Travel to Vietnam part 5

Central Vietnam boasts the most attractive destinations of the country, from the imperial city of Hue, former capital under Nguyen Dynasty in 19th century, Hoi An, known as Faifo, the historical trading town, central highland hill resort of Da Lat, famous as the city of flowers, Buon Ma Thuot where inhabited by Montagnards famous for elephant hunting and taming, Quang Binh with Phong Nha caves, one of the world heritages in Vietnam and the recently discovered Son Doong cave system, the world's biggest cave, and Nha Trang city famous for white sandy beaches.


Classic Vietnam tours usually start from Ho Chi Minh city or Hanoi capital, adventurous and travellers like going to Buon Ma Thuot for elephant riding, visit spectacular waterfalls in Lak lake and spend they night in long houses at Ban Don village of Ede people, especially Buon Ma Thuot is known all over the world for it's coffee, considered as one of the best coffee in the world.

Also located in Central highlands is Da Lat, nicknamed as city in the mist, or called by foreign tourists as a Little Paris, belonging to Lam Dong province on the Lang Biang plateau, independent travellers going on holidays with families love Da Lat for it's romantic atmostphere. Differ from Buon Ma Thuot where is popular with young active backpackers, Da Lat is suitable for families or couples going on honeymoons.

Visitors to Da Lat love hanging around the Lake of Sigh, pine forest or enjoy a cup of coffee over Xuan Huong lake, right in the heart of the city. At an elevation of 1500m above the sea level, Da Lat used to be a very popular site in the Vietnam war when military officers from Sai Gon came on holidays and stay away from the heat, many villas of the high ranking officials of former Sai Gon administration were built in 1960s, most of them were seriously damaged or destroyed in the war time, most villas today were built in early 1990 when a lot of people getting more and more interested in this city.

Many tour companies offer short trips to from Ho Chi Minh to Da Lat as part of the Vietnam trip, it takes about 1 hour flight from Sai Gon or 6 hour drive. For Da Lat sightseeing attractions visitors are interested in Chicken village, Cam Ly waterfall or the central night market.

Temperature in Da Lat is cool through out the year, average 18-19 degrees Celsius, even in the hottest time of Summer, it is usually foggy in the early morning and then get clear in the day, there are about 1 week a month when the city is overcast with mist.

Population of Da Lat is nearly 250.000, in the nearby districts there live people of ethnic minority groups.