Da Lat is a beautiful mountain town in Vietnam's Central highlands. Around 3 hours in land from Nha Trang. Due to the high altitude and heavy rainfall it's surrounded by bushy mountains, waterfalls and the famous Da Lat flowers! The streets are lined with coffee shops and street sellers flogging fluffy ear muffs and big puffer jackets, (worlds away from what we've seen so far in Vietnam.)
For such a small town hidden away in the mountains, Da Lat has a lot to offer tourists, with a number of these being unique to Da Lat it self!
We went on a guided tour organised by our backpackers Mr Happy's Hostel and here's a list of the top 10 places we visited during our stay.
Lang Biang Mountain
Located just a short drive out of the city, following fields of famous Dalat flowers and crops you'll find Land Biang Mountain. Standing at 2,167 meters (7,110ft) above sea level, you'll be able to take in the incredible view of Da Lat and it's rich agricultural background.
Hang Nga Guest House - Crazy House
Da Lat is famous among many travelers thanks to Dang Viet Nga and her unique architecture. Dang Viet Nga studied in Moscow before heading to Dalat to build her somewhat strange fixtures. Crazy House is a strange cement guest house that doubles as a maze/mind boggling escape for tourists. We spent around 2 hours visiting all the rooms and climbing over the room of one of the buildings. If you really want to you can even sleep here!
Maze Bar (100 roofs)
Maze Bar is another interesting architectural spot famous in Da Lat. The name pretty much gives it away, Maze (You're going to get lost here) and Bar (you are going to get drink here) Add them both together, whats the worst that can happen?
Luckily, we had our guides from Mr Happy's Hostel showing us around the bar so we didn't get lost - but it's easy to see why. There are multi level turning stair cases and hidden drop downs that take you to different areas of the bar. My favourite spot being the cosy balcony where we could enjoy a few drinks.
Once you arrive, there's no entry for the bar, but you need to buy a drink to get in. I went for an alcoholic cookie dough smoothie, my partner had a vodka and lemonade. We visited twice, once in the evening and once in the morning. There's even a large back garden for you to sip in the sun!
Elephant waterfalls
We visited the Elephant water falls during a day tour with our scooter guides - it's a bit out of the city but 100% worth it. It's an incredible ride passing amazing views and long, winding roads. Be warned - if it's raining the ground is very slippy. You can view it from the top - but it's so much better hearing the water crash at the bottom.
Catch the Cable Car to Truc Lam Pagoda
We headed up to the cable car on our first day in Da Lat. It was only a 10 minute walk up the hill and pretty damn cheap. Once you reach the other side of the beautiful, grassy ravine - you'll find yourself at Truc Lam Pagoda. This stunning complex features a variety of traditional Asian architecture. You'll easily spot the Pagoda while you're walking around, and you'll even spot a few of the monks that live on the land while they go about their daily routine. You can either head straight back down the cab;e car to where you started; or if you want to explore more, I would highly recommend following the path around the fishing pond and making your way down to Xuan Huong Lake.
Xuan Huong Lake
Situated right in the middle of Dalat City, this artificial lake is shaped like a crescent moon and approximately 7km all round. It's surrounded by dense pine forests, green lawns and wonderful flower displays. It's great for those who love to walk (or even run)
The water is perfectly still, and on a brighter day works as a mirror image of the sky above. Grab one of the swan shaped peddle boats and go explore!
Linh An Pagoda
Linh An Tu Pagoda is somewhat over looked. It doesn't show up on many guides we found online but our tour guides brought us here after visiting the Elephant Falls.
The grounds are full of multiple buildings of worships and decorated with stunning art work and religious statues throughout. Our favourite being the Giant Happy Buddha in the garden behind the main hall.
Thien An Cricket Farm
Now this one is hit or miss. It's a weird set up of a wine distillery, petting zoo and cricket farm?
There's three sections you're able to walk around, the first being the wine distillery. We entered into an underground passage way that's filled with ceramic bottles/trophies - each containing different types of wine, it's a narrow walk around but still interesting for the short time you can cope down there. Once you're out the other end you're met by 3 crocodiles in a tiny pen with little water. This is where it gets a bit strange and off putting. Outside there were crocodiles, a deer and three big ass, scary ostrich! All in tiny cages that must be ancient.
Then you quickly run past the giant birds into the indoors zoo. This includes hedgehogs, rabbits and guinee pigs that you can pick up and pet (very cute, but too many in one cage again)
Get's weirder.... porkie pines! literally a family of porkie pines places in a tiny cement cage.. this is not a place for animal lovers - and last animal being the main attraction are the crickets. I did't know crickets could be so small, literally less than 1cm long there are baby crickets everywhere!
Last on your tour of the cricket farm is the wine testing. They had EVERYTHING, we tried grass wine, rice wine, snake wine and a few shots of 'Happy Water' (still no idea what that is) and tucked into some crickets while there too.
Pongour Waterfall.
By far the most famous in the area, Pongour Waterfall is a great day out! Easy to get reach view the wide gravel pathways, along with steps and rope that'll help you make your way down to the viewing point. Pack a picnic because it's the perfect place to stop and relax while you watch the water come crashing down the wide cliff face. You are able to walk onto the waterfall itself, but please be aware it is slippy and the signs do tell you not to!
Mr. Loc's weasel coffee farm
The majority of Weasel coffee and special wines come from Dalat, so we were super excited to head to Mr Loc's Weasel Coffee Farm to explore! (Michael loves coffee, i love cute weasels so win win!) If you are into coffee culture then this is the place for you, Weasel coffee is seen as one of the most Gourmet coffees in the world. Basically, a Weasel eats the coffee beans, his insides have special powers to make that coffee bean magical and then poops it out - and then its used like a normal coffee bean. Science.
Here they'll walk you through the process, you can see the fields of beans, the weasels (and some cute dogs) and at the end grab yourself a cup of Weasel coffee!
Stephanie xoxo
