After Saigon, we headed to the mountain city of Da Lat. Unfortunately, their airport was under construction (scheduled to reopen shortly after we left), so we had to hire a driver to take us from Saigon. The five-hour twisty and turny drive took us up, up into the mountains, at a very quick clip I might add as our young driver was apparently trying to make good time. We did arrive safely and were glad to be out of the car.
I loved Da Lat. It may be my favorite place we have visited thus far on our trip. The weather was a delightful change from the hot, humid days spent in Da Nang and Saigon. Though still a bit humid, the daytime temps were between 70-80 during our stay and the evenings would often get cool. I even needed a jacket a couple of times due to the cool weather (and sometimes rain). Da Lat felt more Alpine Village than Vietnamese City upon first glance.
Looking ahead to our time in Dalat, I was most excited about staying at The Crazy House. The Crazy House is a tourist attraction that has been open since 1990, and was designed by Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga to resemble a giant banyan tree. There are a lot of unique stairways, bridges, and small spaces to squeeze. It was inspired by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí (best known for Sagrada Familia), who we love and were lucky to see many of his buildings when we lived in Spain. The property definitely has a gaudi-esque feel to it. It also has a similar vibe to The City Museum in St. Louis, MO, if you have ever been.
The Crazy House has several unique rooms one can rent to stay on the actual property. The property is first and foremost a tourist attraction and does not offer overnight guests many of the extras we’ve grown accustomed to during our travels like breakfast included or daily housekeeping, but we thought staying for just a few nights would be really cool. Guests have access to the property before and after the attraction closes. We’ read a mixed bag of reviews as far as not having much privacy during operating hours, but figured the experience for a short time would be worth the inconvenience.
We checked into our room, the honeymoon suite actually, and after assessing the situation and discussing, we decided to find different accommodations. The room was not well suited for multiple bags, or sitting down, or sleeping really. It was very cute and funky, but the steep steps down from the too small bed to the bathroom did not feel safe. I didn’t want to go ankle breaking (or worse) down them in the middle of the night. We were able to get a refund for 3 of the 4 nights we booked, and enjoy some time wandering around the property before we left.
As we say, not everything is for us. It’s good to recognize what’s not going to work for you and nip the problem in the bud early, if you’re able to. We were able to, and as excited as I had been to stay there, I am very glad we decided to go elsewhere.
There are so many cool, artsy, funky, and whimsical places to see in Da Lat. This post isn’t about the ones that didn’t work out, it’s about all of my favorite spots that we visited!
Maze Bar
Maze Bar is everything that I wanted The Crazy House to be. The unassuming entrance is easy to miss and in fact, we passed it and had to turn around. There is no entrance fee other than to purchase a drink, which we did, and were directed downstairs to start our quest to find their rooftop garden.
We were there in the early evening and didn’t encounter any other people until we were getting ready to leave. We made our way through various rooms, bars, and stairways, Alice and Wonderlanding our way upward.
We finally reached the garden and what a garden it was. I couldn’t believe the small entrance to the bar led to this amazing, tiered outdoor space with even more to explore and amazing city views! It was so nice to have the whole place to ourselves. We sat and enjoyed our surroundings before heading off for a mini (maybe micro) pub crawl. The Maze Bar is near a trendy, tourist area with bars, restaurants, and night clubs, so we figured why not check out a couple of more places. You know we love Da Club (we do?)!
We headed off to Restaurant Drinkery where we had a couple of pints and shared a variety of meat and veg skewers.
Because we usually skip lunch, after eating a big breakfast at the hotel, we often eat dinner early. We laugh about our early bird dinner habit, sometimes eating as early as 5pm if we’ve had a particularly active day. I like to think of it as a late, Spanish lunch as opposed to an early dinner : )
A benefit of eating at 5 or 6, is that we are often only two of a handful of people at a restaurant or pub. This allows us to enjoy the experience before it gets too crowded or noisy. We’re sometimes able to take advantage of happy hour specials as well. A couple of times in China, we found semi-hidden craft beer spots where the bartenders legit seemed surprised at our presence. Then we enjoy our beers and laugh about how the place wouldn’t really get hopping until about the time we were going to bed.
Being out early served us well this particular night when we found ourselves at Woody’s Bar. The dimly lit bar had a speakeasy vibe and specialized in fancy cocktails. While we are certainly fans of a fancy cocktail, during our SE Asian adventure, we haven’t had very many because they are often too expensive and/or not very good (particularly in touristy beachy/island spots). Woody’s was a notable exception. We arrived early enough for their half price happy hour deal. We were the only people in the bar and observed one bartender training another. The training was going very well as the drinks were delicious.
We walked around the neighborhood a bit before getting a taxi back to our hotel. What a fun night out!
Dalat Amusement Park at Mong Mo Hill
This place was a trip. We didn’t realize going in how huge the park was (137 hectares), and there was so much to do! The big tourist draws of the glass bridge and huge slides were near the entrance, but we decided to zag and enjoyed much of the park on our own or with few crowds before circling back to the bridge before leaving.
One of the first things we randomly encountered was a replica of the U.S. Capital. There was no context other than a small plaque identifying it as such.
Oddly, when I googled it to try to find the dimensions, I found this: “There is no official or well known replica of the U.S. capital building at Mong Mo Hill or within the broader amusement and theme parks of Da Lat, Vietnam”. I assure you it was there. I have photographic evidence, for goodness sake. The Google search did acknowledge the Valley of Love replica garden of world famous landmarks which we happened upon later that same day (quite far from the lone capital).
Other highlights were the stairs to nowhere, bonsai garden, and giant hydrangea fields.
We got around the park with a combination of walking and catching the random bus shuttle. We were never quite sure where the shuttle would take us, but glad to get off of our feet as the landscape was quite hilly.
Before leaving, we walked across the glass bridge. It is a suspension bridge, one of the sturdiest I’ve been on, but it was still a little shaky in the middle. In addition to Phil giving me trouble about my bridge related anxiety (height related anxiety to be more precise), toward the end of the glass bridge, a speaker played a loud, glass breaking and shattering sound effect, which is…hilarious. Luckily, I saw the sensor that triggers the affect, so knew to expect something.
If I’d known what to expect from the slide, I would have done that too, but you have to pay for the ticket in advance and it sounded like a kid thing (and so many things in SE Asia have a, rather low in my opinion, weight limit), so we opted not to. Oh well. It wasn’t for us.
What was for us was the German beer hall right across the road from the amusement park. We headed over just in time to miss an afternoon rain shower and to try their tasting flight and share a currywurst.
Maple Leaf Tourist Area
I loved this place. It had a Japanese theme complete with Koi pond and kimonos one could rent to do photo shoots in. Near our hotel, we were able to walk there. I’d seen photos online of the giant figures covered in moss and they did not disappoint. They were so cool!
They had a little walking path leading down into the woods with all kinds of cool, little stops along the way.
They also have a coffee shop, the upper level of which has a nice view of the grounds and Koi pond. A complimentary coffee is included with the ticket price. Score!
They also had a mini Japanese street, a bee-hive looking building that houses the kimono rental, and a resident artist who we did not see, but did see many cool paintings laying about in the “acoustic cafe” that didn’t seem to house much else.
Van Thanh Flower Village
I enjoyed the flower village more than I thought I would given that most of it is indoors. What’s funny is that even though I did love the beautiful flowers, what I liked most was their vegetable gardens; unique hanging gardens the likes of which I had never seen before. They had tomatoes, eggplant, and most impressive, very large squash, all growing downward from support structures. I later read that in addition to being a great use of space, the hanging gardens help to prevent ground pests and rot in the large squash.
The biggest surprise was the huge statue of liberty in their outdoor courtyard area. No context. No plaque explaining anything, just lady liberty, smack dab in the middle of things (that seems right).
Dalat Fairy-tale Land
A short, but treacherous (on the busy roadside) and rainy walk from the flower garden was Dalat Fairy-tale Land, which not only promised whimsy, but also wine!
There is a little stand selling drinks as one enters the front gate. Frazzled from our walk, I promptly ordered a wine, but we were told by the woman working that we could only buy wine when we were done walking around Fairy-tale Land. Seems like a missed opportunity to me, but whatever. I settled for a coffee (also well known for calming the nerves?).
We paid the small fee and in we wandered. It was so fun and cute! Phil describes it in his blog as “Snow White meets Lord of the Rings”, and that seems pretty accurate. Needless to say, I had a blast.
The grounds aren’t super big, so after exploring for a half an hour or so, we made our way to the tasting room where we tried the wine. It was not very good. Maybe that’s why they make you wait until the end to try it?
Afterward, we stopped by Hoa Thong Brewing Co. for a flight of their craft beers which were pretty good.
Dalat Flower Garden
We had so much fun at the flower garden. The large, lovely grounds were not crowded at all and we spent quite a lot of time exploring, taking photos, sitting and just enjoying the space.
They also had an amazing bonsai garden, seemingly tucked away in the back of the park with some of the most impressive bonsai we have ever seen!
We spent two weeks in Da Lat and these are only a few of the amazing places we saw. I feel like the word whimsy has become a bit of an internet buzz word recently. Everywhere you look, people are “whimsy-maxxing”. While I am not a fan of the terminology (thanks, Gen Z), I am a fan of the intent. Everyone could use a little more whimsy in their lives. Be silly, playful, and creative. Lose yourself in imagination and have a little fun! It shouldn’t just be for kids. Everyone could use a bit more whimsy in their lives. Stop taking yourself so seriously and slide down the darn slide, have tea under a giant mushroom, explore a lil hobbit house. Have a giggle. Why not? Da Lat.
Jess Barrington Travels 