Dalat attracts travelers who intend to get new experiences and see a different, unusual Vietnam. This charming city opens the French part of the country’s history, it is often referred to as” little Paris”, and the surrounding area – “The Alps in Vietnam”. What are the attractions in Dalat that make it so unusual for Vietnam?
The French built Dalat at the beginning of the 20th century, and the French influence is evident in the layout of the city streets, in the presence of some symbolic objects. For example, in the central square there is an exact, albeit reduced in size, copy of the Eiffel Tower-it can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. Not far from the tower is the Moulin Rouge restaurant. There is also the Catholic Cathedral of the Virgin Mary in Dalat, built by the French, and the Flower Park laid out by them. All these objects create a French atmosphere, and they also serve as an explanation for why the Vietnamese city of Dalat is called Vietnamese Paris.
What is worth seeing in the “little Paris”? The most interesting sights of Dalat are located outside the city limits, but there are many interesting places that can be visited in one day’s itinerary.
Xuan Huong Lake
Xuan Huong Lake, located in the very center of the city, is artificial, it appeared in 1919 as a result of the construction of a dam.
You can walk around the lake in a few hours, and during the walk you can see exhibitions of sculptures made of raw or partially processed minerals, bonsai collections, you can go to a restaurant or cafe – there are many of them here.
The Xuan Huong Lake walk will appeal to children, because here you can ride catamarans-swans and see the Dalat from the water. Rent of such a catamaran will cost 60,000 VND1 hour for two people or 120,000 VND1 for a “swan” for 5 people.
In summer, lake water can have a somewhat unpleasant stagnant smell. But this is unlikely to spoil the overall impression of a walk on Lake Dalata.
Dalat Flower Park
Finding the Flower Park in Dalat will not be difficult at all: it is located near the Xuan Huong Lake, and the entrance to it is marked by huge green arches.
On the territory of Flower Park there are several ponds, many flowerbeds with beautiful flowers, bonsai installations, greenhouses with roses and orchids.
When you want to relax, you can sit on a comfortable bench or sit in a cozy gazebo – there are a lot of them in the park. There is also a playground for children, where a variety of swings are installed. On the territory of the park complex you can always buy ice cream, tea and coffee.
The Flower Park in Dalat acquired its modern appearance in 1985 – when it was successfully reconstructed. And it was laid by the French colonialists in 1966.
Amateur gardeners, attention! Here you can buy seeds of various exotic plants. And remember: you must bargain!
- The Dalat Flower Park is open to the public daily from 7: 30 to 16: 00.
- Admission costs VND 40,000 for adults and VND 20,000 for children. But you can also enter for free – you just need to go not through the main entrance, but a little to the left, through the car park.
- Address: 02 Tran Nhan Tong / Ward 8, Dalat 670000, Vietnam.
Crazy House
Dalat has another unique attraction: Crazy House. The city lake can be reached on foot in just half an hour, and from the center you can take a taxi, which costs up to 30,000 VND.
Biet thự Hang Nga, Crazy House or Madhouse in Dalat was conceived by Mrs. Nga as a hotel for lovers.
Ms. Dang Viet Nga is such an extraordinary person that it is necessary to tell about her separately. She, the daughter of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, lived in Russia for 14 years, where she studied and successfully graduated from the Moscow Art Institute. When she returned to Vietnam, she worked for a long time in a government position and developed projects for the most ordinary buildings. But one day Dang Viet Nga quit her job and started creating, and that’s how the construction of Crazy House began in the early 1990s.
This structure of Dalat is truly unique, with a completely extraordinary architectural solution. The bizarre structure looks like a huge tree with intertwined roots and branches, overgrown with mushrooms and wrapped in cobwebs. There are many mazes and stairs, and some passages are dangerous due to the fact that they are located at a height of up to 15 m above the ground and do not even have a railing. The views of Dalat from the outdoor upper areas are magnificent!
- Now the Madhouse Hotel in Dalat has 9 rooms, and the Honey Moon lodge, which stands separately in the courtyard, has a room for a honeymoon. The cost of a room at the Madame Nga Hotel is from$ 40 to $ 115 with breakfast included. There is a very tiny room “Termite No. 6” on the first floor (its area is only 10 m2, but it has everything you need for living). The cost of staying in a room is$ 40 per day (the price may vary depending on the season). The hotel has free Wi-Fi, but it works intermittently.
- An inconvenience for the guests of Crazy House is created by tourists who are allowed to enter the hotel from 8: 30 to 19: 00 and, trying to see absolutely everything, knock on all the rooms in a row. An entrance ticket to view the structure costs VND 60,000 ($3).
- Madhouse address: 03 Huynh Thuk Khang St., ward 4, Dalat, Vietnam.
- Official website of the hotel-attractions: http://crazyhouse.vn/.
Church and Convent of the Virgin Mary (Domaine de Marie Church)
There is one absolutely non-standard attraction for Vietnam in Dalat – this is the active Catholic Monastery of the Virgin Mary. It is located on the outskirts of the city, on Huyen Tran Cong Chua Street.
The monastery complex includes a church, 2 cell buildings and several utility rooms. The building of the attraction is interesting because it organically combines elements of folk architecture of Vietnam and French architecture of the XVII century. The soaring roof and pointed windows give the monastery a special touch of elegance. The walls are elegant – they are painted in a bright pink color. In the evening, the building is illuminated, which makes it even more attractive.
A special decoration of the Attraction is a well-groomed courtyard, which is completely buried in flowers.
- On weekdays, services are held at 5: 15 and 17: 15, and on Sundays at 5:15, 7:00, 8:30, 16:00, 18:00.
- On Sundays, the church is quite crowded, as many people attend services.
- Address: 1, Ngo Quyen, Phuong 6, Dalat, Vietnam.
What to try in Vientam from the food
Da Lat market
The central city market should definitely be included in the list of things to see in Dalat! Vietnam’s markets best show the culture and lifestyle of local residents, and the market in Dalat is one of the most colorful. And even if purchases are not planned, it makes sense to look at its territory in order to fully experience the atmosphere of Dalat. Many sellers speak Russian, and you can and even need to bargain with them, although you can just chat.
By the way, it is better to visit the market on your own, without a tour. As a rule, with a tour you will not be able to see anything “alive”, “real”, as tourists are usually taken just to go shopping.
At the Dalat market, you can buy a lot of interesting things, for example, macadamia nuts-here they are probably the cheapest in Vietnam – only 350,000 VND for 1 kg. A variety of fresh exotic fruits and vegetables are sold. And Dalat is also famous for strawberries, greenhouses with which occupy huge areas in the vicinity of the city. The opportunity to enjoy ripe juicy berries in the middle of winter is a good enough reason to come to Dalat.
There is a huge selection of seafood here, and at completely monotonous prices of 70-80 thousand VND. Here you can also enjoy fresh pastries, Vietnamese delicacies: boiled snails and mussels.
In the evening, the central market of Dalat is transformed beyond recognition. Several nearby streets are blocked off for cars, and vendors with food and souvenirs are located along them. Walking through the Dalat market square in the evening, you will have to try to ignore the noise coming from street cafes of aromas, rather intrusive sellers. But if you treat such a pastime as just another entertainment, you can have quite an interesting time.
Thien Vien Truc Lam Monastery
Thien Vien Truc Lam Monastery is 5 km from Dalat. You can get to it by using the cable car, or by taking a taxi.
The starting point of the Cable car is located near the central bus station. Its length is 2.3 km, and it is one of the longest cable cars in Asia.
The road is open from 7: 00 to 17: 00 (lunch from 11:30 to 13:30), the cost of travel in one direction (in dongas) is 60,000 ($3), in 2 directions-80,000 ($4), for children — 40 and 60 thousand, respectively. The cabin is designed for 4 people. The journey to the monastery takes up to 20 minutes, and during this time you can admire the “Vietnamese Paris” from the height, pine forests, numerous flower greenhouses of Dalat, and simply cultivated plots of land. You can also take colorful photos of the sights of Dalat (Vietnam).
If you go to Chuk Lam by taxi from the center, it will take about 5 minutes. It is best to take small yellow cars, as they are the cheapest-for landing only 5 000 Vietnamese money, and then the prices on the meter and they are the most affordable.
Thien Vien Truc Lam was built in Dalat in 1994. The entire territory of 24 hectares is divided into 2 parts: open to tourists and closed, where monks live. The complex includes an active Buddhist monastery, a bell tower, several pagodas, a library, a school of Buddhism, and a statue of the Buddha holding a lotus flower in his hand. You need to go inside the temple without shoes, so it is advisable to take socks with you. You can take a walk around the complex, which is a garden surrounded by wonderful flowers.
You don’t need to pay to enter the monastery’s territory.
A path leading from the monastery down the opposite side of the mountain from the cable car leads to the large Tuyen Lam Lake, surrounded by mountains and coniferous forest. The lake is artificial, quite deep, the water in it is very clean and cold. There is a small cafe near the lake, as well as a station where you can rent a catamaran or boat (1 hour of catamaran riding for two people costs 60,000 VND3). By the way, the path to the monastery is closed by the gate at 16: 00, so you need to get back in time!
Useful to know! If you go to enter the interior of the monastery, you must dress appropriately — your shoulders and knees should be covered, and your shoes will have to be removed.
Datanla Falls
There are waterfalls in Dalat that are worth seeing! One of them is Datanla Waterfall, located 5.5 km from the city center. It can be reached directly from Tuyen Lam Lake, you will have to go almost 3 km by road through the mountains. If you get from the center of Dalat, you can do this in several ways::
- walking all along the same road (5,5 km);
- by taxi – payment by meter will get from 60 to 80 thousand VND;
- by bike (bike rental is about 140 thousand rubles per day).
Further, from the parking lot of tourist buses and bikes, you can get directly to the Datanla Falls waterfall for free on foot or in a civilized and comfortable way. Datanla waterfall – three-stage, respectively, and the path will be three-stage:
- To the observation deck of the first cascade, you can go down on small cars (electric sledges) along the rail road laid through the forest – this resembles a fun “roller coaster”. It is desirable that the passengers in the previous car were younger, they will go faster. For adults, a two-way trip will cost VND170, 000. The ticket office is located to the right of the entrance, not far from the souvenir shops.
- A cable car is laid to the second site of the waterfall, and it is from it that you can observe the most powerful cascade, which is not visible from the hiking route. A cable car ticket is sold immediately in both directions. The ticket office is located on the first platform of the waterfall, on the left.
- The third waterfall is reached by an elevator equipped right in the rocks. It’s free.
- Yes, you will also need to pay for admission to the park, but this is not much: 20,000 VND for adults and 10,000 for children. The park is open from 7: 00 to 17: 00.
It is interesting to see Datanla Falls after the rain. The water will be colored red-brown – this is due to the peculiarity of the soil of the highlands of Vietnam, but this fact does not detract from the effect of the spectacle!
Elephant atterfalls
At a distance of 40 km from Dalat, near the airport and from the village of Nam Ha, there is another waterfall – “Elephant” or “Falling Elephant”. You can go there by bike, or you can take a taxi – it will cost approximately 330,000 VND. For the entrance to the waterfall, you will be required to pay 20,000 VND.
Elephant Falls – the strongest waterfall in the local area of Vietnam, it can be viewed from both below and above. But the path to the base is quite difficult, especially in rainy weather: it is not very well equipped and runs through boulders, which can make it quite slippery. In any case, you will have to jump on the rocks, so you need to take comfortable shoes!
To the right of the observation deck, there is a staircase that leads to the Chua Linh An Pagoda. There you can climb, walk through the beautiful cozy territory of the pagoda, see the statues of the goddess Skanda and the huge sculpture of the blue Buddha.
Linh Phuoc Pagoda
There is a completely unique place in Vietnam-this is the Linh Phuoc Pagoda.
Construction of the Lin Phuoc Pagoda lasted from 1949 to 1952, and construction work on the complex is still underway. This building is not only a religious shrine, but also an amazing architectural experiment. The uniqueness of this building is that it is completely lined with fragments of broken glass bottles and ceramic dishes – that is why the shrine was named “Temple of Broken dishes”.
All premises of this complex are open to the public. When entering the temple, you must take off your shoes, and also make sure that your knees and shoulders are covered. The prayer hall (dimensions 33 x 22 m) looks luxurious: its ceiling is supported by 12 dragons. In the lobby that precedes this hall, there is a 5-meter statue of the Buddha sitting on a lotus flower.
The central structure of the complex is a bell tower that rises to a height of 27 meters (7 floors) into the sky. On each floor of the bell tower there are statues of different deities, and all the stairs are decorated with beautiful mosaics of the same glass and ceramic fragments. In 1999, a bell was installed on the second floor of the attraction: its height is 4.3 m, its diameter is 2.2 m, and it weighs more than 10 tons. You can stick notes with written wishes on the bell, and then you need to hit it three times – since it is quite difficult to beat a 10-ton bell, everyone is sure that the wish will be fulfilled.
The monks who live here earn their own living. They make furniture, various crafts from stone, black and mahogany. These products are sold here, and quite successfully: many tourists buy them as souvenirs, reminding about the city of Dalat and the sights seen on its territory.
- The pagoda is located 8 km from the center of Dalat, at the end of Trai Mat Street. The best way to get to this attraction is by taking an old and very slow wooden train that departs from Dalat railway station – Ga Trai Mat stop, the next one from Dalat.
- Admission is free, the complex is open daily from 8: 00 to 16: 00, and you need at least 2 hours to explore.
