Things to do in Da Lat
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Da Lat
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months. Dry, cool and clear, with canyoning, trekking, golf and flowers at their best.
Shoulder sweet spot. Rains ending, hills green, wild sunflowers blooming and prices below December.
Warmer and workable. Mornings stay good, rains build through June and afternoons get wet.
Worst for outdoor plans. Rainy season downpours, muddy trails, clouded views and slippery waterfall parks.
Rainy season tail in the May to October rains, with dry season dawn transitions prized by cloud hunters.
What's on
- Da Lat Flower Festival December, biennial
Biennial festival since 2005 with floral displays, parades, street carnival and trade events over several days.
Best things to do in Da Lat
Datanla Waterfall
Canyoning here is the main adventure draw, with waterfall abseils, a water slide and a zip line in one full day.
Crazy House
A climbable concrete tree house guesthouse with web bridges and themed rooms, best explored in the first hour.
Da Lat Night Market
The nightly centre of town for grilled rice paper, skewers, sweet tofu and strawberry stalls in cold night air.
Xuan Huong Lake
A flat 5 km lake lap for dawn or dusk walks, with mist on the water and coffee carts at the edges.
Truc Lam Zen Monastery
Ride the Robin Hill cable car over pine forest to a calm working monastery above Tuyen Lam Lake.
Linh Phuoc Pagoda
A pagoda covered in mosaics of broken glass and pottery, with a 49 metre dragon and an intense hell basement.
Da Lat Railway Station
Vietnam's oldest station, a 1930s Art Deco landmark and start of the heritage train ride to Trai Mat.
Bao Dai Summer Palace
The last emperor's preserved 1930s summer retreat, with Art Deco furniture and family photos in pine hill rooms.
Where to stay in Da Lat
Centre / Hoa Binh
first trip, all-round base
Walk to the night market, old centre cafes and tour pickups, best one or two streets back from the market.
Lake south and west shores / Tran Phu - Yersin
romance and the classic Da Lat feel
Grand hotels and villa streets facing Xuan Huong Lake, quieter and prettier, still close to the market.
Le Lai / Ana Mandara hill
resort-in-the-city stay
Restored French villas in gardens and pine shade about 2 km from the lake, with shuttles into town.
Ward 4 / Huynh Thuc Khang
characterful mid-range and boutique stays
Quiet villa lanes around Crazy House with small hotels, homestays and garden cafes, a walk or Grab to the market.
Tuyen Lam Lake
resort-only, golf and nature stays
Lakeside resorts near the monastery, Pinhatt trails and SAM Tuyen Lam golf, dependent on shuttles for town.
Trai Mat / Cau Dat side
farm-stay and cloud-hunting trips
Guesthouses among tea, coffee and hydrangea farms with dawn clouds at the door, 25 to 40 minutes from town.
Think twice about
- Night Market / Da Lat Market blocks and the Hoa Binh roundabout
Crowds, music and motorbikes until late, then market trucks and horns from about 5am. Bad for light sleepers.
- Prenn Pass / highway-edge motel strips south of town
Highway noise, no walkable food and a Grab ride for every coffee. Fine for one night with a car, poor as a base.
- Far hillside view homestays with unchecked access roads
Some sit up unlit, unpaved lanes that Grab drivers refuse after rain and are a hard walk with luggage.
Best restaurants in Da Lat
Lau Ga La E Tao Ngo
The essential Da Lat dinner: free range chicken hotpot with la e leaves, mushrooms and noodles on a cold night.
Banh Trang Nuong Chi Huyen
The local favourite stall for banh trang nuong, rice paper crisped over charcoal with egg, shrimp and chilli sauce.
Banh Can Le
Mini rice cakes baked in clay moulds over charcoal and dunked in warm fish sauce with pork balls for breakfast.
Nem Nuong Dung Loc
Build your own rolls from grilled pork, crispy rice paper shards, herbs and pickles with warm peanut liver sauce.
Banh Mi Xiu Mai Hoang Dieu
Da Lat breakfast in a bowl: pork meatballs in light broth with a warm baguette for dunking, busiest 6 to 9am.
Banh Uot Ga Long
Silky steamed rice sheets with shredded free range chicken, herbs and fish sauce, the connoisseur breakfast pick.
Kem Thanh Thao
Thick avocado puree under coconut ice cream at a plain family shop that has served this one dish for years.
Emai Italian Restaurant & Gardens
A Tuscan garden room with handmade pasta, smoked duck and house bread, the romantic mid range dinner in Da Lat.
Outdoor things to do in Da Lat
Datanla Waterfall
Book canyoning direct with a small group, early slot operator using named gear, not the cheapest hostel desk.
Elephant Falls
The raw waterfall of the three falls circuit, loud and spray soaked, reached by slippery rock steps.
Pongour Falls
A wide terraced cascade about 50 km south where you can walk behind the water curtain in dry months.
Lang Biang
Hike 4 to 5 hours through pine and evergreen forest to the true summit for views over Da Lat and Dankia Lake.
Pinhatt Peak
Trek to Pinhatt above Tuyen Lam Lake, picnic at the shore, then kayak or paddleboard on calm water.
Cau Dat Tea Hill
Leave at 4.30am to hunt the sea of clouds over tea hills at sunrise, with no guarantee the clouds appear.
Easy Riders Vietnam
Ride pillion with a local rider guide through coffee hills, flower villages and waterfalls at your own pace.
Dalat Palace Golf Club
Vietnam's historic highland course from the 1920s, with bentgrass greens and a 1930s clubhouse by the lake.
Best hotels in Da Lat
Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa
Restored French colonial villas in gardens with a heated pool and spa, the splurge to beat in Da Lat.
Dalat Palace Heritage Hotel
The 1922 palace hotel over Xuan Huong Lake, with wood panelled halls and the golf club next door.
Mercure Dalat Resort
A reliable modern colonial style resort from 2021, with stronger breakfast and maintenance than most mid tier rivals.
Crazy House
Sleep inside the sight in one of ten themed rooms and have the grounds to yourself after day visitors leave.
Le House Dalat
A small modern boutique on a quieter centre edge street, cited for high guest scores and free local breakfast.
Goldient Boutique Hotel
A centre edge boutique cited for top guest scores and buffet breakfast, a benchmark for similar Da Lat listings.
Mooka's Home
The backpacker base on Tang Bat Ho, with cheap dorms and private rooms 15 minutes on foot from the lake.
Cozy Nook Hostel
A small family run hostel known for shared family dinners, free tea and fruit, and quiet live music evenings.
Is Da Lat expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ₫1,000,000 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ₫2,800,000 a person |
| Splurge | ₫6,500,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Datanla Waterfall: a few days ahead
- Datanla Waterfall: a few days ahead
- Dalat Palace Golf Club: a few days ahead
- SAM Tuyen Lam Golf Club: a few days ahead
- The Dalat at 1200: a few days ahead
- Emai Italian Restaurant & Gardens: a few days ahead
- Le Rabelais: weeks ahead
- Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa: weeks ahead
- Book canyoning direct with a named operator 2 to 4 days ahead, a week in peak weeks, and confirm group size and gear.
- Book Friday and Saturday nights early. Domestic holiday weekends can sell the town out.
- Book named hotels 6 to 10 weeks ahead for December to February and Flower Festival dates.
- Almost everything else is walk up. Check the heritage train timetable on the day in town.
Is Da Lat safe?
- Da Lat is one of Vietnam's safest feeling towns. Watch bags in the night market crush and count dong carefully.
- The real risks are physical: cold water, slippery rock, sun at altitude, fog and wet pass roads.
- Nights can drop toward 10C in December to February and cheap rooms are often unheated. Pack a real layer and rain shell.
- Never canyon after heavy rain, and walk away from any operator who will not state group size and gear standards.
Da Lat travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Clay Tunnel is the consensus skip: a long ride for giant clay photo props.
- Valley of Love suits couples and families wanting a photo park, not travellers expecting a natural valley.
- Check recent photos on Google Maps before paying any farm or flower field entry, in case it is out of bloom.
- Ask the price before sitting at night market stalls without written prices, especially for seafood and hotpot extras.
- Taste civet coffee if offered but do not pay luxury prices for beans, given the caged civet production behind much of it.
Getting around Da Lat: public transport and more
- There is no useful public transport for visitors. Use Grab, walking in the centre and tour pickups.
- The centre is walkable but hilly, with intermittent pavements. Ride beyond the centre and lake grid.
- Lien Khuong Airport is about 30 km south. The shuttle bus is the cheap fix, Grab or taxi the door to door fix.
- Rent a motorbike only if you genuinely ride. Hills, rain, fog and pass roads punish beginners.
Who Da Lat suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Da Lat your trip
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