car, see the Cat Ba cable car guide. For the beaches at the bottom of the walkway, see Cat Ba's beaches compared.

When is the light best on Cat Ba's high ground?

The timings below applied at Cannon Fort and still apply to the alternatives above, because the island's light behaves the same way whichever hill you are on. Plan around them rather than around a fixed opening time, and check the forecast, since low cloud in February and March flattens the view from any height.

• Sunset: arrive by around 16:30 to 17:00 to claim a spot before the light fades.
• Early morning: 07:30 to 09:00 gives a quiet, clear view once the morning mist lifts, before the day's heat sets in.
• Avoid midday: roughly 11:00 to 14:30 has strong sun and very little shade on high ground.

Our best time to visit Cat Ba guide has the month-by-month cloud and rain figures if you are still choosing dates.

What else fits a history-minded day on Cat Ba?

Plenty, and all of it open. The island's war history is genuinely worth a day, and the two sites below are both maintained, ticketed and straightforward to reach. Neither asks you to negotiate with anyone at a barrier, which is the whole point.

Pair Hang Quan Y hospital cave, a three-level military hospital built inside a limestone hill in 1963, with Trung Trang cave inside the national park. If you would rather turn the day into a trek, Beka Travel's guided Cat Ba National Park trekking and cycling day tour crosses the jungle core to Viet Hai village, and the tickets are handled for you.

Frequently asked questions

Is Cannon Fort still open to visitors?

No. Vietnamese tourism listings describe the site as having stopped receiving visitors, one dating the closure to late 2023, and TripAdvisor carries a permanent-closure notice. No official ticket is on sale and no reopening date has been announced. Plan your day around one of the alternatives above rather than around the fort.

Did Cannon Fort close in 2019?

We found no source supporting that year, and it appears to be an error that has spread between English-language guides, including an earlier version of this page. Traveller reports of a closed gate begin in 2022, and Vietnamese listings date the formal closure to late 2023. We have removed the 2019 claim.

How much does it cost to visit Cannon Fort?

There is no ticket. When the site operated under formal management from 13 June 2010 it charged 80,000 VND per person, and that ticket has not been sold for years. Travellers report a man on the path asking 40,000 to 100,000 VND in cash, with no ticket issued and no guarantee of entry.

Should I pay the person collecting money on the path?

That is your call, but we do not recommend it and we do not send guests to do it. The payment buys no ticket, no receipt and no right to be on a closed state-managed relic, insurance cover does not follow you in, and the ground is unmaintained. Several travellers report paying and still being turned back.

What can you see at Cannon Fort?

Highlights include two large anti-sea cannons, an observatory, a wartime bunker, a traditional memorabilia room, a love room, and a bomb-proof U-shaped tunnel that held up to 500 people. All of it sits behind a closed gate at present, so treat the list as background rather than an itinerary for this trip.

Where is the best sunset view on Cat Ba now?

With the fort closed, the honest answer is from the water rather than a hilltop. The national park gates shut at 17:00 and the cable car stops at 16:00, so neither runs late enough. A Lan Ha Bay day tour or an overnight departure puts you on deck for it.

Are there food and drinks available at Cannon Fort?

No. Fort Coffee, the one café inside the fortress area, is reported to be no longer operating as of a November 2025 update, and there were no other services on site even before that. Bring your own water and snacks anywhere you go on the island's high ground.

Planning the rest of your trip? Explore with Beka Travel

Cannon Fort is the one Cat Ba landmark where the honest advice is to take it off your list for now. We would rather tell you that than sell you an afternoon that ends at a barrier. Everything else on this page is open, ticketed and worth the trip.

Beka Travel holds 4.9 out of 5 from 1,140 reviews on TripAdvisor and won a Travelers' Choice award in 2026. Start planning at Beka Travel, and we will keep this page updated the day the fort reopens.

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