We left Mui Ne on a small bus and headed to Dalat, a city in the Highlands region of Vietnam. Lying on the hills and surrounding Ho Xuan Huong Lake, Dalat’s climate differs from the otherwise tropical climate of Vietnam—the lower temperatures and humidity gave it the name of the “City of Eternal Spring” or how the French used to call it “Petit Paris”.
Getting to Dalat
If going uphill in an old car may be difficult, it’s harder when you do it on an overheated-prehistoric minibus with no leg space. The minibus had air conditioning, it just had to be turned off during 95% of the ride, otherwise, the bus wouldn’t go up.
The trip took around 4 hours through twisting roads and cars overtaking us like in an action movie. On the bright side, the landscape grew greener as pine trees started covering the hills. Up there, coffee plantations and strawberry greenhouses substituted the dragon fruit plains of the lowlands.
Looking for a bus to Dalat? Go over to www.bookaway.com and use the code “gravy5″ at checkout to get 5% off your ticket price.
The bus stopped at the door of the Au Phu travel agency in the city center. Apparently, all tourist buses stop here, so as usual, taxi and bike drivers awaited.
What to do in Dalat
On our 3-day stay in Dalat, we rented two mountain bikes at Groovy Gecko Adventure for €3.30 each, for half a day. It was the best deal we found in the city and the bikes were pretty good.
Linh Phuoc Pagoda
On the first day, we pedal for 40 minutes to the Linh Phuoc Pagoda—a complex of temples different from what we had seen so far. The decoration was of Chinese inspiration, more figurative, detailed, and adorned with pieces of colored tiles.
There are towers to climb, giant statues of gods and goddesses, wax monk figures, and winding glaze dragons to see. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed inside the main hall because we were in shorts, so consider that before you go.
You can grab something to eat at the restaurant inside the complex for little money. They sell dumpling soup, soda, fruit, and ice cream.
Thap Cham Railway
On our way back to Dalat we stopped by the Crémaillère Railway Station, an art-deco building from the 30s that these days only operates a 7 km trip, connecting Dalat to the village of Trại Mát.
Later on, we biked to the Xuan Huong Lake in the city center and rested our legs in the grass while watching the sunset.
