Want a Gym in Cat Ba?
Finding a gym in Cat Ba certainly took some searching. Initially it looked like there weren’t any, and I’d resigned myself to biking around the island daily to keep fit. But GGB doesn’t give up that easily. After arriving and asking around, I was told there is a hotel gym which is open to the public – yay! Then, after checking out every floor of the wrong hotel, I discovered I was in the wrong building entirely and located the correct one. Oops. So if you want a gym in Cat Ba, here it is:
Thanh Cong Hotel, Cat Ba
39 Nui Ngoc, Đảo Cát Bà
Opening Times: 5:00 – 9:00 and 16:00 – 20:00, 7 days a week
Cost: 30k a go.
Location
Thang Cong Hotel is located in the centre of Cat Ba town. You’ll find it easily up a flight of steps above a restaurant. Don’t do what I did and go into Thanh Cong 2, a completely different hotel nearby. I’d been directed there by staff at my hotel when I asked about a gym. No-one was on reception so I’d tried every floor of the building before concluding I must be in the wrong place. Spotting Thang Cong Hotel after leaving, I decided she must have meant there. Bingo, I was right!
The hotel is huge and staff told me the gym is on floor 10. Take the lift up to floor 9 and walk the final floor. I did so to discover it was empty (cool!) but locked (not so cool) at 7:30. Going back down, I asked staff to unlock it, and they seemed a little disorganised and struggled to find the keys, but 15 minutes after arriving, I was in.
Facilities
Typical of most hotel gyms, it’s not huge and has limited equipment. However it’s modern, attractive and has enough to do a reasonable workout if you’re not too particular. Take your own water and towel.
The overhead fans were satisfactory at cooling the room whilst I was there. There is aircon, although the remotes are in Chinese so I didn’t attempt to use them! It also looks like you can play your own music if you take your own lead for your MP3 player.
Weights
You’ll find dumbbell freeweights up to 15kg and one adjustable barbell. These are in addition to 3 bench press stations – flat, inclined and declined.
Resistance equipment is limited to a lat pulldown and a pec deck.
You’ll also see an abs bench, torso rotation equipment and an abs roller.
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Cardio
Thang Cong Hotel Gym contains two treadmills and two Spin bikes, along with a vibrating machine.
Functional Training
You’ll find a decent yoga mat here and plenty of floor space around the gym to do as you wish.
Summary
If you’re after a gym in Cat Ba, I recommend coming here. It’s very cheap at 30k and frankly, it’s the only option I found. It does the basics well and it’s clean and attractive with a good view of the city. I suggest you train during the morning session, and note the gym shuts at 9:00 all day until 16:00. When I looked in at around 17:30, it was packed out and not ideal, whereas at 7:30am I had it to myself.
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Hey there! I was at the Thành Công Hotel gym today and they moved the gym to the 2nd floor. They also upped the price to 50k for anyone interested! Thanks for the great articles, I visited many gyms here because of you🙌🏻
Hi, thank you very much for the update! Pleased you’re enjoying the site. 🙂
Thank you for letting us know! 🙂
as i write this comment on 8 may 2023, the hotel is no longer cooperatw with the gym, therefore no more gym available in Thanh Cong
20.10.2023
The gym is open again at Thanh Cong! (+one more 100k/visit gym on the island discovered, read below till the end)
This time it has moved to the hotel lobby (yes, really :D/or still on the 2nd floor as a commenter stated above??) You can see it right when you enter the lobby (up the stairs) They even have a sign outside stating “Thang Cong gym club” (or something like that)
-50k for one time visit
-sometimes, there is no one in the lobby to collect payment. Call/text the number on the counter and they come
-empty both times I went there (around 11-13 o’clock) = “private gym!”
-The equipment is “ok/doable”. Barbells are 10kg and have no bearings on the ends. Probably around 150kg of plates if you collect every single one from the gym. Not sure if the barbells can handle that kind of weight thou lol. Only one kinda a bad place to do pull-ups and no squat rack. Dumbbells end up about 15 kgs.
+There is also another “proper” gym on the island that a local showed me.
Search Google for “Sân bóng Cát Bà Sport”, it’s a huge white-roofed building that you can see on Google Maps. Roughly 15min walk from the Cat ba town “Center”. The gym is located on the east-facing side of this building (Right side when you enter the gate from the road) Go past the playing fields (badminton?) and you find it on the left on top of a short staircase. The is also a free calisthenics “park” in the yard of “Sân bóng Cát Bà Sport” on the left when you enter the main gate.
-100k for one visit
-weird opening times = from around 7-9 and then from 15-22 or something like that (closed between 9-15)
-proper equipment but quite a small space
-music is LOUD