Dalat is the ultimate hideaway for peace seekers and all types of travelers. Dalat is a perfect highland foggy town to spend your time daydreaming. With romantic scenery and the beautifully bend of local culture and vintage vibe facilities, Dalat can charm every soul. But do you know all the best things to do in Dalat yet? Check out our list below.
Best Things to Do in Dalat
1. Have fun at the Crazy House
A hotel turned a fantasy park for children and those who love architecture and design. Crazy House is actually Hang Nga Villa, constructed and designed by architect Dang Viet Nga with a striking appearance which can impress any passersby.
Inside the house, there’re 10 rooms named after an animal or plant. You will be staying in the tiger room or ant room or kangaroo room, etc. Each room has to itself a distinctive look serving faithfully the purpose of bringing the guests into a whole new world.
Get on the top of the house where you can enjoy a splendid view of Dalat city from an unusual house setting. This house is also constantly listed as one of the most bizarre buildings in the world.
Opening houses: 8:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Admission: 40,000VND/person
2. Relax at Tuyen Lam Lake and Truc Lam Zen Monastery
Looking for a place to refresh yourself and enjoy the beautiful nature in Da Lat? Tuyen Lam Lake is the place where you can do exactly that. Located on a height of 1000m above the sea, and only 5km south of the city’s center, right on the Prenn Pass.
Xuan Huong Lake is lovely but Tuyen Lam is just divine, especially during October or November, when the lake’s surface turns all foggy and dreamy.
To enjoy the feeling of floating on this beautiful lake, you can rent a boat with a fee of 200,000VND for a round trip. You can rent it with a group to make it cheaper.
Near Tuyen Lam is the Truc Lam Zen Monastery – a peaceful place to seek for spiritual inspiration. From the monastery, you’ll enjoy not only the breathtaking view of Tuyen Lam lake but also the unique Buddhist architecture.
3. Short visit to Bao Dai’s Palaces
Swing by the summer palace or the King Palace of the last emperor of Vietnam to enjoy beautiful pieces of French architecture.
The Summer Palace in Dalat was built in 1933 and used as a Bao Dai’s summer retreat to get away from the tropical heat. Inside the palace are the furniture and personal possessions of Bao Dai.
The King Palace's most highlighted feature is the lovely flower garden in the front courtyard of the palace. The garden is a wonderful spot for a couple to take photos and spend time together with each other.
Location: 1 Trieu Viet Vuong, Dist. 1, Dalat, Lam Dong
4. Admire the architecture of Dalat Main Church
Come to Dalat Main Cathedral to admire the beautiful French architecture in Dalat. The cathedral was built in 1931 and completed in 1942 and served mainly as the worshiping place for French colonialists back in the days.
Location: 15 Tran Phu Street
5. Enjoy embroidery at XQ Historical Village
Even if you’re not a fan of embroidery, a visit to Dalat’s XQ Historical Village would be an interesting experience. You’ll be enjoying the paintings, hand-embroidered works and delicately stitched on site.
You’ll have a feeling of entering an art gallery instead with all the colors and talents being showcased here. XQ is a brand focusing solely on high-quality Vietnamese hand embroidery with products so perfect to be gifts and souvenirs.
XQ Historical Village also has a very unique and vintage assembly hall. Don’t miss this place.
Location: 80A Mai Anh Dao Street, Dist. 8, Dalat'
6. Visit Van Thanh Flower Village
Only 3km away from the city center of Da Lat, Van Thanh Flower Village is a perfect place to chill out and enjoy the beautiful colors of nature. A fun fact for you: Van Thanh is the first place to grow lavender in Da Lat.
The village was founded by migrants from Ha Nam back in the 50s and from the 60s, people here focus mainly on growing flowers. Coming here, travelers can’t help to be infatuated with many different types of flowers such as pink lotus, roses, gerbera…. Van Thanh is the main supply of flowers for the city.
Location: 43 Van Hanh Street, Dist. 5, Da Lat
7. Soak up the culture in Cu Lan village
Cu Lan Village is a wonderful place in Dalat to enjoy the local culture and the pristine and beautiful landscape. The village is nestled humbly at the foot of Langbiang Mountain and surrounded by hills of pine trees.
The thing you’ll love most about Cu Lan is its colorful thatched-roofed houses and hall houses which are inspired by the culture of local minorities. All these houses are lying by a small green lake.
There are quite a lot of things to do at this village: kite flying, hiking, boat rowing, fishing, picnicking, and enjoying folk games and gong performances.
8. Visit Linh Phuoc Pagoda
Linh Phuoc Pagoda is the finest piece of architecture to behold in Dalat. Located at 120 Tu Phuoc Street, Linh Phuoc boasts a grand, beautiful and eye-catching appearance. A dragon statue made of 12000 bottles of the bear is the most unique feature of this pagoda, also the reason for its other name – Ve Chai Pagoda.
Once you come inside, you’ll be amazed by the huge golden Guanyin statue. The chedi inside the pagoda’s courtyard can be seen even from afar.
9. Have fun at Organic Rice Wine! Cricket Farm
This is one of the most unusual things to do in Dalat that you can enjoy. It might sound weird but eating fried crickets might be one of the best food experience in Dalat. Come to a Cricket Farm in Dalat you’ll be introduced that crickets are good for health. During the growing process, no chemicals are involved and the crickets are fed with only corn powder, vegetables, and banana leaf.
A plate of fried crickets with lemongrass or onions will be served to you with chili sauce. The taste is crispy and you expected it to be delicious.
You can also try out the Cricket Wine which has the taste quite like vodka and it’s believed to be healthy and good for bones, muscles and back pain.
10. Dalat Railway Station
A legendary spot for photography in Dalat. The station was built in 1943 and still retains many features of a Vietnamese train station in the old days. You can see also a delightful steam train on display.
There are 5 old, vintage trains from Dalat railway station to Trai Mat – the suburb of Da Lat where you can find Linh Ung pagoda, the cloudy hills in the early morning, pet farm, fireflies farm…. You can easily catch these trains and enjoy the ride on the most beautifully decorated train in Vietnam. A round-trip train ticket to Trai Mat only costs 70,000VND.
Location: Quang Trung Street, Dist. 10, Dalat
11. Challenge yourself at Dalanta Waterfall
Dalanta Waterfall is where your wildest adventure dream will come true. Dalanta is one of the must things to do in Dalat and it rightfully is so. There are seven layers of rock setting reaching the highest drop of 20m.
Come to Dalanta, you can’t help to be bewildered by the grandeur of a nature artwork – a white stream of water cascading on a 2-tier waterfall, creating such a wonderful scene.
If you don’t want just to have your eyes pleased, Dalanta is also a place of challenging activities like 15-meter descent, Tyrolean Traverse, Water Sliding, 25 meter Big Waterfall, Free jumping and Washing Machine. Don’t miss this out if you’re an active traveler.
When is the best time to visit Dalat?
Dalat is a mountainous area, so it is influenced deeply by the regional climate of Central Vietnam. There are two distinctive seasons in Dalat: the wet season and dry season.
The rainy season starts from April to October, which is not the most ideal time for traveling to Dalat. The dry season is in between November to March which is most pleasant to enjoy the beauties of Dalat. The weather during this season is mild with not too high or too low temperature. Attractions like Xuan Huong Lake or Valley of Love would absolutely worth visiting in this time of year.
You can also visit Dalat during the flower seasons: January and February are the time mai anh dao flowers are in full bloom, creating such a dreamy and romantic look for the town. An annual festival is also held in Dalat in January where many types of flowers in Dalat and from other areas will be exhibited colorfully. During this time, Dalat is a perfect destination for a honeymoon vacation.
Tips on traveling to Dalat
There are many means to get to Dalat - you can go by train, bus, and plane. The airport in Dalat is Lien Khuong Airport.
Buses from Ho Chi Minh will take 7 hours to get to Dalat, costing about $8-18 depending on the quality of the bus.
Dalat is known for its many unique, creative beautiful hotels, hostels and homestay. If you want to enjoy something other than the regular hotels, you can easily book with for a room in these accommodations
Get to Hell Market to explore the night street food scene in Dalat. Dishes to check out: Banh Trang Nuong, Nem Lui, Banh Can,...