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Dalat Attractions
Much of what there is to see in Dalat is natural sights: Lakes, waterfalls, and dams dominate the tourist trail. Things are spread over quite some distance, so consider booking a tour or renting your own car or motorbike.
If touring on your own, remember to avoid visiting pagodas between 11:30am and 2pm, when nuns and monks will be having their lunch. You might disturb them and also miss a valuable opportunity for a chat. It's also correct to leave 1,000 VND or 2,000 VND in the donation box near the altar.
Typical 1-day itineraries by minivan to sights outside the city include a visit to one of the falls, either Prenn Falls or Pongour Falls south of Dalat, followed by a stop at Truc Lam Monastery, the Lat (Chicken) Village, the Valley of Love, Crazy House, and a visit with the Crazy Monk, and ending with a stop at Bao Dai's summer palace or the old train station. Most tours make stops at small silk-weaving villages where you can watch the whole process from worm to wear, as well as incense-making workshops, vegetable-growing terraces, and coffee plantations.
13 Results
- Landmark
Bao Dai's Palace
Completed in 1938, this monument to bad taste provided Bao Dai, Vietnam's last emperor, with a place of rest and respite with his family. It has never been restored and, indeed, looks veritably untouched since the emperor's ousting and hasty exile. On a busy weekend in high season,… - Train Station
Dalat Railway Station (Cremaillaire Railway)
Built in 1943, the Dalat station offers an atmospheric slice of Dalat's colonial history. You can see an authentic old wood-burning steamer train on the tracks to the rear, and stroll around inside looking at the iron-grilled ticket windows, which are now empty. Although the steamer… - Landmark
Hang Nga Guest House and Art Gallery
Otherwise known as the "Crazy House," this Gaudí-meets-Sesame Street theme park is one not to miss. It's a wild mass of wood and wire fashioned into the shape of a giant treehouse and smoothed over in concrete. It sounds simple, but there's a vision to this chaos; just ask the… - Natural Attraction
Lake of Sighs (Ho Than Tho)
This lake has such romantic connotations for the Vietnamese that you would think it was created by a fairy godmother rather than French dam work. Legend has it that a 15-year-old girl named Thuy drowned herself after her boyfriend of the same age, Tam, fell in love with another. Her… - Landmark
Lam Ty Ni Pagoda: Home of Thay Vien Thuc, "The Crazy Monk"
A visit with the man is a highlight for some and just plain creepy for others. The temple itself is nothing special, though the immaculate garden in the back is nice; the attraction here is Mr. Thuc's large studio. Thuc, a Vietnamese Zen practitioner, seems to be painting, drawing,… - Neighborhood
Lat Village (Chicken Village)
A village of the Co Ho minority people, the Lat, or "Chicken," Village is usually part of the all-day tours in the hills around Dalat. Why chicken? Well, there is an enormous cement statue of a chicken at the entry to town -- the bird has to do with a village legend (ask your guide… - Landmark
Linh Phuoc Pagoda
Here is another example of one of Vietnam's fantasyland glass-and-ceramic mosaic structures. Refurbished in 1996, this modern temple features a huge golden Buddha in the main hall, and three floors of walls and ceilings painted with fanciful murals. Go to the top floor for the… - Natural Attraction
Prenn Falls
The falls are actually quite impressive, especially after a good rain. You can ride a rattletrap little cable car over them if you're brave or follow a stone path behind the falling water (prepare to get your feet wet). That's a little thrill, of course, but the true Prenn experience… - Neighborhood
The French Quarter
The whole town has the look and feel of a French replica, but on the ridge-running road, Tran Hung Dao, don't miss the derelict shells of the many French colonial summer homes once populated and popular; it's where the connected and successful came to escape the Saigon heat in… - Religious Site
Thien Vuong Pagoda
Otherwise known as the "Chinese Pagoda," built as it was by the local Chinese population, this structure (ca. 1958) is unremarkable except for its serene setting among the hills of Dalat and the very friendly nuns who inhabit it. It does have three awe-inspiring sandalwood Buddhist… - Religious Site
Truc Lam (Bamboo Forest) Zen Monastery
What's refreshing is that you can walk around Truc Lam with no harassment, unlike many other temples and most pagodas in Vietnam. This is a working temple, and though it's packed with tourists at certain times of the day, you'll be wandering amid meditation halls and classrooms that… - Natural Attraction
Valley of Love
The Valley is scenic headquarters in Dalat and a popular stopover for honeymooners. It's a good place to find some really bizarre kitsch, the kind whose precedent can only be roadside America; here, I mean guys in bear suits and huge-headed cowboys with guns that spout "bang" flags.… - Natural Attraction
Xuan Huong Lake
Dalat's centerpiece, Xuan Huong, was created from a dam project that was finished in 1923, demolished by a storm in 1932, and reconstructed and rebuilt (with heavier stone) in 1935. The water originates as a trickle in the faraway Lat (Chicken) Village. You can rent windsurfing…
