Dalat — or Da Lat — is a city set in the Vietnamese highlands, in the mountain range of central-south Vietnam. Because of the French colonial villas built in the area, the altitude and the hills, it's often compared to the French Alps.
It's the ideal place if you need to breathe some cooler, cleaner air: at altitude the temperature drops sharply, especially at night — a genuine relief after several weeks hopping from beach to beach.
Dalat has long attracted Vietnamese honeymoon couples and weekend romantics, as well as backpackers craving some mountain air.
The main draws are on the outskirts. Most of the mountains, lakes and waterfalls are quite far out, so unless you enjoy spending the day on a bus or motorbike going there and back, it's better to treat Dalat as a quick stopover.
Sheltering from the rain with a local
Fortunately, the hike to the highest peak in the range starts just over 10 kilometres from the town centre, so you can catch a public bus for a few dong — or walk it, as we did.
Mount Lang Biang is classified as a nature park, so you have to pay at the gate before completing the climb; the entry fee is just 10,000 Vietnamese dong.
For reference: 1 euro equals roughly 27,000 dong, so 10,000 dong is barely 36 euro cents.
The park entrance
At the gate you can also jump in a Jeep and ruin the experience of the climb, or carry on at your own pace. It was interesting to notice that every Jeep that passed was full of Vietnamese and East Asian visitors, while the few people we crossed who were walking were all Western.
After getting bored of following the road we decided to cut across country and make things more interesting — we started on a cattle path but ended up going straight up the hillside.
Off the path and up the slope
An unexpected trail companion
The views from the summit are stunning, taking in the whole surrounding area — though the atmosphere is a bit too touristy, with vendors everywhere, a restaurant with picture windows, swings, benches and statues you have to pay to photograph.
The view from the top
We came down via an alternative route supposedly designed for birdwatching — though we didn't spot a single bird. A pleasant walk all the same.
When we reached the bottom we realised we'd missed the last bus back to Dalat, which leaves at 5:30 pm.
Ilze was pretty tired and not at all keen to walk back too, so I got chatting with a few Vietnamese people and found Lê Trình, a local who offered us a lift on his motorbike. Three of us on one bike, no helmets — but fortunately, for once, the driver was not remotely kamikaze.
Back in Dalat we stopped at a cake shop to celebrate Ilze's birthday, and on the way home picked up a bottle of local Dalat wine — not recommended, for the record: thin, dull, and completely lacking in character.
Birthday celebrations, Dalat style
The rest of our days in Dalat we spent wandering the city and surroundings, snacking on dried fruit — a local speciality — and drinking thick fruit pulp juices, browsing market stalls, and meeting up with an American girl doing volunteer work at a Vietnamese clinic.
Dried fruit — the Dalat snack
The local spirits selection
Rolling hills around Dalat
Chicken with mango at Peace Café
More of the surrounding hills
Without question, a place worth visiting if you're travelling through Vietnam.
