“City of eternal spring”, “City of love”, “The little Paris of Viet Nam”, DaLat stays on our mind with all the love and misses. DaLat is a combination of modern and classic looking city. Standing at over 1500 m (4900 ft) above sea level on the Langbian Plateau in the Southern parts of the Central Highlands region. With the advantage of places and location, DaLat always has an easy weather through four seasons. The stunning of DaLat is closely connected with the beauty of flowers.
Season
When the spring comes, it is the perfect time for blooming flowers. Along with numerous beautiful flowers, cherry blossom is grown in Da Lat and often blooms in the spring, the image has become the symbol of the city of fog. With many species of white cherry, peach, cherry ... but a harmonious combination of Southern apricot blossom in the South and pink of cherry blossom in the North is truly the signature of DaLat. For the beginning of the season, cherry apricots are slightly pinkish, when spring starts to ripen, they turn to dark pink. The air is fully filled with this lighting and elegant scent. This is also the ideal time for going travel.
Goodbye the exquisite of spring, summer on DaLat softly continues for the four-season rotation. Different with the spring, summer in DaLat is not as hot as in other regions, but only in the midday noon and when the sunset falls. The Central Highland is still cool. Moreover, this season DaLat is also given the color of purple flowers. All things combine just in one picture of dreaming heaven.
DaLat wears another kind of colors when it turns itself in autumn. Yellow from the immortal daisies - a symbol of love is the special color of DaLat in this season. Tourists can enjoy daisies flowers in Than Tho Lake or at the foot of Prenn waterfall at this time. It also may be the gorgeous yellow of tree marigold blooming throughout the inner city and the suburbs of “Little Paris”. The special things about this flowers are they decline to live and sacrifice for the life without waiting for someone to cultivate or care.
And closing for the end of the rotation of season, the white color appears to cover almost every corner of DaLat. Winter in DaLat is very interesting. The white-breasted field stretched out to meet the first cold wind and drank the dew drops that covered the hillsides. The tiny small white dots cover the green land make DaLat become more adorable in our eyes.
Valley of love (Vallée d’Amor) Park
The first time I saw this park, I just being overwhelmed by how stunning this scene can be. Located about 5km from the center of DaLat city, the valley is placed at 7 Mai Anh Dao, Ward 8, Dalat City, Lam Dong Province. The vast green forests with hundred types of flowers, this place just like a “flower party”. A scene cannot be more perfect for those who are in love, to experience the romantic, sweet moments together. Beside that visitors also can participate in a variety of the activities of such as duck riding, canoe trips on the lake, double bike, picnic,… Especially the Valley of Love is the only place to hold the Valentine's Day 14/2 every year in Da Lat.
Tickets to visit the Valley of Love: Adult: 100.000VND, children: 50,000VND
Thien Phuc Duc Hill
If you are a lover of art, if you are interested in exploring and you are the nature lover, Thien Phuc Duc Hill is a destination you should not miss when traveling Dalat. Located opposite LangBiang Mountain, 6km far from Dalat city center, this is one of the most strange places with tourists. However, the hill is not too high so it only takes about 20 minutes to walk up to the top, and witness the eye, admires to feel a natural beauty. The best time to record the perfect picture is in the dawn when the night and fog still cover the space. The atmosphere on the hill is still dreaming in the dream, making your eyes as motionless by the strange charm. In order to catch those beautiful moments, you should camp overnight at Thien Phuc Hill. In the middle of the mountains like that, but nothing is scary, everything is very interesting and wonderful with new experiences. Dalat in any season, the night still many fog, and low temperature, so if you intend to camp, you also need to prepare all the furniture and equipment such as sleeping bags, blankets, hot water, insect repellent, ... to stay safe and healthy during the trip.
Cau Dat Farm
This is my most favorite destination in DaLat. It is located in Cau Dat hamlet, Xuan Truong, 20 km south-east of Dalat city. This is a totally free travel destination. From the first look, you will be overwhelmed, surprised by the green space of the farm. All together just combine into one whole picture that full spirit of Earth and Sky. Standing in front of Cau Dat hill, you will want to embrace all that beautiful scenery in your heart, wish for time to stop forever to delight in the fresh at 1650 m compared to sea level.
The way to Cau Dat Farm is not too far, just about 25 km which take about 30 minutes to drive. The bonus point here is a beautiful road, easy to drive and the scenery along the road is full with the thousand of pine trees and the ancient architecture of the house.
My suggestion that you should go in the early morning. At that time you can wholly feel the air of DaLat, a little bit cool and little bit warm, it just makes you feel energy to travel for the entire day. Get yourself into the natural area which help you can forget all the boring of daily life and forget the crowded in the city.
Nha Van Hoa Thanh Thieu Nien
If you are traveling in Dalat and want to find yourself a place to shoot this place can create an amazing background for your photos. It located at 13 Dinh Tien Hoang, ward 2, Dalat City. The first thing to say about this area that it is wide. Of course, it's not a huge area, it's just big enough to fit any concept you want. This place it is the most famous place for young people in Vietnam. It’s also for free, it just cost you 5000 VND to keep the car.
Dalat Train Station
Worked in 1943, Dalat Railway Station is little however offers intriguing unique ticket windows with a wood-consuming steam prepare. Guests can likewise bounce on for a short ride of around 5km after the historic line to a modest town named Trai Mat and enjoy the countryside along the way. The train works around five times per day and needs no less than a gathering of four to five individuals to have the capacity to make the trip.
Dalat Railway Station – They have the best 5 things:
- The highest station
- The most beautiful station
- The oldest railway station along with Hai Phong
- The terminal has the only steam locomotive in Vietnam
- The most unique station
Train ticket price for Dalat Trai Mat for foreigners:
VND 170,000 / person and VND 150,000 / person for one way ticket
Note: One way tickets apply for groups of 10 people or more. The price for the delegation and you should call the reservation.
Opening Hours: Daily from 08:00 – 17:00
Location: Northeast of Xuan Huong Lake, off Nguyen Trai Street
Cu Lan Village (Sloth Village)
Cu Lan village is located at the foot of Lang Biang Mountain (Dalat), 20 km from Xuan Huong Lake and Cu Hill. The village is about 30 hectares, most of the people of K'ho live here. If you just look through the village gate, you will often be disappointed that there is nothing interesting to explore. But as deep in, visitors will feel love with the rustic array of green colors that the nature give here. If you want to go to Cu Lan Village, you have to buy a ticket cost about 20-30000 VND. This is the place where all visitors stop for check-in. Or if you want to try strong feelings, you can rent Jeep ride through the stream for 100,000 VND per person.
The name of the village is explained by the name of the tree that grows over the interstitial pine forests, enveloping and retaining the wildness of the scenery here. In addition, around the village is the habitat of the cute animal named Cu Lan which have a "big round eyes most beautiful in the world".
In the beautiful natural space of the mountains, the cold fresh air, this will create the perfect time for camping and playing outsides with friends, family and lover. Here they have many interesting outdoor activities such as kite flying, forest chicken hunting, spring fishing, mountain climbing, rafting ... People can directly link with the nature.
Dalat Market
After 5 pm, all venders along the road to Da Lat market quickly appear. The atmosphere of the night market in Da Lat is bustling up. If you are a food-lover, definitely you should not miss this place. Most of the foods sold in this area are just hot stuffs to fit with the cold air. From the slope down to the market, there are many small shops, or strollers that sell souvenirs. In addition to the restaurants, visitors can enjoy many popular dishes, unique and very convenient like steamed corn, sweet potatoes, grilled squid ... There are also roasted skewers such as chicken wings, grilled chicken thighs.
Basically you can find everything here including cheap winter cloths (in case you are not prepared for Dalat’s cool weather.) Check out the market’s food court for local specialties.
Opening Hours: Daily
Location: Opposite Hotel Anh Dao, on Nguyen Chi Thanh, Central Dalat SHOW MAP
Xuan Huong Lake
This place can be seen as “the heart of Dalat”. Xuan Huong Lake located in the center of the city which is 32 hectares wide, with an average depth of 1.5 meters.
Every year, on the special occasion like Noel, Lunar New Year, cherry blossom stars blossoming around the lake which create a romantic picture. The local people usually go to this lake in the early morning for exercise, walking, breathing the fresh air of Dalat and drinking hot soy milk. In the afternoon, this place turns to crowed place in the city. There are many attractive activities like couple bicycle riding around Xuan Huong Lake is famous among others. This can be the ideal destination for someone want to explore about the life style of local people.
Truc Lam Pagoda
The pagoda is located 5km from Dalat city center, on Phung Hoang mountain, above Tuyen Lam Lake. This is not only the largest monastery in Lam Dong, but also the famous tourist attraction of many domestic and foreign tourists.
Going up from Tuyen Lam Lake is a road with 140 steps, the two sides are soaring through the three gates to enter the main entrance. From the main view down is Tuyen Lam Lake, the scenery here is very beautiful, the lake in light blue with a thousand of pines tree growing next together.
The special thing about this place is they have the special flower named hortensia flowers growing around pagoda. The smell makes this place becomes more peaceful and relaxed.
