Da Lat in 2–3 days: sights, prices and an itinerary

Da Lat (Đà Lạt) is a mountain city surrounded by pine forests. Coffee grows in the countryside, alpine coasters carry visitors down to waterfalls, and parks are filled with storybook villages and enormous moving creatures. In town, there is even a house you can explore by crossing from one “branch” to another.

Allow two or three full days for a first visit. Spend one in town and to the east, and another at the parks around Tà Nung. A third day leaves room for Datanla Waterfall or a coffee farm. There is no need to fit everything in: choose a few places where you would enjoy spending more time.

GOD Valley

Location: Tà Nung, 18–20 km from the centre; allow 40–50 minutes each way.
Tickets: roughly 120,000–150,000 dong per package; confirm the foreign visitor price before travelling.
Allow: 1½–2 hours.

GOD Valley is a park of giant mythical creatures and a small storybook village. A turtle carries a castle on its back, a dragon moves its wings, and the trees have faces.

A giant turtle carrying a castle at GOD Valley.

Pause beside the figures rather than walking straight past. They turn their heads, open their eyes and make sounds. Photographs do not always convey their size; a person standing nearby makes the scale much clearer.

Paths weave between the giants and little houses with round doors, reminiscent of hobbit homes. Expect some uphill and downhill walking: the scenes are spread across the valley slopes.

Cao Nguyên Hoa and Greenline Luge

Location: Cao Nguyên Hoa park, Sub-area 158 on Tà Nung Pass.
Hours: 07:00–17:30; ticket sales end at 16:30.
Tickets: admission, 150,000 dong; admission and one luge ride for a foreign adult, 300,000 dong.
Allow: 2–3 hours. Book tickets.

The flower park Cao Nguyên Hoa is home to Greenline Luge, the downhill cart ride often dubbed “Mario Kart in Da Lat” in online videos.

Your low cart rolls down a winding road through the pines. There are no rails: you steer and control the speed, braking before the bends. Two tracks are available, a forest route of about 1.5 km and a shorter, 1 km route. The park provides a free shuttle back uphill.

Flower gardens and hillside views at Cao Nguyên Hoa.

Around the tracks are flower gardens, viewpoints and cafés. Stay for a walk through the hills after your ride. The combined ticket includes just one descent, so another go on your favourite track costs extra.

Datanla

Location: beside the road over Prenn Pass, about 5 km south of the centre.
Coaster hours: 07:15–16:30.
Tickets: walking access to the first waterfall, 80,000 dong; Coaster 1 return ride, 130,000 dong plus admission; Coaster 3 return ride, 250,000 dong, including the waterfall on that route.
Other activities: high ropes, 360,000 dong; 1,500 m zipline, 1,000,000 dong; two laps on a PineKart off-road kart, 150,000 dong.
Allow: 2–3 hours for a coaster ride and waterfall; longer for other activities. Book tickets.

Datanla is a waterfall in a pine forest, with an adventure park built around it. Walk down to the water or take an alpine coaster.

Datanla Waterfall surrounded by forest.

The coaster runs on rails, winding between the trees and around bends on its way downhill. A brake lever lets you control your speed. On Coaster 3, you can get off at the waterfall, explore, then ride back up. The whole route is about 2.4 km long.

An alpine coaster on Datanla’s forest track.

The high ropes course calls for a little more effort: cross suspended walkways, move between trees and balance on rope obstacles. There is also a long zipline above the forest and small karts for driving on a dirt track. The kart session includes two laps.

Take care when choosing tickets. Coasters 1 and 3 serve different parts of the complex, and admission to one waterfall does not give you access to all the others. The high ropes course, zipline and karts each have their own height, age or weight restrictions; check the rules for the activity you choose.

Crazy House

Address: 3 Huỳnh Thúc Kháng.
Visiting hours: 08:30–18:00.
Tickets: 140 cm and taller, 80,000 dong; 120–under 140 cm, 30,000 dong; under 120 cm, free.
Allow: 1–1½ hours. Book tickets.

Crazy House looks like several trees that have grown together. Rooms are tucked inside the “trunks”, with stairs and branch-like walkways linking them.

Stairs and walkways at Crazy House.

Wander through, look into the rooms and see where the next staircase leads. One climbs higher, another takes you into a neighbouring building, and the upper walkways overlook the city. Some passages are narrow and steep, with little room to pass visitors coming the other way.

The surprising part is that people sleep here too. The house has a hotel with ten animal-themed rooms, each connected to a different country: the bear, for example, represents Russia. You can book a night inside this strange tree if you wish.

The house was designed by architect Đặng Việt Nga, who studied in Moscow. Read about her and the building’s story in “A hotel of fantasies: how a Vietnamese revolutionary’s daughter built Crazy House”.

Delight Park

Address: 113 Hồ Xuân Hương Street, beside Hồ Than Thở, the Lake of Sighs.
Hours: 09:00–22:00; night walks, 18:00–22:00.
Tickets: park admission, 150,000 dong; night walk, 360,000 dong; water-and-light show, 400,000 dong; both programmes, 640,000 dong. Evening programme tickets include park admission.
Allow: 2–3 hours for the night walk; longer for both programmes.
Show times and translation: confirm when booking. Book tickets.

Delight Park is a place for an evening walk through an illuminated pine forest and a water-and-light show. After dark, fantasy figures light up between the trees and music plays along the route. The forest walk has stops at different light displays, while the show has seats beside the water. These are separate programmes: one is a walk, the other a performance.

An illuminated figure on Delight Park’s night walk.

The night walk is called Bồng Lai Tiên Cảnh; the water-and-light show is Âu Lạc. Tickets are sold separately, or you can book both. Standard park admission does not include the night walk, so check the programme name when choosing your ticket.

A glowing portal among the trees at Delight Park.

Twin Beans Farm

Location: Đạ Sar, Lạc Dương district, about 20 km northeast of the centre.
Journey: 30–45 minutes each way.
Workshop: daily, 13:30–15:00; advance booking required.
Price: 250,000 dong per person, excluding transport.
Allow: about three hours including the journey. Book a workshop.

Twin Beans is an Arabica coffee farm that runs workshops for visitors. See the coffee trees, find out what happens to the crop after picking, and try roasting the beans yourself.

The café at Twin Beans Farm.

The team explains coffee processing and helps with roasting and brewing. Examine the beans before and after roasting, compare aromas and flavours, and ask the questions a café menu rarely answers.

Picking coffee is seasonal, so ask whether it is included when you book. The farm also offers scented candle workshops, booked separately.

For help with drink names and finding a coffee you like, see our guide to Vietnamese coffee: what to order and how to understand the local coffee culture.

Linh Phước Pagoda

Address: 120 Tự Phước, Trại Mát, east of the centre.
Hours: 07:00–17:00.
Admission: free.
Allow: 45–60 minutes, or up to 1½ hours for a closer look.

The Buddhist Linh Phước Pagoda is known for its ceramic and glass mosaics. Colourful patterns cover the walls and figures. Move closer and you can pick out the individual fragments that form flowers, ornaments and dragon scales.

The mosaic-covered façade of Linh Phước Pagoda.

Around 12,000 bottles were used to decorate one of the dragons. The glass became part of a huge sculpture worth walking around to examine from different angles.

Linh Phước is still an active temple, and services may be taking place during your visit.

How to plan two days

This itinerary assumes two full days in Da Lat.

On day one, there is time to rest and eat between the pagoda and the evening programme. On day two, start at the more distant GOD Valley, then visit Cao Nguyên Hoa.

If you want to see the water-and-light show at Delight Park, check the schedule for your travel dates. Move the park visit from the first evening to the second if needed.

If coasters, high ropes and ziplining are your priority, replace the Tà Nung day with Datanla.

What to add on a third day

These are two separate outings: Datanla is south of the centre, while the coffee farm is to the northeast. After Datanla, you can continue to Tuyền Lâm Lake. On the coffee farm day, your morning stays free.

Where to go in the evening

Xuân Hương is the large lake in the centre of Da Lat. Walk along the shore and stop at a café.

Xuân Hương Lake in central Da Lat. Photo: Kanazawarui / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Around the central market, Chợ Đà Lạt, stalls open for the evening. Come for dinner and a wander through the market rows.

Evening stalls around Da Lat’s central market.

For live music, look for a concert at Mây Lang Thang. Tickets are sold for individual performances; see the venue’s programme.

A concert at Mây Lang Thang.

Find more concerts, festivals and meetups in our Da Lat events guide.

How much to budget for admission

For the main two-day itinerary, budget 740,000 dong plus your GOD Valley ticket. This covers Crazy House, admission and one luge ride at Cao Nguyên Hoa at the foreign adult rate, and the Delight Park night walk.

A third day with Coaster 3 at Datanla or a coffee farm workshop adds 250,000 dong. Choosing both the walk and the show at Delight Park adds 280,000 dong to the basic budget.

Transport, food and additional activities are extra.

Allow money and time for the journey from Nha Trang too. You can reach Da Lat by bus, minivan or private car with a driver. Flying is possible with a connection, but it is unlikely to save time. We cover the transport options, prices and mountain road in “Nha Trang to Da Lat: how to get there and what it costs”.