April 2013 – We’re all hyped up for this next adventure. This time, we’re heading for Dalat. A city located on the central highlands of Vietnam, but in the southern area. It’s elevation is about 1.5 km above sea level. The city has a temperate weather, and is well known for it’s flowers, pine trees and french dominated architecture.

Driving up will take approximately 8 hours. Alternatively, you could fly up to Dalat with most local flights. We drove up to Dalat for the adventure of it and to enjoyed the countryside scenery. But we had to allocate 2 traveling days just for this.

Up in Dalat, weather was sunny in the morning but raining every afternoon. We were always lucky enough to be back at our hotel for lunch before rain started pouring. After the rain stopped around 3pm, we would continue our exploring.

Every night, we would head to the night market. We stayed in Tulip hotel, right in the heart of the city, so the market is just within walking distance. The night market is one of the best, if not the best in Vietnam, with very cheap goods even before bargaining. Locally made products, winter & autumn clothing, and Dalat vegetables are among things you could not get anywhere else at cheap prices.

Dalat is filled with numerous breathtaking sceneries, wonderful places to visit and exciting activities to do. I would list down below the places my family & I visited in the 2 full days we spent in Dalat, and places we did not have time to visit but would recommend to do so.

Day 1

Cable Car

 

Tuyen Lam Temple

Datanla Waterfalls

  

Bao Dai Summer Palace

Strawberry Farm

Flower Garden

 

Day 2
Crazy House

Valley of Love

XQ Cultural village

Dalat Flower Showroom

Xuan Huong Lake

Other recommended places nearby:
– Boat ride at downhill of Truc Lam lake
– Elephant ride on the other side of Truc Lam lake
– Prenn Waterfalls (10 km from Dalat city), also with cable car & elephant rides, ostrich rides
– Au Lac temple.

There are many more places to visit such as other pagodas & waterfalls that are a bit further. You may refer the following site for more info: http://www.visit-mekong.com/vietnam/dalat/attractions.htm