Three days is the right length for a cool-climate hill town that is smaller than its reputation. Here is how to spend them, what it costs, and which parts of the Da Lat sales pitch to ignore.
Da Lat is a hill town at roughly 1,500m (4,900 ft) in the southern Central Highlands, and the reason to go is simple: it runs about 15 to 24C (59 to 75F) all year, which is ten or more degrees cooler than anywhere else in southern Vietnam. A Da Lat itinerary 3 days long is close to the correct length. It gives you the town, one full day out in the hills and one unhurried morning, without needing to invent things to fill the time. Most English-speaking visitors reach it from Ho Chi Minh City or Nha Trang, so that is where this starts.
Getting there, and getting around
From Ho Chi Minh City it is roughly 300km (185 miles). The overnight sleeper bus takes about seven to eight hours and saves you a night of accommodation, at an estimated 250,000-350,000d (roughly US$10 to 14). Flying into Lien Khuong Airport, about 30km (19 miles) out, is quicker; shared shuttles into town run an estimated 50,000-80,000d. From Nha Trang the road climbs roughly 135km (84 miles) over a pass in about four hours, and it is one of the better bus rides in the country.
- Sleeper bus from Ho Chi Minh City: about 7-8 hours, an estimated 250,000-350,000d (roughly US$10 to 14)
- Airport shuttle from Lien Khuong into town: an estimated 50,000-80,000d (roughly US$2 to 3)
- Rented motorbike: an estimated 100,000-150,000d (roughly US$4 to 6) a day, not including fuel
- Car with a driver for a full day: an estimated 900,000-1,400,000d (roughly US$35 to 55), sensible for a group or in the rain
Where to base yourself
Stay within walking distance of Xuan Huong Lake, the central market or the Hoa Binh area. That puts dinner, the night market and the taxi ranks on your doorstep and keeps the daily riding down. Dorm beds run an estimated 100,000-200,000d (roughly US$4 to 8), guesthouse doubles an estimated 300,000-600,000d, and mid-range hotels near the center an estimated 500,000-900,000d a night.
Day 1: the lake, the station and the night market
Arrive, drop your bags and do the town on foot. Xuan Huong Lake is the middle of everything and a full loop takes about an hour. Lam Vien Square, on the lakeshore, is a modern plaza with an enormous artichoke-bud sculpture that locals treat as the meeting point. Head east afterwards to the 1938 railway station, a French Art Deco terminus with three pointed roofs, and take an afternoon coffee at one of the hillside cafes looking over the valley.
After dark the night market takes over the streets below the Hoa Binh cinema. Eat there: grilled rice paper with egg and scallion, hot soy milk, and whatever strawberries are in season. It is loud, crowded and cheap, and it is the most enjoyable part of the town center.
Day 2: Langbiang, the tea hills and a waterfall
Give the whole day to the hills. Langbiang, the peak north of town, has a jeep service to the upper viewpoint for an estimated 80,000d per person on top of a park ticket of around 30,000-50,000d; you can walk instead if you would rather earn it. Then head southeast to the Cau Dat tea hills, roughly 20 to 25km (12 to 16 miles) out, where terraced rows run over the ridges and the old French-era tea and coffee estate still operates. This is the source of most of the arabica sold in Da Lat's cafes, and the coffee here is the real thing.
Drop back down to Datanla waterfall on the way home, where an alpine coaster runs down through the forest to the falls for an estimated 50,000-100,000d. Dinner should be lau ga la e, a chicken hotpot with a local aromatic leaf, at an estimated 60,000-150,000d a head.
Do the outdoor half of the trip in the morning. Cloud and mist sit on the tea hills at dawn and burn off by mid-morning, and by three in the afternoon the rain, if it is coming, has usually arrived.
Day 3: gardens, farms and the market
Keep the last morning light. The city flower garden charges an estimated 40,000-50,000d and is genuinely well kept. Strawberry and persimmon farms on the edge of town let you pick your own, usually at an estimated 120,000-200,000d a kilo. Finish at Da Lat market for the things worth carrying home: artichoke tea, dried persimmon, candied fruit and Cau Dat coffee.
What a Da Lat itinerary 3 days long costs
- Two nights of accommodation: an estimated 300,000-1,200,000d (roughly US$12 to 46) per person
- Motorbike hire and fuel for three days: an estimated 350,000-500,000d (roughly US$13 to 19)
- Food and coffee: an estimated 400,000-700,000d (roughly US$15 to 27)
- Entry tickets across the three days: an estimated 200,000-350,000d (roughly US$8 to 13)
- Total, excluding the flight or bus to get there: an estimated 1,300,000-2,700,000d (roughly US$50 to 105) per person
About the Little Paris branding
You will see Da Lat sold as the Little Paris of Vietnam. That oversells it. There are French-era villas, some restored and many not, and the climate is genuinely European. But the town center is dense, traffic-heavy Vietnamese urban sprawl, and a large share of the advertised attractions are paid photo sets, tunnel cafes and imitation European gardens built in the last decade. What is actually good here is the weather, the coffee, the produce, the pine ridges and the market. Plan around those and the trip is excellent; go looking for a preserved colonial hill station and you will be disappointed.
Practical notes
- Bring a warm layer and a light rain shell; evenings sit near 10C (50F) in the dry season
- Book ahead for weekends, Tet and the late-April and early-September holidays, when Da Lat fills with domestic visitors
- Ride the hills in the morning, when the fog has lifted but the crowds have not arrived
- Carry cash, because farm gates, market stalls and street kitchens mostly do not take cards
- Check the brakes on a rented bike before you take it up a wet hill
