Travel guide to Da Lat – mountains, waterfalls and coffee plantations

Dalat is said to be one of the hidden destination in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the opposite is true.  Tourists have already discovered this city on such a scale that one has to wait in line on the way to the waterfall, get stuck in the traffic jam around tourist spots or you will find lot of paid “Bali” attraction in the mountains and close to coffee plantations.

The best way to discover the scenery around Da Lat is to rent a motorbike and go to the mountains. We recommend rent motorbike through the hotel, as there are many fraudulent companies in the city and you can’t even trust Google reviews. We paid 150,000 VND per day and we had no complications (Nice Bee hotel).

Best activities in Dalat and its surroundings

Dalat is not famous for its sights, but the surrounding with diverse landscape, in which you can find flowers, strawberry farms and coffee plantations as well as huge waterfalls. We spent 2 and a half days in the city, which was just enough to see and visit the most famous places.

1. Da Lat waterfalls

We borrowed a motorbike and first we drove on the direction of Pongour waterfall. It is located 50 km from Da Lat but it certainly paid off because it is huge and easily accessible. Too bad that there was no more water (January) and photos on the Internet looked better than reality. Unfortunately, swimming is not allowed here, so we got made a photos and continued.

The next stop was Elephant waterfall, located closer to Da Lat, and unfortunately it was so overcrowded. We had to wait in the queue on the stairs and fight with others on the way down. Again there was little water (January), but certainly worth a visit 🙂

2. Coffee plantations in Da Lat

From the waterfall it was not far away to the most famous coffee plantation in the area called Me Linh Coffee Garden. To our surprise, they turned the plantation into a major tourist attraction by artificially planting a flower garden next to it, setting up “Bali” attraction and by selling overpriced coffee. On the other hand, you can buy here coffee from the civet, but we didn’t try it because of the high price. Well, if you are a fan of “Bali” attractions, there is also Dalaland Khu check-in near Me Linh Coffee Garden.

We went to Dalat Night Market to find something to eat. We found a lot of stalls with Vietnamese pizza, which is absolutely delicious. Grilled rice dough is sprinkled with vegetables, sausage, egg, smeared with cheese and topped with sauce. Interesting was that the pizza was wrapped in paper with some homework from school. Really original packaging 😀

3. Da Lat and flowers

Dalat is also famous for growing various flowers. Many of these fields can be found near Me Linh Coffee Garden. But we drove on a motorbike to the lavender gardens, which are located close to mountain lake – Lavenderdalat garden. On the spot we found out that the lavenders are still not blooming (January), so we did not go inside and enjoyed at least a view of the lake. In Da Lat we walked around West Lake, which was full of swans pedalos. It is nice and quiet place 🙂  ‘

4. Food and drink in Da Lat

Dalai is known for good food and drink, and one cannot leave the city without tasting regional delicacies. Among the best known is definitely a Vietnamese pizza, which you can get almost everywhere on the street. You can find variety of stalls at the Da Lat Night Market.

Another local delicacy is grilled pork served with rice and vegetables. It’s called Suon Nuong, and there are businesses in Da Lat that specialize directly in it and sell it in bulk 😀

Well, where else to have delicious Vietnamese coffee than in its birthplace? You can really find cafes on every corner there. We have always buy some on places where were local people, because this is mostly a sign of good quality and low price. Once we made an exception and drove 7 km from the center of Da lat to Noi Mot Nguoi café. Offers views of the countryside and you can enjoy coffee  in this cool glasshouse :D.