Da Lat

The morning air in this city is cool as mist. Pine forests grow right in the middle of town, and flowers turn up on every street corner. This is Da Lat, a city of the highlands.

Da Lat belongs to Lâm Đồng province. It sits on the Lâm Viên plateau, at an average height of about 1,500 meters above sea level. That height gives the city its unusual climate. It stays cool all year round, and the nights can be quite cold. The rainy season runs from April to November and brings mist, fine drizzle and the deep green of the forests. Da Lat lies at a tropical latitude, yet the air stays cool, mainly because the land rises so high.

The story of modern Da Lat is usually told from 1893. That year, the Swiss-born doctor Alexandre Yersin, who later became a French citizen, set foot on the Lâm Viên plateau. The plateau had long been the home of the Cơ Ho and the Lạch, and of the Chil and the Srê. A few years later, Paul Doumer went looking for a highland site that suited the French. Doumer was then the French governor general of Indochina. Yersin proposed this plateau as a place for rest and recovery. From that time on, a town was planned step by step. It rose among the pine forests, with lakes, roads, hotels, schools and a railway station. In 1916, an edict officially founded Da Lat as a small township. In 1920, a decree established Da Lat as a town. In this way, the plateau became a resort town with a clear stamp of French architecture.

Da Lat holds many layers of story. The place to begin is Xuân Hương Lake, the centerpiece of the city's landscape.

Xuân Hương Lake is not a natural lake. This area was once a valley, and the Cam Ly stream ran through it. In 1919, the French blocked the stream to make a lake. Over the years they repaired it and built up its dams again several times. The lake has carried the name Xuân Hương since 1953. That year, people proposed changing its French name, Grand Lac, to a Vietnamese one. From the shore, the water opens wide right in the heart of the city. On the far bank lies Lâm Viên Square.

Lâm Viên Square covers more than 72,000 square meters and faces Xuân Hương Lake. Its name comes from the Lâm Viên plateau, also known as Lang Biang. The city council approved that name in 2011. The square's architectural highlights are two stylized structures. One takes its inspiration from the wild sunflower and stands more than 18 meters tall. Today it is an arts center. The other is shaped like a flower bud, 15 meters tall, and it is a coffee shop. The architect Trần Văn Dũng drew up the plan for the project. He has said the design is a stylized emblem of the flowers and farm produce of Da Lat. At each Flower Festival, usually held every two years, this square becomes the main stage of the city.

From the square, the way leads through the Da Lat market. This is where it is easiest to see why Da Lat is called a city of flowers and highland produce. Vegetables, flowers, artichokes, strawberries, tea, Arabica coffee and countless other goods of this cool upland are all here. The nickname City of a Thousand Flowers is a tourist name, not an official title. But one look around the market shows why people use it.

The next stop is the Da Lat Railway Station. It was built from 1932 to 1938, as part of the railway line that ran up from Tháp Chàm to Da Lat. The architect Reveron drew the design. The architect Moncet completed the plans and supervised the work. The engineer Porte was in direct charge of the technical side. The station is about 66 meters long and more than 11 meters wide. Its main hall rises 11 meters high. The red tile roofs fold into sharp angles. Those roofs, the symmetrical plan and the colored glass windows inside are the details worth a close look. In 2001, the Ministry of Culture recognized the station as a National Architectural Monument. Standing inside feels like standing in a picture of colonial architecture, still intact, of a kind rarely found in Vietnam.

From Robin Hill, a cable car line runs for 2,267 meters. In about 12 minutes it carries people up high, over the pine forests, Tuyền Lâm Lake and the hills that spread out below. The last station sits right by Trúc Lâm Zen Monastery and Tuyền Lâm Lake.

Trúc Lâm Zen Monastery stands on Phượng Hoàng Hill, beside the same lake. The Venerable Thích Thanh Từ began building it in 1993, and it was inaugurated in 1994. Its grounds cover about 24 to 25 hectares. They hold a main hall, a bell tower, a drum tower and a garden of the patriarchs. It is open to visitors and is also a working monastery, so the mood inside is deeply quiet and serene.

Tuyền Lâm Lake lies about 5 to 6 kilometers south of central Da Lat. It covers about 350 to 360 hectares, among pine forests and hills. In 2017, the Prime Minister issued Decision 205. It recognized the lake as the first national tourist area in the country.

For travelers who love the outdoors, Datanla Falls makes a fitting last stop. The falls lie on the Prenn Pass, about 5 kilometers south of the center. They are about 20 meters high and pour over rocky ledges into the stream below. The name Datanla comes from the Cơ Ho language. The original name, Đà-Tàm-N'ha, means water under the leaves. The tourist area around the falls has a slide, a zipline and canyoning for anyone who likes a thrill.

There is one more thing to know about Da Lat. In 2023, the city joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of music. The title is tied to the music heritage and the gong music of Lang Biang, and to the way the people of Da Lat use culture to grow more sustainably.

Da Lat today is far more crowded and lively than in the quiet resort days of the last century. But the pine forests, the lakes, the climate and the old red tile roofs are still there. People who come to Da Lat once never forget it. The reason shows best early in the morning, when mist still hangs over Xuân Hương Lake and the monastery bell carries far through the pines.