Things to do in Da Lat

Da Lat at a glance: what’s worth doing

Da Lat is a hill town at about 1,500 metres, and its best things to do are outdoors: lakes, pine forest, waterfalls, coffee and tea hills, and a mountain. In the centre, walk Xuan Huong Lake, see the Crazy House and the Bao Dai palace, and eat at the night market. South of town, ride the coaster or go canyoning at Datanla falls, then take the cable car to Truc Lam monastery above Tuyen Lam Lake. North, ride a jeep up Langbiang. East, watch the sunrise from a café above the Cau Dat tea hills.

The sights are up to 25 km apart on hilly roads, so a car with a driver for the day is the easiest way round. The rest of this page goes area by area.

Central Da Lat

Xuan Huong Lake and Lam Vien Square

The boomerang-shaped lake is the middle of town, fringed with pine trees, with pedal boats for hire and a path all the way round. The Dalat Palace hotel looks down on it from the south side. Lam Vien Square on the shore, with its huge glass artichoke and flower-bud buildings, is where the flower festival opens and where Vietnamese families gather in the evening.

Crazy House (Hang Nga guesthouse)

The Crazy House at 3 Huynh Thuc Khang is the sight almost everyone visits. The architect Dang Viet Nga, who studied architecture in Moscow, built it as a tangle of tree-trunk towers, concrete “branches”, spider-web windows and stairways where nothing is straight, as if the building had melted and set. It’s still a working guesthouse with about a dozen themed rooms, and visitors pay a small entry fee to wander the walkways. Go early or late to avoid the tour groups.

Bao Dai’s palaces (Dinh III)

Bao Dai, Vietnam’s last emperor, built three residences in Da Lat in the 1930s. The one visitors usually see is Dinh III, his summer palace, a 1930s modernist villa in pine gardens, furnished much as the family left it. It’s a quick visit and a good one for a rainy afternoon.

Da Lat railway station and Linh Phuoc pagoda

Da Lat’s art-deco railway station, opened in the 1930s, once linked the town to the coast by rack railway. Today it runs short heritage trips to Trai Mat village, about 7 km east. In Trai Mat, Linh Phuoc pagoda is covered in mosaics made from broken pottery and glass bottles, with a huge dragon built the same way. Take the train out and the car back.

Churches and old villas

The French town survives in its churches and villas. Da Lat Cathedral, known locally as the “chicken church” for the weathercock on its spire, is on Tran Phu. Domaine de Marie, a pink convent church on the hill north-west of the centre, is a quieter stop. Many of the old villas on Tran Hung Dao and the streets above the lake are now hotels or government offices.

Da Lat market and the night market

Da Lat market sells flowers, vegetables, strawberries, dried fruit and artichoke tea by day. From about 5 pm the slope in front of it becomes the night market, for grilled rice paper, hot soy milk and wool hats. Our Da Lat night market guide has what to eat and how to avoid tourist prices.

South: Prenn, Datanla and Tuyen Lam Lake

Datanla falls: alpine coaster and canyoning

Datanla falls is off the Prenn pass road, about 5 km south of the centre. Most visitors ride the alpine coaster, a single-seat bobsleigh on rails that runs down through the pines to the falls. Entry was 80,000₫ for adults in 2026, with the coaster extra (Dalattourist).

Datanla is also where Da Lat’s canyoning tours run: half a day abseiling down waterfalls, jumping into pools and sliding down rock chutes with a guide. In 2024 a Datanla canyoning tour was listed among the most attractive tours in the world, according to the Tuyen Lam tourist area’s management board. Don’t plan it for the day after heavy rain, when trips can be cancelled.

Truc Lam monastery and the Robin Hill cable car

The cable car from Robin Hill, near the top of the Prenn pass, runs about 2.3 km over pine forest to Truc Lam Zen monastery. It’s the best view in Da Lat on a clear morning. The monastery is a working Zen centre, with gardens, a bell tower and steps down to the shore of Tuyen Lam Lake. Dress for a temple: shoulders and knees covered.

Tuyen Lam Lake

Below the monastery, Tuyen Lam Lake is a 350-hectare reservoir in pine forest, 6 km south of town, with kayaks, boats and walking trails. It’s also Da Lat’s resort quarter. Our Tuyen Lam Lake guide covers the lake, the resorts and getting there.

The clay tunnel

Near Tuyen Lam, the clay tunnel (đường hầm đất sét) is a park of buildings, landmarks and figures sculpted from red clay, including a model of Da Lat itself. It’s kitsch, popular with families, and an hour is plenty.

North: Langbiang and the Valley of Love

Langbiang mountain

Langbiang is the high point above Da Lat, about 2,170 metres, 12 km north of the centre. From the tourist area at its foot, jeeps run up the road to Radar hill, the lower summit, for views across the plateau and the reservoirs. Entry was about 50,000₫ for adults in 2026, with the jeep extra. Fitter visitors hike to the main peak through forest, a half-day trip best done in the dry season with a guide.

The Valley of Love

The Valley of Love, about 5 km north of the centre, is a landscaped park around a lake created in 1972, with gardens, horse rides and photo spots. It’s the most romantic of Da Lat’s kitsch, and couples on honeymoon love it.

East: coffee and tea at Cau Dat

Cau Dat tea and coffee hills

Cau Dat, about 20–25 km south-east of Da Lat, is where the French planted tea and arabica coffee in the early twentieth century, and the hills are still covered in both. The terraced tea slopes are at their best early in the morning, often in mist.

Cloud hunting and view cafés

The newest Da Lat ritual is săn mây, “cloud hunting”: getting up before dawn and driving to a hillside café to watch the valleys fill with cloud as the sun comes up. The best spots are on the Cau Dat side and the hills around the town. It works best on cool, still mornings after a day of rain. Agree an early pickup with your driver the night before.

Back in town, Da Lat’s café scene is half the reason Vietnamese visitors come. Small roasters serve Cau Dat arabica as filter coffee and espresso, garden cafés hide behind old villas, and view cafés hang off hillsides above the greenhouses.

Farms, flowers and waterfalls further out

Flower and strawberry farms

Da Lat’s valleys are covered in greenhouses growing flowers, vegetables and strawberries for southern Vietnam. Many farms open to visitors for strawberry picking or flower photos. The city flower garden by Xuan Huong Lake is the easy version in town, and the Da Lat Flower Festival fills the streets from 19 to 31 December 2026.

Elephant Falls and Pongour Falls

Elephant Falls (thác Voi) at Nam Ban, about 30 km south-west, is a loud, spray-soaked waterfall with a scramble down slippery rocks. Pongour, further south near Duc Trong, is a wide stepped fall that is at its fullest in the wet season. Both make a half-day loop by car, and both fit on the road if you’re leaving towards Mui Ne or the airport.

Motorbike tours with the Easy Riders

Da Lat’s Easy Riders, local guides who take visitors out on the back of their motorbikes, still run day trips around the hills and longer tours through the highlands. It’s the classic way to see the countryside if you’re comfortable on two wheels.

A 2 or 3 day Da Lat itinerary

In the wet season, swap the order so that outdoor sights fall in the morning.

Getting around Da Lat

Da Lat is hilly and spread out, and taxis are easy in the centre but harder to find at Langbiang, Cau Dat or the waterfalls. A car with a driver for the day saves the waiting: the driver drops you at each stop, waits, and keeps the bags and jackets in the car. A 7-seater suits a family, with child seats on request. Ask us for a day hire when you book your transfer.

When you’re ready to move on, Nha Trang is 3 to 3¾ hours over the Khanh Le pass, Mui Ne 3½ to 4½ hours down to the coast, and Bao Loc about 2½ hours towards Saigon. Check the Da Lat weather by month before you plan the outdoor days.