Da Lat is a city in Vietnam, located just 130 km from Nha Trang. It is the closest major city to Nha Trang, and as a result, a huge number of excursions are offered here from the coast. Da Lat is a mountain city, so tourists usually come here to see waterfalls, go hiking, and chill on terraces with sunset views in the evening.
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And here is my signature phrase: “I couldn’t even imagine that I would love it HERE so much.”
We spent 4 days in Da Lat, from December 31 to January 3, and we got around exclusively by public transport, on foot, and a couple of times we had to hitchhike.
Article Navigation:
- About the City of Da Lat
- Pongour Waterfall
- Datanla Waterfall
- Linh Phuoc Pagoda & Railway Station
- Best Cafes in Da Lat
- Where to Stay: Da Lat Hotels
- How to Get to Da Lat
- Da Lat Video Review
About the City
Da Lat is a city in the mountains, located at an altitude of 1,500 meters above sea level. Therefore:
- Da Lat Weather: In terms of degrees, it is colder here than in Nha Trang. We traveled for New Year’s, and while it was +27°C in Nha Trang, the forecast for Da Lat showed +22°C during the day and +13°C at night. Our biggest fear was freezing. In reality, it turned out differently: Da Lat is surrounded by mountains on all sides, so there is much less rainfall, and there are up to 300 sunny days a year. During our stay, it was partly cloudy during the day, but we walked in shorts and T-shirts. In the evening, after sunset, we took hoodies out of our backpacks. We definitely didn’t need any jackets. It actually feels much more comfortable than Nha Trang due to the lower humidity.
- Architecture: The city of Da Lat was built by the French in the 19th century. Many buildings from that era have been preserved, such as the Railway Station building. Overall, the architecture looks completely different from Nha Trang, and arguably much better. If you come to Da Lat on a guided excursion, you will likely have almost no time to just walk around the city itself. In my humble opinion, that’s a huge missed opportunity.
- One of the most famous attractions in Da Lat is the Crazy House. This is a hotel designed in a very non-classical way. You can book a room here, and during the day, tourists are allowed in for a tour for 40,000 VND.
Crazy House in Da Lat - The most famous attractions in Da Lat center: the Catholic Cathedral, the Flower Park, and the lake in the city center. Of course, you can rent a pedal boat on the lake. But in December it was quite chilly for boating, and there were hundreds of dead fish near the shores. This is another reason to allocate minimum time to city sights and maximize your time in nature.
Da Lat center, featuring the famous lake and lots of flowers 
Although Da Lat has separate flower parks, there are flowers everywhere here. On all the streets, in cafes, restaurants. It truly is the City of Flowers. - I would also highlight the Da Lat Central Market. This is the starting point for public transport, there are many restaurants and cafes, the huge lake is nearby, and you can search for interesting local goods at the market itself. Of course, we bought dried strawberries, they are excellent. You can taste other dried fruits, but they are too specific for our taste — with salt and pepper. Later in Nha Trang, we found the exact same dried fruits, but much cheaper.
The Hotline Hotel building is one of the most photogenic spots in Da Lat. Located next to the central market.
Da Lat Waterfalls
There is a huge number of waterfalls in the vicinity of Da Lat since it’s a mountain city. Usually, 5 main ones are highlighted: Elephant, Pongour, Gougah, Prenn, and Datanla. We decided that there is no point (or desire) in visiting all of them, so we picked the two most famous ones — Pongour and Datanla.
Pongour Waterfall (Thác Pongour)
Many travelers highlight Pongour Waterfall as the most beautiful not only in Vietnam but in all of Southeast Asia. Naturally, we couldn’t skip it and had to see it with our own eyes.
Entrance fee: 20,000 VND
Opening hours: 7:00 AM – 5:00 PM
On the waterfall territory, there is a toilet and several stalls where you can buy juice, beer, chips, and grilled sausages. Don’t expect proper food, but you can grab a snack.
Beer: 20,000 VND
Fresh squeezed orange juice: 25,000 VND
Previously, the site of the waterfall was a white clay quarry. Then nature adapted it to its needs, and that’s how the waterfall was formed. They say it is at its fullest from March to August. I read so many rave reviews that I expected to see nothing less than Niagara. Perhaps because reality didn’t match expectations, Pongour didn’t make the proper impression on me.
However, since it is a cascading waterfall and the water flow is not very strong, you can climb up it like stairs. Although there are signs everywhere saying that walking on the steps is forbidden and dangerous, it stops almost no one. I had fun, but my family didn’t join me.
How to get to Pongour Waterfall
Pongour Waterfall is located 50 km from Da Lat. If you are traveling by motorbike, you can skip this part. Google Maps will guide you to the right location without errors. We came here by bus. You need the red minibus #2 heading to Da Lac and 45,000 VND per person. Tell the driver you need to stop at the turn to the waterfall. From there, you need to walk 6.5 km. Unfortunately, there is no Grab taxi here to cover this distance. But there are moto-taxis waiting at the turn (unfortunately, we didn’t have time to ask their rates).
If you decide to walk, pay attention to the coffee plantations that will accompany you. Overall, the road is not difficult, but if it’s sunny, there is no shade.
Before such a long walk, we decided to get a bite to eat. There is only one eatery at the turn — Tiệm chay Trọng Đức. It is a vegan restaurant, but with a huge rating on Google. For 140,000 VND we bought one lunch for everyone: rice with a vegan casserole, soy meat, vegetable salad and cucumber soup, 2 yogurts, and 2 coconuts (yes, it sounds so-so, but it was really delicious).
As soon as we turned from the highway onto the road to Pongour Waterfall, a car stopped and offered us a ride to the waterfall. Two factors probably worked here — it was the New Year holidays, and many locals also travel around the country. And second, a small white girl often attracts attention. So traveling with children is sometimes easier than without them).
On the way back, we also hitched a ride to the highway, hoping to transfer further to our minibus #2. But since it was the last day of the weekend, the minibuses were overcrowded, and for almost 2 hours no one stopped. We had to hitchhike again to get to Datanla Waterfall.
Datanla Waterfall in Da Lat
Datanla is a super cool waterfall that we all absolutely loved, unlike Pongour.
How to get to Datanla Waterfall
Datanla is located just 5 km from Da Lat, on the same highway as Pongour, so it makes perfect sense to see them both in one day.
From Da Lat, you can take red minibus #2 or #3, which will take you right to the entrance of the waterfall.
You can also order a Grab taxi, and for less than 100,000 VND, it will take you there from almost anywhere in Da Lat.
When registering in the Grab app, you can enter our promo code to get a 30% discount on your ride. At the bottom of the app, select “Account” – “Referrals” – and enter antn36rw in the “Enter code” field.
And the most interesting route:
- Get to Da Lat Cable Car Station (you can even walk from the center of Da Lat, it’s only 3 km), and buy a one-way ticket for the cable car. A 10-minute walk from the cable car is the Truc Lam Zen Monastery. The views here are beautiful: a lake on one side, and a pine forest on the other. From there, you can walk to the entrance of Datanla Waterfall.Klook.com
What to see at Datanla Waterfall
Datanla is not just a waterfall where you pass through a fence, look at the water flow (like at Pongour), and that’s it. It is a huge park that includes many activities, such as a rope park, a zipline over the waterfall, and canyoning. There are actually 2 waterfalls on the Datanla territory, and you will move between them on special alpine coasters (toboggans), which caused wild delight for all of us.
Opening hours: 7:00 AM – 4:45 PM
At 4:45 PM, absolutely everything closes — ticket offices, paths to the waterfalls, food stalls. We arrived at the waterfall at 4:00 PM. We just didn’t have another choice — it was either now or never. Yes, we managed to see everything, but unfortunately, veeeery quickly. An extra hour would definitely not have hurt.
Entrance fee to Datanla Waterfall: There are several entrances here, so I decided to prepare an additional article about Datanla. Here I will just say that if you enter here, the cost of the alpine coaster round-trip will be 100,000 VND; but here it is 200,000 VND per person. The cheaper track (on the left of the map) is a bit shorter, and the more expensive one is correspondingly longer. The routes lead to different locations, but you can walk for about 10 minutes along a scenic forest path to get from one waterfall to the other, and ride back up on a different track, thus making a full circle.
Linh Phuoc Pagoda (Glass Pagoda)
One of the most famous attractions in Da Lat is the Linh Phuoc Pagoda. We have a separate detailed article about this pagoda. It is famous for being built from broken glass, marble, and porcelain bowls. It also houses the heaviest bell in Vietnam, a Bodhisattva statue made from 650,000 immortal flowers, and the longest dragon structure. In short, it’s not just a pagoda, but a record-breaker. Equally important, there are many scenic cafes surrounding it.
Absolutely all tourists go to the pagoda, even though it is located 6 km from Da Lat center. You can get here either by regular minibus #6 for 20,000 VND, or on an old retro train that has been operating here since the 19th century. Unfortunately, the Da Lat railway was destroyed during the Vietnam War and was never fully restored, but this short stretch to Linh Phuoc Pagoda remains. The Railway Station itself is beautiful, and many people come here just for a tour and a photoshoot.
Best Cafes in Da Lat
Since Da Lat is located between mountains, there is a huge number of cafes situated on the slopes. There are also often hotels located here. Initially, we thought about staying in such a hotel, because the sunrise would be amazing. But we decided that for us it was more convenient to live in the center, so we could at least walk around the center of Da Lat in the evenings.
After visiting Linh Phuoc Pagoda, be sure to stop by IXORA HOMESTAY & COFFEE. Unfortunately, they only serve drinks here, but they have an incredibly well-decorated huge territory. There are flowers, hot-air balloon-shaped gazebos, hammocks, and swings.
The most beautiful place for dinner is Peace Bistro.
There is no panoramic view here, but there is pure coziness. It is a small restaurant in the courtyard of a house with a stylish interior. In the evenings they light a fire, and you can drink a glass of wine with pizza after a busy day. For us, this was the best place in Da Lat. And if it rains, there are stylish tables inside.
Da Lat wine is very famous in Vietnam. We strongly advise against buying it. Even at Peace Bistro, they recommend taking Chilean wine. And we give you the same advice.
For breakfast, we found two great spots in the center:
An Cafe. We stumbled upon this place purely by accident: we saw a lot of greenery and lanterns. They cook delicious breakfasts all day and make amazing tea.
Bánh mì xíu mại Chén. This is a small family cafe where you can eat in the courtyard of the owner’s house. They have fried eggs, pho bo, and a cool courtyard with fish. These are exactly the kind of local spots you want to visit while traveling. It is also very cheap. Pho bo is 35,000 VND, fried eggs are 15,000 VND. Beautiful, stylish, clean, no plastic chairs and mountains of garbage under your feet.
An unusual bar:
100 Roof Bar (Maze Bar). By design, it resembles the Crazy House, but they actually have different creators. And while the Crazy House is almost always crowded, here there is a huge chance that during the day it will just be your group. The bar is a giant maze. At the entrance, you must buy any drink, which serves as your entrance ticket, then you go down to the -1 floor, where a 5-story maze opens up in front of you. A bunch of small stairs, passages, sometimes you even have to crawl. But at the exit (on the 5th floor), you find yourself in a wonderful garden. Here is the famous moon, and again a bunch of decorations. You can also play hide and seek here. But there is a chance you might not find each other)
And here I would like to mention my favorite street in Da Lat — the flower street, as we nicknamed it. It is a very narrow alley, which at first seems scary to turn into. But once there, you are amazed, because all the houses on this street are painted. And in the evenings, cute cafes open up here. I really wanted to eat sushi here, but we were always full when we walked past. I hope you do it for me.
Where to Stay: Da Lat Hotels
There are no problems with accommodation in Da Lat: you can rent a very cheap hotel without a window, there are luxurious villas, and cozy guesthouses with panoramic mountain views. I guess the key factor here is how you plan to get around.
The most interesting hotels are located on the slopes. The views there are mind-blowing, but for us, logistics was the primary concern. Of course, I must mention the Crazy House again. You can actually stay there!
We traveled during the New Year holidays, so hotel prices were higher, and many places were fully booked.
Among the budget options, we stayed at the Lemongrass Homestay. And we really liked it here: excellent location in the city center, close to cafes, shops, and the central market; breakfast is included, the rooms are huge, and some even have a terrace with a BBQ grill.
As you understood from the article, we travel exclusively by bus, so we chose accommodation right in the city center and did not regret it at all. On average, we walked about 20 km a day, so in the evening we just wanted to sit in a beautiful restaurant nearby. We picked hotels within a 2 km radius of the central market.
A downside of budget hotels in Da Lat is that they might not have windows at all, or the window might open into a shared hallway. So, read the room description carefully before booking!
How to Get to Da Lat
Buses from Nha Trang to Da Lat
A huge number of both sleeper buses and so-called VIP limousines run daily from Nha Trang to Da Lat.
A limousine is a minibus, but with wide, comfortable leather seats. Justina and I rode together on one seat and didn’t feel any discomfort. Travel time is about 3-4 hours, depending on the time of day. At night it’s faster, as traffic is lower. I strongly recommend taking motion sickness pills (like Dramamine) for the ride. The mountain roads make everyone dizzy, even those who have never had motion sickness before.
Vexere.com is a bus aggregator in Vietnam. Almost all carriers list their tickets here; you can easily buy a ticket and choose your seat. Notably, upon arrival, almost all carriers provide a free shuttle transfer to your hotel. Again, the availability of this option is indicated right away when purchasing a ticket on the site. On Vexere, prices for the Nha Trang – Da Lat route are about 30% lower than on 12go.asia. You don’t need to print the e-ticket.
For our journey back from Da Lat, we took a sleeper bus. You can buy tickets directly from the carrier FUTA Bus Lines.
It was a standard sleeper bus with leather seats, though quite narrow. In Nha Trang, they dropped us off right at our house, without any extra charge. And the bus ticket price was record-low — 165,000 VND. You don’t need to buy a ticket for a child if you share one seat with them.
There are no direct flights between Da Lat and Nha Trang.
How to get to Da Lat from Ho Chi Minh City
It is about 300 km from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat, but since the route goes through the mountains, the bus ride takes about 8 hours.
You can also get here by sleeper bus, search for tickets on Vexere.com or 12go.asia.
You can also fly by plane for an average of 800,000 VND. I recommend looking at tickets on Trip.com. They have excellent prices and accept international cards smoothly. For us, this is currently the best replacement for other aggregators, especially in Asia.
Da Lat Video Review
Happy travels! =)
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