Da Lat

Located in the highland that belongs to Lam Dong Province, Da Lat is a great destination for all tourists. The city has its tourism development for a long time. This is an ideal city with romance and great climate for peaceful holidays of the couples, families.

How to get in

Da Lat City is located far from Ho Chi Minh city about 300km, from Nha Trang about 140km, from Phan Thiết 160km. There are some popular route called the gold route for tourists to discover the highland and the beaches like Ho Chi Minh City – Da Lat – Nha Trang or Ho Chi Minh City – Da Lat – Phan Thiet or Ho Chi Minh City – Da Lat – Nha Trang – Phan Thiet.

The most popular mean for transfer from the neighbor cities is the buses and coaches.

From Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat, you spend about 8 hours by bus to come. There are some good companies to apply the transfer services to the city like Thanh Buoi, Phuong Trang, Mai Linh and Sinh Café. For your booking bus ticket, you can contact these companies with the details as below:

Thanh Buoi Office: 266-268 Le Hong Phong Str., District 10, HCMC; Tel: 08 308090

Phuong Trang Office: 274-276 De Tham Str., District 1, HCMC; Tel: 08 38375570

Mai Linh Office: 292 Dinh Bo Linh Str., Binh Thanh District, HCMC; Tel: 08 39393939

Sinh Café: 246-248 De Tham Str., District 1, HCMC; Tel: 08 38389593

In the case that you love to save your time for transfer, you can take a flight from Ho Chi Minh City. The flight duration is about 50 minutes. It arrives in Lien Khuong Airport and then you spent about 20 minutes by bus or taxi from the airport to Da Lat Center.

Go around

For going around the city, you can take a bus, moto-taxi, motorbike and bicycle. There are the offices that offer service of transportation in the center of the city. It is not so difficult to find out an office to hire the mean as you love to have. To hire a bicycle or a motorbike, you just give your passport and can take it for a day long from place to places.

There are a lot of things to explore in Da Lat city. The most popular destinations for you’re visiting as Da Lat Market, Xuan Huong Lake, Love Valley, and City’s Flower Garden, Da Lat Train Station, Strawberry Garden, Dalat’s Flower Villages. If you love to discover the city architectures, you can come to Domaine De Marie Church, Con Ga Church, Linh Son Pagoda, Linh Quang Pagoda, Bao Dai Palace, Crazy House, Truc Lam Zen Monastery, etc. If you are person who love the adventure and nature, there are the places for you to explore like Tuyen Lam Lake, Langbiang Mountain and many waterfalls in the city such as Camly, Prenn, Datanla, Hang Cop, Ponguor, Liliang and Voi waterfall attached with famous Linh An Pagoda.

The weather

People said that Da Lat is an ideal city for holidays, so you can visit it all year round. However the best time for your travelling in the city is from the middle of November to April because for these months, the climate is so good without rain; also it is cold a little bit.

From May to October, it is rain in Da Lat. To choose the good time for travelling in this period, you are advised to come in May, June and the end of October to avoid the drizzle.

Food and drink

Da Lat is called the home of vegetable and some fruits such as strawberry, avocado, passion fruit and persimmon. So the impression here about the local food and drink that focuses on the fresh vegetable and these fruits firstly and then some other specialties like jams, candies, wines and bottled juice.

For food: There are some famous local dishes that you should not miss a chance to taste like bánh bèo chén Da Lat – a rice round cake, bánh căn – a type of rice cake cooked in the shape with small and round holes, bánh ướt lòng gà – stuffed pancake in Da Lat’s style, baked rice cake, nem nướng – grilled pork patty, chả ram bắp – crispy, fried sweet corn and rice paper rolls, bò kho – beef stew enjoy with bread, bánh tráng called Da Lat pizza, mì Quảng – noodle soup in the Middle’s style, etc.

There are some addresses for your enjoy the dishes as:

Thung Lung Ca Restaurant: located in Phan Chu Trinh Str., Da Lat; serve many dishes

Long Nga Restaurant: 04 Yersin Str., Da Lat; serve many dishes

Hung Phat Restaurant: 01 Quang Trung Str., Serve many dishes

Thanh Thuy – Xuan Huong Lake Restaurant: 02 Nguyen Thai Hoc Str., Da Lat; serve dishes in Asian and European style

Hoang Anh Restaurant: H100 Nguyen Thi Nghia Str., Da Lat; serve European dishes

Hoa Sen Restaurant: 62 Phan Dinh Phung Str., Da Lat; serve veteran dishes

Thong Reo Restaurant: A2, Ankoret, Da Lat; serve grilled dishes

Local small restaurants locate in the center of Da Lat: serve Da Lat’s dishes.

For drink: Da Lat is the home of famous wine including red wine and white wine. Beside, the city has the factories where produce the fresh juice from strawberry and passion fruit and some other juice type as well. The city is also the place where you can enjoy the great coffee, tea, hot soy milk, green bean and peanut too. This is one of the favorites for all tourists to warm their self in the cold in the city.

You can buy the wine and bottled juices in the local market, some stores in the center city or in the showrooms where you visit. In the case that you love to enjoy the drink you can come to the famous café in the city such as:

Song Vy Café : 22 Nguyen Du Str., Da Lat City

Thien Ha Cafe : 44A Phan Dinh Phung Str., Da Lat City

Tung Café: Hoa Binh Area in the center city

Moc Café: 34 Hai Ba Trung Str., Da Lat City

Cung To Chieu Café: 27K Le Hong Phong Str., Da Lat

Dalat Night Café: 04 Dong Da Str., Da Lat City

Windmills Coffee: 133 Phan Dinh Phung Str., Da Lat City

Dalat Train Villa Café : Quang Trung Str., Da Lat City

Villacafé Penseé d’Art: 17 Đang Thai Than Str., Da Lat City

Staying

Da Lat is the city for travelling a long time ago, so it is not difficult for you to find out the best hotel for your staying. There are some luxury hotels and deluxe hotels but there are also the hotels or hostels I the average level that you can choose to save the payment.

There are some addresses as you may concern:

Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa: 5*, Le Lei, Ward 5, Dalat City, the resort is located nearly Camly Waterfall

Ngoc Lan Hotel: 4*, 42 Nguyen Chi Thanh Str., Dalat City

Saphir: 4*, 09 Phan Nhu Thach Str., Ward 1, Dalat City

Sai Gon Da Lat: 4*, 02 3/2 Str., Ward 4, Dalat City

Ngoc Phat: 3*, 10 Ho Tung Mau Str., Ward 3, Dalat City

Best Western Plaza: 3*, 09 Le Dai Hanh Str., Dalat City

River Prince: 3*, 135-145 Phan Dinh Phung Str., Ward 2, Dalat City

Le Petit Paris: 3*, 05 Mai Hac De Str., Ward 6, Dalat City

Empress: 3*, 05 Tran Quoc Toan Str., Ward 1, Dalat City

Cam Do: 3*, 81 Phan Dinh Phung Str., Dalat City

Ngoc Giang: 2*, 21 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Str., Ward 1, Dalat City

Phuong Huy: 2*, 125 Bui Thi Xuan Str., Ward 2, Dalat City

La Pense: 2*, 09 Bui Thi Xuan Str., Ward 2, Dalat City

Hai Uyen Hotel : 67 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Str., Dalat City

Nhu Anh Hotel: 33 Vo Truong Toan Str., Dalat City

Tam Dung Hotel: 18A Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Str., Dalat City

Hoa Hong Villas: 35 Tran Binh Trong Str., Dalat City; serve the families or big group

Villas No 14: 01 Quang Trung Str., Dalat City; serve the families or big group

Shopping

Dalat is a city for visiting and it is also the city for shopping for fun. There are specialties for you to buy like wool products, embroideries, dried flowers, jams, wines, tea and coffee, bottled juices, fruits and fresh flowers.

There are some addresses for you to go shopping:

Dalat market: located in the center of the city; supply all products that you need

Tra HaiYih: Pham Ngu Lao Str., Dalat city; supply the tea

Tam Chau Showroom: 02 Tran Nhan Tong Str., Dalat City; supply the tea

L’ang Farm: Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Str., supply the tea and herbal products

Thanh Uyen: 125A Tran Quang Khai Str., supply atiso and atiso products

Wine Factory: 31 Ngo Van So Str., Dalat City

Wine Showrooms: in the center of Da Lat

Kieu Giang: 223 Bis Mai Anh Dao Str., Dalat City; supply jams

Phuong Lan: 48 Phu Dong Thien Vuong Str., strawberry garden; supply strawberry products

Dalat Specialties: 01 Le Hong Phong Str., Dalat City; supply jams, candies, bottle juices, etc

Ky Vong Showroom: 10 Truong Cong Dinh Str., Dalat City; supply the embroideries

Thu Ha Showroom: 02 Nguyen Chi Thanh Str., Dalat City; supply the embroideries

Apex Company: 02 Nguyen Van Troi Str., Dalat City; supply wool products

Dalat Hasfarm: 16B Nguyen Chi Thanh Str., Dalat City; supply fresh flowers

 Culture, Holidays and People

Dalat People are well known by their elegance. So most of all tourists who come to Dalat, they have their feeling in the same way of return the home. The landscape, climate seems to make the people to be calm, friendly and approachable more and more.

If you have time to stay long in the city, you are easy to connect with Dalat people as friends and neighbors. In the case you have not much time for staying, of course you are respected as honored guests. And if you are in Dalat on right time of the local holidays, you have chance to join as local people. There are some big events in Da Lat as Festival Flower that happened each two years (usually organized in the end of year), Tea Festival happened each year  and some holidays of ethnic group in the city like Dam Trau Festival happened in March or April, Cong Chieng Festival happened each year, etc.