Dalat is a beautiful town in the central highlands of Vietnam. Even some locals in Saigon seemed impressed and a little bit jealous that we were going to "Little Paris." They do indeed have their own Eiffel Tower.
Countless cafes overlook busy streets. A few steps in any direction will bring you to a boutique cafe that does strong, local, single-cup drip Vietnamese coffee for less than a dollar per cup.
And fruit smoothies, of course. For the first time I saw local avocado, strawberries, and other non-tropical produce at market.
Street vendors and restaurants alike would get their charcoal burning hot early in the day, in preparation for hot pots or fresh grilled meat. Especially for a smaller town, I saw more karaoke bars than I've seen in my life to date, and colorful buildings backed by green mountains.
Plenty of tour buses made their way through town along with a steady flow of motorbikes, but it wasn't like the madness and gridlock of Ho Chi Minh City. That's due at least in part to the city not having a single traffic light, the only city in Vietnam with that claim to fame (according to some seminarians I met). Instead, lots of roundabouts keep things moving.
Everywhere you look in and around Dalat, there's something growing. Within the city, flowers are everywhere. Greenhouses are tucked in neighborhood valleys and cover acres of the surrounding hillsides. There's also more green than I've seen all trip--pine forests, coffee and tea trees, and countless other crops.
We hiked up a nearby mountain covered in those pines, which almost could've been a summer hike in Michigan.
An odd attraction that sounds like a tourist trap but is worth a visit and $2 admission, is the Crazy House. It's been described as a Salvador Dali painting turned into a building. You need to walk through it to really experience it, as 2D photos just can't capture it.
There are bridges, walkways, tunnels, and every corner offers a surprise, including a number of guesthouses hidden within. Just when you think you've seen it all....it keeps going.
Days in Dalat can easily be spent just walking from one cafe to another. No one will try too hard to sell you anything, mostly just a few guys on motorbikes looking for business.
You can't look anywhere without seeing tons of landscaped greens and colorful flowers.
One of the most popular attractions in Dalat is the weather. Blue skies and sunshine were pleasant, but not blistering hot. Mornings and in the shade were cool--62 degrees when we stepped off the bus at 4:30am, at which time locals were already walking around the lake and nursing their coffees.
Before here, anytime the air was clean, it was hot. If the air was cool, it was air con. Dalat was truly a breath of fresh air.
Countless cafes overlook busy streets. A few steps in any direction will bring you to a boutique cafe that does strong, local, single-cup drip Vietnamese coffee for less than a dollar per cup.
Street vendors and restaurants alike would get their charcoal burning hot early in the day, in preparation for hot pots or fresh grilled meat. Especially for a smaller town, I saw more karaoke bars than I've seen in my life to date, and colorful buildings backed by green mountains.
Everywhere you look in and around Dalat, there's something growing. Within the city, flowers are everywhere. Greenhouses are tucked in neighborhood valleys and cover acres of the surrounding hillsides. There's also more green than I've seen all trip--pine forests, coffee and tea trees, and countless other crops.
An odd attraction that sounds like a tourist trap but is worth a visit and $2 admission, is the Crazy House. It's been described as a Salvador Dali painting turned into a building. You need to walk through it to really experience it, as 2D photos just can't capture it.
There are bridges, walkways, tunnels, and every corner offers a surprise, including a number of guesthouses hidden within. Just when you think you've seen it all....it keeps going.
Days in Dalat can easily be spent just walking from one cafe to another. No one will try too hard to sell you anything, mostly just a few guys on motorbikes looking for business.
You can't look anywhere without seeing tons of landscaped greens and colorful flowers.
One of the most popular attractions in Dalat is the weather. Blue skies and sunshine were pleasant, but not blistering hot. Mornings and in the shade were cool--62 degrees when we stepped off the bus at 4:30am, at which time locals were already walking around the lake and nursing their coffees.
Before here, anytime the air was clean, it was hot. If the air was cool, it was air con. Dalat was truly a breath of fresh air.