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Is Da Lat worth visiting?
Da Lat is worth the long drive if you want to be cold for a few days. The town sits at about 1,500 metres on the Langbiang plateau, in pine forest, with mist over the lakes in the early morning and average temperatures between 16 and 20°C all year. After Saigon or the coast it feels like another country. Vietnamese call it the City of Eternal Spring, and couples treat it as the city of love.
The French built it as a hill station, and the planner Ernest Hébrard laid out the boulevards, villas and the golf course that still shape the centre. What has changed since the 2010s is the scale. Vietnamese tourism has made Da Lat the country’s favourite weekend escape, with café hills, flower gardens, adventure parks and a ring of new resorts. Greenhouses cover the valleys around the town. The best of Da Lat is still outside the centre, so treat it as a base and get out into the hills.
How long is the drive from Saigon to Da Lat?
By private car, the drive from Saigon to Da Lat takes 6 to 7 hours without long stops, over about 300 km. The car takes the expressway east to Dau Giay, then Highway 20 through Dinh Quan and Tan Phu, past Madagui forest, up the 10 km Bao Loc pass, through Bao Loc and Di Linh to Lien Khuong. From there a 19 km four-lane road runs to the foot of the Prenn pass, the last climb into Da Lat.
The first half is quick. The second half is slow, winding and full of trucks, and it decides the range. Leave Saigon by about 7 am and you arrive for a late lunch. Leave at noon and you climb the Prenn pass in the dark.
For a drive this long, the car matters. A calm driver who uses the horn sparingly makes the hairpins bearable, and a clean, non-smoking car with a cabin filter that’s been changed makes six hours pleasant. That’s the standard we hold our drivers to.
The passes: Bao Loc and Prenn in 2026
Both passes on the Saigon road have had a hard couple of years. The historic floods of November 2025 brought landslides on the Prenn pass, which was cleared on 25 November 2025 and then shut completely from 9 to 15 January 2026 for slope repairs, with traffic sent round by the Mimosa pass. On the Bao Loc pass, slopes were stabilised in timed closures from 20 May to 25 June 2026. Heavy rain at the end of September 2026 left the surface covered in potholes again, and crews were patching it under one-way traffic control, due to finish before 10 October (VietnamPlus, 2 October 2026).
None of this closes the road for long, but it can add half an hour. In the wet months we’d rather arrive late than hurry, and the driver will pick the road on the day.
When will the Saigon to Da Lat expressway open?
Not before 2027, and not all the way before 2028. The Dau Giay–Lien Khuong expressway is being built in three pieces:
| Section | Length | Status (autumn 2026) | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dau Giay to Tan Phu | about 60 km | Started 19 August 2025; only about 3% of the construction value was done by September 2026, and the Roads Department said it was behind schedule | Open in 2027 |
| Tan Phu to Bao Loc | about 66 km | Land clearance about 30% complete in August 2026 | Late 2027 |
| Bao Loc to Lien Khuong | about 74 km | Started 29 June 2025; land clearance about 76% done in August 2026 | Opening in the third quarter of 2028, finished by the end of 2028 |
Sources: vietnam.vn (10 September 2026), Cafeland (4 August 2026), Bao Lam Dong (2 October 2026). Officials talk about Saigon to Da Lat in about 3 hours once it’s all open. Until then, plan on the long drive.
Saigon to Da Lat: car, bus or flight?
For one person on a budget the bus is cheapest, and for a short trip the flight is fastest. For a family, a group or anyone with luggage, a private car is the better trip, because it starts at your door and you decide the stops.
Buses and limousine vans are the budget answer: about 25 operators run roughly 850 trips a day at 199,000–750,000₫ a seat (Vexere, 2026). They take about 7 hours on the road, but pickups and depots at both ends make it 8 to 9 hours door to door, and a full bus on the passes is hard on anyone who gets carsick.
Flying takes about 50 minutes in the air and 4 to 4½ hours door to door once you add the trip to Tan Son Nhat, check-in and the 30 km from Lien Khuong. Fares from Saigon started at a little over 1 million ₫ one way when the airport reopened in August 2026, and weekend seats go fast.
Four bus seats plus taxis at both ends come close to the cost of the car. The car is the only option that picks you up at the door, carries the bags without a fight and stops for tea at Bao Loc. You get a known driver, a known vehicle and a fixed price agreed before you travel.
Flying into Da Lat: Lien Khuong airport (DLI)
Lien Khuong airport reopened on 19 August 2026, after closing on 4 March for an upgrade. The 3,250-metre runway and about 1.3 km of taxiway were rebuilt in concrete, strong enough for wide-body jets. The first flight, Vietnam Airlines VN1380 from Saigon, landed at 6:45 am, and the airport handled 28 flights that day (Tuoi Tre, 19 August 2026).
Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet fly from Saigon, Hanoi and Da Nang. Vietjet also flies from Hai Phong and Vinh, and the Vietnam Airlines group from Can Tho. AirAsia flies four times a week from Kuala Lumpur, and a Singapore service is due from December 2026. Our Lien Khuong airport guide has the routes, the terminal and the ride into town.
The airport is about 30 km south of the centre, and the drive takes 35 to 50 minutes on the expressway and the Prenn pass. A pre-booked car meets you at arrivals with your name on a sign, tracks the flight and waits up to 90 minutes. If you land at Cam Ranh instead, Da Lat is about 3 to 3¾ hours away.
Stopping at Madagui and Bao Loc on the way
The best reason to drive rather than fly is what’s on the road. Nam Cat Tien National Park is a turn-off at Tan Phu, for a night in the forest. Madagui forest park is a little further on, near the old Dong Nai and Lam Dong border. Bao Loc is the tea and coffee town two thirds of the way up, with the Tam Chau tea hills and Dambri falls nearby.
A tea-farm stop or a waterfall adds 30 to 90 minutes, and you can add it as a stop when you book. If you’d rather split the drive, Bao Loc is a good place to sleep, and the second day to Da Lat is only 2¼ to 2¾ hours.
Which car for Da Lat
Choose by luggage and legroom. A sedan or electric VinFast is fine for two people with normal cases. A family of four or five, especially a tall one, will be happier in a 7-seater such as an Innova or Xpander, which also takes golf bags or the extra suitcase. Groups can book the limousine van or the 16-seater.
Many small hotels in Da Lat’s villa streets sit up steep, narrow lanes, so the driver may stop at the end of the lane and help with bags. Child seats are available on request; add them when you book.
Meeting your driver
- Book in the box at the top of the page. You get an email confirming your booking, and the driver’s name, photo and number plate the evening before.
- For a flight into Tan Son Nhat or Lien Khuong, give us the flight number. The driver tracks it and waits up to 90 minutes after landing.
- Walk out of arrivals and look for your name on a sign. Our Saigon airport transfers page shows where drivers wait at each terminal.
- Pay the driver in Vietnamese dong or by VietQR transfer. Tolls and parking are in the price.
After a long-haul flight into Tan Son Nhat, immigration queues can run past an hour. You can add fast-track immigration when you book.
What’s changed in Da Lat
Da Lat has grown faster in the last ten years than in the fifty before. The headline changes for a visitor are below.
Da Lat is now in a much bigger Lam Dong
On 1 July 2025 Lam Dong province absorbed Binh Thuan and Dak Nong. The new Lam Dong runs from the Langbiang plateau to the beaches of Mui Ne, and Da Lat is still its capital. Da Lat stopped being a city with its own districts on the same day: its numbered wards and the old Lac Duong district were merged into a few large wards with “Da Lat” in their names, such as Xuan Huong–Da Lat, Lam Vien–Da Lat and Lang Biang–Da Lat. Maps and booking apps now show both the old and the new addresses, so give the driver a hotel name rather than a ward.
Tuyen Lam Lake: the new resort quarter
The biggest physical change is around Tuyen Lam Lake, 6 km south of the centre. It was Vietnam’s first national tourist area, recognised in 2017, and covers about 1,740 hectares of pine forest around a 350-hectare reservoir. Sixteen projects are open and seventeen more are being built, many of them years late (Bao Dau Tu, May 2026). The open ones include Dalat Edensee, Terracotta, Dalat Wonder Resort and the Swiss-Belresort beside the Sam Tuyen Lam golf course. It’s quieter and greener than the centre, but you’ll need a car for dinner in town.
Cafés and Da Lat coffee
Coffee is how many Vietnamese visitors spend a Da Lat holiday. The French planted arabica at Cau Dat, south-east of town, in the early twentieth century, and the hills there still grow it. The newer habit is the view café: a terrace on a hillside above a valley of greenhouses and pine, often opening before dawn for săn mây, “cloud hunting”, when mist fills the valleys below. In town, small roasters and old-style cafés serve Cau Dat arabica as filter coffee or espresso, alongside the usual robusta cà phê sữa. The things to do in Da Lat page names the cafés and farms worth the drive.
The night market and the old market
Every evening from about 5 pm, the slope of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street down to Da Lat market turns into the night market: grilled rice paper, hot soy milk, grilled skewers, sweet potatoes, wool hats and secondhand jackets. It’s the busiest place in town on a weekend night. In March 2026 the authorities ordered a clean-up of stall contracts, unlisted prices and touting, so ask the price before you order. Our Da Lat night market guide has what to eat and where.
Greenhouses and flowers
Da Lat grows a large share of southern Vietnam’s vegetables and cut flowers, and most of it now grows under plastic. At the end of 2023 the old city had about 2,938 hectares of greenhouses, and from many viewpoints the valleys look white. The plan is that the central wards should have none by 2030, with farms moving to shade nets (Bao Lam Dong, May 2024). The flowers are still the town’s showpiece: the 11th Da Lat Flower Festival runs from 19 to 31 December 2026, opening on Lam Vien Square by the lake.
Da Lat also joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for music in 2023, and you’ll hear it in the live-music cafés around the lake.
What do people do in Da Lat now?
Most visitors spend two or three days on a mix of nature, coffee and food. A typical first day takes in Xuan Huong Lake, the Crazy House and the night market. A second day goes south to Datanla falls for the alpine coaster or canyoning, then the cable car to Truc Lam monastery above Tuyen Lam Lake. A third goes north to Langbiang mountain, or out to the coffee and tea hills at Cau Dat. Sunrise café hopping, flower and strawberry farms and photo stops at the railway station fill the gaps.
The sights are spread over 20 km of hills, so a car with a driver for the day is the easiest way to see them. The full list, with what each is like and how long to allow, is on our things to do in Da Lat page.
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Where to stay in Da Lat
Stay near the lake and market if you want to walk to cafés and dinner; the streets are busy, and noisier at weekends. The villa streets and hillsides above the lake are quieter. The grand colonial hotel above the lake, the Dalat Palace, is worth an evening for a drink even if you aren’t staying.
Tuyen Lam Lake suits families and anyone who wants a resort with grounds, a lake and forest walks, at the cost of a 15 to 20 minute drive into town. Prices jump at weekends, over Tet and during the December flower season.
Da Lat weather by month
Da Lat’s dry season runs from December to March, with sunny days around 22–25°C and nights that can drop below 12°C. April and May bring the first storms. From June to October afternoons are wet, and September is the wettest month, with rain on most days. November is the turn of the season.
| Season | Months | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Dry and cool | Dec–Mar | Clear skies, cold nights, the flower festival in December, cherry blossom in late January and February |
| Changeover | Apr–May, Nov | Warmest days of the year, building storms in spring and fewer by late November |
| Wet | Jun–Oct | Daily afternoon rain, misty mornings, the occasional pass closure after a downpour |
Our Da Lat weather guide has the full month-by-month table. The crowds matter as much as the rain. Weekends, Tet (early February in 2027), the 30 April holiday and early September fill the town with Vietnamese visitors, and the road up is slowest on those dates.
Onward from Da Lat
Da Lat is the hub for the highlands. Bao Loc is 2¼–2¾ hours back down Highway 20, and Buon Ma Thuot is 4–5 hours north-west, for robusta coffee country and waterfalls. Mui Ne, now in the same province, is 3½–4½ hours down to the coast through the Dai Ninh pass.
Nha Trang is 3 to 3¾ hours over the Khanh Le pass on Highway 27C. The pass has been open to all vehicles since February 2026, between 5 am and 6 pm only, and repairs at nine weak points were due to finish in October 2026. Leave Da Lat in the morning. A Nha Trang to Da Lat expressway was started in 2026 but won’t open before 2028.
To book any of these legs, change the From and To in the booking box; the prices for every route into Da Lat are in the table above.