Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SOUTHWEST HIGHLANDS
There's a rugged charm to this distinctly rural region, with pine-studded hilltops soaring
over intensively farmed fields and remote, bumpy roads meandering through coffee planta-
tions.
Looking for big nature? Check out Cat Tien National Park, where there are gibbons, cro-
codiles and elusive tigers.
Dalat, a former French hill station that still boasts plenty of colonial charm, makes a
great base. An adventure-sports mecca, it offers myriad biking and hiking trips for daytime
thrills and atmospheric restaurants and bars for after-dark chills.
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Dalat
063 / POP 215,000 / ELEV 1475M
Dalat is the alter-ego of lowland Vietnam. The weather is spring-like cool instead of tropic-
al hot. Days are fine, but nights can be chilly. The town is dotted with elegant French colo-
nial villas instead of squat socialist architecture, and farms are thick with strawberries and
flowers, not rice.
Dalat is small enough to remain charming, and the surrounding countryside is blessed
with lakes, waterfalls, evergreen forests and gardens. The town is a big draw for domestic
tourists for whom it's a honeymoon capital. For travellers the moderate climate is ideal for
adrenalin-fuelled activities - mountain biking, hiking, canyoning and climbing.
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