12 TOP THINGS TO DO IN DALAT, VIETNAM

Discover 12 top things to do in dalat vietnam. Also includes cheap accommodation, directions in and around Dalat and lots of other useful information about surviving travel in Dalat, Vietnam.

12 Top Things to Do in Dalat, Vietnam

Ok, here it is. My list of 12 top things to do in Dalat, Vietnam.




1. Easy Riders

The first thing on my list of 12 top things to do in Dalat is to take an Dalat Easy Riders tour. Actually, if it wasn’t for this, the rest of these things may not even be on this list, and because of that, it was also my favorite of my top things to do in Dalat, Vietnam.

I have heard a lot about Easy Riders, so thought I should try it for myself. The great thing about it is it is not a tour group. Just you and the driver. They had a bunch of options, but by the end of it all I just said I’d give him 400,000 dong for the day to take me to his favorite destinations.

Note: There is the official Easy Riders which is all over vietnam travel. Many places also have their local ‘rip off’ versions e.g. Dalat Easy Riders. In my opinion, unless you are doing a cross country tour e.g. Hanoi to HCMC, then go with one of the local Easy Rider ‘rip offs’ e.g. Dalat Easy Riders. They are much more knowledgeable about the local area, and also more than likely, owned by Vietnamese.

2. Go to the Market

That evening I went for a walk into town around the market. Dalat is cool mountain weather and has a vibrant market place with a few street foods I haven’t seen before. I tried a few. Nice, but still not as good as Hue or vietnam hanoi (in my opinion).

3. Eat at Le Voy

I got dinner at a place recommended by the Dalat Easy Rider Guide (Chilli), called Le Voy. Had Roast Chicken Rice. Very good and reasonably priced (40,000 vnd). It was just up the round from the hotel at the round about. People know it, just ask someone where Le Voy is.

4. See the Vegetable Plantations

My Dalat Easy Riders tour started at 0900 and was a full day for $20usd, which includes all (well most) entry fees. I chose a countryside tour of Dalat. First stop was at a viewpoint, which I guess is the first stop for everyone. Next was another viewpoint with a ten minute hike up. I like hiking and the guide just points you in the right direction and you take yourself which was good.

Apparently, Dalat is famous for growing vegetables. so the view points overlooked these things.
5. Coffee Plantation

Third stop was the coffee plantation. Good thing about tours is that they give you information also. Dalat is the 2nd biggest exporter of coffee in the world (according to my guide). First is Brazil, third is Colombia.

In Dalat they make Weasel coffee. Weasels eat the coffee beans, shit it out, then humans drink it.
6. Rice Wine

Then we went to where they make rice wine. Not a factory, just out the back of some ones property, whom also sold coffee. Chilli explained the process and then I got a shot of rice wine afterwards. Much nicer than I’ve tasted before, I guess because it had not been mixed down.

 7. Village

Next stop was a village. They had a pet monkey (chained up, bit cruel I thought) and my guide (Chilli was his name) told me about the different local tribes. I talked to some village elder. Nice experience.
8. Elephant Waterfalls

Continuing on we went to the Elephant waterfalls. Pretty good. You can go underneath the waterfall if you don’t mind getting a little wet.

Chilli said they called it Elephant Waterfalls because elephants would try to drink there, slip, fall of the edge and die. So the villagers called it Elephant Waterfalls. It’s now a tourist attraction and they just kept the name.

They also have a pagoda with a big Happy Buddha and statues of the characters from a childhood show I used to love, Monkey Magic. Better known as Journey To The West which is in fact very famous.



By now it was about 1300 so we went for lunch down the road. 30,000 for a good plate of food. I thought it would be nice to shout Chilli lunch, the price went down to 50,000 for both of us. I overhead them charging a different group of tourists 60000 a head.

9. Silk Factory

Up next was the silk producing factory. Chilli explained the various stages. Interesting.

Making Silk, top things to do in Dalat, Vietnam
10. Mushroom Village

Then we went to a village that produces mushrooms. Again Chilli explained the process, also very interesting.
11. Orchid Plantation

Then to an Orchid plantation. Pretty.


12. Datian Waterfalls.

Coming towards the end of the day we hit up the Datian Waterfalls. It was a nice walk through, but I think the elephant waterfalls were better.

13. Crazy House

The last thing on my list of top things to do in Dalat is the Crazy House. I wasn’t going to do this, but I am glad I did.

I know that my heading says top 12 top things to do in Dalat, Vietnam, but I didn’t want to put 13 in the title, because some people are superstitious about that number. To those people, sorry I tricked you.

Crazy House was built by some Vietnamese architect. It is like a fantasy land. It costs 40000 to go in and is worth it. Kind of hard to describe. Reminded me of Alice In Wonderland.




I got dropped back at the hostel at 1700, pretty much on the dot. It was a good tour, and I usually am not a fan of tours. Good value for money. There’s no way I would have seen even 1/4 of the things I saw on my own.

My bus to Ho Chin Minh City (Saigon) doesn’t leave until 1015 so I went for a good walk. Had a Bahn Mi for 8000 vnd. Things just keep getting cheaper, but I think Dalat is pretty cheap as a whole. Dropped into the local tattoo parlor. I would not get a tattoo done there.