Da Lat is a charming city located in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Known for its cool climate, beautiful scenery, and rich history, Da Lat is a popular destination for both domestic and international tourists. However, there are also some rare and lesser-known things to discover in Da Lat. These include its strong coffee culture, unique cuisine, and vibrant artistic community. Da Lat also has a dark past, having been heavily bombed during the Vietnam War, and visitors can learn more about this period in history by visiting sites such as the Hang Nga Guesthouse. Overall, Da Lat offers a fascinating blend of culture, history, and natural beauty.

The natural thing to have in a big city that attracts tourists all year round, Da Lat is not. That is the reason why this city is called "Da Lat 3 no, 4 crazy". Let's learn about the nitty-gritty and crazy things of this dream city!

3 NO in Da Lat

1. No Air Condition

Arriving in Da Lat to check in at the hotel, many tourists asked the manager that "Why is there no air conditioner in the room?". This question is definitely a familiar question for hotel owners in the city of thousands of flowers and the answer to answer questions for visitors is "no one in Da Lat uses air conditioning" because of the weather. Da Lat has been a 100% natural air conditioner that makes you always feel cool and comfortable.

Dalat weather is a favor that the Central Highlands nature bestows on this land. There is never a hot sun up to 40 degrees here like in Hanoi in the summer or Saigon all year round, but the highest temperature in Da Lat during the day is only about 25 degrees Celsius, so using an Air conditioning cooling is not required. At night, Da Lat is also very cold, sometimes below 15 degrees, but the cold here does not make your skin cold, it is a sweet cold that makes you just need to put on a warm coat or a thick blanket in the room. You will have a good night's sleep after a day of exploring Da Lat.

Dalat weather is very interesting, coming here you will experience a day with 4 distinct seasons. When you wake up in the morning in Da Lat, you will feel that you are living in the fresh spring air with the mist wriggling around the corners of the city, the cold will make you have to put on a thin coat. and go out to catch the morning light shining through the mist and leaving the glittering light on the dew drops on the flowers, branches, and grass of Da Lat. All create a pure and gentle atmosphere like spring in the early morning in the city of thousands of flowers.

When the sun rises, the sun dispels the fog and the temperature in Dalat begins to rise, a feeling of summer is coming quickly. But the sun in Da Lat only stops at a gentle level, not as harsh as in other lands, the sun does not make you sweat, but you will have a good afternoon nap without the help of the sun. air conditioners. At noon in Da Lat, you can wear light and light clothes to take pictures with the sun, it will be great to have the best virtual live photos!

In the afternoon in Da Lat, the sun is softer and there is a gentle breeze, the golden sunshine makes the autumn atmosphere clear that anyone can feel. Da Lat afternoon is the time when tourists feel very relaxed, comfortable and enjoy the soothing Dalat weather. Afternoon in Da Lat is the right time for you to walk around the famous lakes of the city of thousands of flowers such as Xuan Huong Lake or Tuyen Lam Lake. You can also visit the famous architectural works of Da Lat in the afternoon, the feeling will be extremely romantic.

When the sun hides behind the mountains, tourists feel the cold rush to the city. At night in Da Lat, apart from the twinkling street lights, people rarely go out because it's cold. Da Lat tourists who want to go out at night often choose places such as Da Lat night market, Lam Vien square where crowded with tourists to dispel the feeling of cold and quiet when Dalat at night. At night in Da Lat, curling up in a warm blanket, sleeping deeply or enjoying Da Lat specialties with friends and relatives are also reasonable choices for you. If you like vibrant places, Da Lat also has a lot of bars, these bars often invite famous artists to perform and have music parties all night.

With such a favorable climate, the hotels and motels in Da Lat that have air conditioners are not used, so when you come here to see that your hotel does not have air conditioning, that is normal and obvious here.

2. No traffic lights

This is perhaps the most surprising thing of the city of flowers. An extremely famous tourist city of Vietnam, every year, it welcomes hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign tourists, but there is no red and green traffic signal. The reason why Da Lat did not install this signal light is because the terrain of Da Lat has many steep sections, so it is not suitable for stop lights. The roads in Da Lat are also quite empty, so there is no traffic jam at peak hours like Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City!

However, due to the increase in the number of tourists coming to Da Lat in the past few years, the first traffic light - red light - green light has been installed at the large intersection that has just been renovated. Hoang Van Thu – Tran Phu – February 3 on October 5, 2021.

The traffic light pole here seems to have been designed to suit the landscape and brand of Da Lat, with a different design from other traffic light poles you've seen before.

The fact that the body of the lamp post is brown in color, combined with the steel plate above the signal light area, which is colored in yellow and green like a flower on the tree trunk, makes the lamp post very "beautiful", in harmony with the nature here.

3. No pedicab

Da Lat's terrain is quite special, it is located at an altitude of 1500m above sea level with rolling hills, deep slopes that make it difficult for cars to use their strength to move in Da Lat. This is also the common cause with the second nothing of Da Lat that is no red light because with this terrain you can hardly stop the car on a slope.

Bicycles in Da Lat were very rare, bicycles in Da Lat also had their own design to suit the mountainous terrain of the city. Usually, in large tourist areas or tourist cities, you can easily see cyclos carrying tourists to visit the city, but Da Lat alone does not have one because not a single "driver" can pedal. Lot takes tourists around Da Lat city.

4 CRAZIES

If you wonder one about "Da Lat 3 no", tourists also wonder 10 about the saying "Da Lat 4 crazies". Why is Da Lat called "4 crazies"? The madness of Da Lat is not the place where there are crazy things that are difficult to understand, but it is the people in Da Lat who make the "crazy" for this city. Da Lat has people who dare to think and do, but do what people consider "crazy". But these "crazy" ones bring to Dalat great values and great contributions to the city of thousands of flowers. Let's see 4 names attached to the "crazy" label for Da Lat and what are the "crazy" things they have done for this city!

1. Photographer MPK

Photographer Michael Phuoc Khuyen started his photography career in 1982. His works are mainly images of Da Lat. There are many collections with different themes taken at places of the city of thousands of flowers such as: maiden, old mansion, flowers, pine, moon

Da Lat people called him "Crazy" because of his love and appreciation for the values he brought to Da Lat. It is often said that he is the soul keeper of Da Lat with his true art. Not only taking pictures for fun, but his works have been recognized by many art organizations when winning many awards on themes of nature, people, and life. His artistic lifestyle is also brought into the film as a photographer in the movie "falling in love" set in the city of Da Lat.

2. Eccentric shop owner Xuan Giang

The second name that is labeled crazy in Da Lat is the owner of the cafe Cung To Chieu - Xuan Giang. This cafe has been open in Da Lat for more than 10 years, it is located peacefully on a pine hill right in front of Palace III Dalat - the resting and working place of the last king of Vietnam's feudal dynasty. Visitors to Palace III often visit Ms. Xuan Giang's cafe and gradually this cafe has become the destination of many tourists coming to the misty land. Ms. Xuan Giang is over 50 years old and has been labeled a mutant since this Cung To Chieu cafe was opened.

The special thing at Cung To Chieu makes Ms. Xuan Giang called crazy because she plays and sings for guests in her shop. Here you will listen to the singing and playing of Ms. Xuan Giang. Xuan Giang sings because of her passion for music and the connection that music makes everyone's life lighter and more relaxed. She belongs to hundreds of songs with many different genres, but no one can "make" her sing when she doesn't like it. There are nights at her cafe where she sings dozens of songs, but there are also days when the cafe is quieter when she doesn't sing. Her rustic voice and lyrics derived from emotions and vibrations in the chilly air of Da Lat and in the peaceful pine forest space, deposited at Cung To Chieu have made Da Lat a a very private, very loving place that is rare anywhere else.

Xuan Giang's "crazy" if it just stops there, it's too normal because she opened this cafe not for business, she doesn't need to be crowded. Her shop is only open from 19:30' to 22:30' at night, so not everyone who comes to Da Lat has the opportunity to listen to her singing. What Ms. Giang wants from her guests is not money but true love and appreciation for the feelings of enjoying coffee and very rustic music at her shop. Ms. Giang is willing to invite noisy guests, constantly using the phone or behaving rudely out of her shop.

When beautiful values are gradually being pushed away from life by the hustle and bustle, Cung To Chieu is a place for nostalgic souls and loves traditional values. Cung To Chieu can accommodate hundreds of guests, but if she wants to have only a dozen people in the shop, she also closes the door to no longer receive guests to be able to choose emotions for her guests. Many people who come here will be surprised to see the words: "No laughter louder than music, no photos, no recording and we do not answer any questions". Whoever "violates" will have "trouble" with the owner.

4. Architect Lu Truc Phuong

Architect Lu Truc Phuong is the next name mentioned in the saying "Da Lat 4 crazy" or "Da Lat quartet". This is a famous architect in the mountain town of Da Lat. His "monster" and "crazy" stem from the fact that the architect didn't talk to anyone, but only monologues in a room with dozens of blueprints, wooden statues, paintings, books and his computer. The idea that this architect's room would be very large to accommodate all his belongings, in fact, this room is only about 20m2. Heard enough to know his "crazy". In addition to the "crazy", one can also see in him the loneliness and serenity of a strange architect in the midst of a time when everyone is living in a hurry and pragmatic...

The works that Lu Truc Phuong has done or is still unfinished are the destinations that Da Lat tourists seek and become "products" of tourism for the city of thousands of flowers. He opened up interesting things for Da Lat and helped travel companies, who are doing travel business in Da Lat, benefit a lot. The values that Lu Truc Phuong's works bring to the city of thousands of flowers are undeniable.

Architect Lu Truc Phuong was born in 1942 in Cambodia, he attended the Indochina Fine Arts College in Phnom Penh. He used to be a designer for the French embassy in this country. When he returned to Vietnam, the architect chose Da Lat as his place to live until he disappeared from the mountain in 2016. During many years living in Da Lat, architect Lu Truc Phuong has designed many unique buildings for this city such as: Bosco Church, house of hundred roofs, K'Long ripe chicken in Cill Darahoa village, Da Thien dragon lake, the road to the moon on the hillside of the governor's palace... Unfortunately, most of the works are incomplete construction.

Architect Lu Truc Phuong is loved and respected by Da Lat people for his personality and talent. He is considered a thoughtful and visionary architect. He designs according to his preferences, not according to any orders, so his works are floating and mundane. "That's how I came up with it, draw in that direction, anyone who likes it, shares it, receives it for deployment, if not, it's okay ...".

Architect Lu Truc Phuong's hometown was in Dong Thap, but his great love for Da Lat made him after returning from Cambodia, he settled in Da Lat for more than 40 years. Da Lat's love is sometimes even greater than that of the people of Da Lat, so he is loved and respected by the people here. His love for this beautiful land made him spend his time, thoughts and energy to think and create tourism products for the city of thousands of flowers.

The reason Da Lat people say he is "crazy" is to tell stories about his works. Love for Da Lat since 1978 has led this architect to remove the iron and steel, B40 net of his family to make nine spurts of chicken and sell his motorbike to buy construction cement. He dared to risk his life to borrow money to build his house with a hundred roofs and the "Road to the Moon". Because of Da Lat, during the past 10 years, many tourism and cultural investors in Ho Chi Minh City and many other provinces and cities have invested. asked him to bring the drawing of "house of a hundred roofs", "road to the moon"... but he always refused, so these works are still unfinished.

In 1977, architect Lu Truc Phuong set out to plan the mountainous area in Love Valley to become a continuous tourism complex for Da Lat to help Da Lat attract tourists to visit and relax. Few people know that ten years later, people know that they are behind the thinking of this "crazy" and it was not until 1992 that Da Lat city was deployed and master planed again. He is always ahead of his time with his ideas and works of art that are said to be "monster". Unfortunately, the architectural works have not been completed so that "everyone" honors the talent of this old architect.

Until the age of 65, this "crazy" architect still does not stop clinging to his dreams, he refuses to design houses to earn money even though his villas and townhouses are all very beautiful. . In Da Lat, he was still unfinished, so for the rest of his life, he traveled to Ma Da (Dong Nai) to design a "floating house on a deserted island" "To worship Au Lac ancestors on a boat" for a project of an eco-cultural tourist area of thousands of hectares named "Shanghai bridge" invested by Korea and Phu My Hoa Tourism Company...

4. Architect Dang Viet Nga

The last name in the list of "Da Lat 4 crazy" and "Da Lat quartet" is architect Dang Viet Nga. She is the daughter of the late General Secretary Truong Chinh and also the owner of a strange house in Da Lat called Crazy House. She graduated from Moscow University of Architecture (1959-1965) and continued to return to Russia to continue her studies and receive a doctorate from the Soviet Union. After returning to Vietnam to live in Hanoi, this female architect left the capital and came to live in the city of thousands of flowers, Da Lat. Perhaps the beauty of Da Lat is always something that attracts the footsteps and love of those who carry the blood of artists. Coming to Da Lat, she built the Hang Nga villa, also known as the crazy house, bringing unique values to the city she loved.

Talking about Hang Nga villa, this is the villa with the most buildings, guest houses, cafes and art galleries. The special thing of this building lies in the strange interior and architecture including caves, winding corridors, strange winding stairs, the interior of the building is very strange with statues of animals. very large in size. The villa gives the feeling of meandering, without a straight angle. Everything about the mansion looks very odd as it is melted at high temperature and then cooled down in this form.

Not only that, between the buildings of Hang Nga villa are tree roots, bones made of concrete or giant spider webs. The rooms of the villa have very unique names such as Kangaroo room, Bear room, Bee room or Gourd room ... If you love the design of this villa or love architect Dang Viet Nga, you can come here. visit and stay overnight. The design of this villa mainly won the hearts of foreign tourists to Dalat.

Hang Nga Villa - Crazy house was opened in the 1990s, with its unique architecture that the Chinese People's Daily voted this place as one of the 10 strangest buildings in the world. Previously, to be allowed to build this building, architect Dang Viet Nga had spent a lot of effort, 6 times applying for construction, 6 times being refused, up to the 7th time the petition of and about the expansion of the villa. This was just passed. With her enthusiasm and efforts, the architectural work of architect Dang Viet Nga has been recognized, attracting a large number of visitors to this place and listed as unique architectural works in the world.

Live like a Da Lat with Local Buddies

The idea of "Live like a Da Lat with Local Buddies" is to provide tourists with a more immersive and authentic experience of the city. Instead of just visiting the usual tourist attractions, visitors can connect with locals and experience Da Lat from their perspective. Local buddies can show visitors around their favourite spots, introduce them to local cuisine, and offer insights into the city's culture and history. By travelling like a Da Lat with local buddies, visitors can gain a deeper understanding of the city and its people, and create meaningful connections with locals.

TUBUDD - THE LOCAL POINT OF VIEW

TUBUDD - THE LOCAL POINT OF VIEW

➖ Email: [email protected]/[email protected]

➖ Instagram: @yourtubudd

➖ Tiktok: @yourtubudd_

➖ Hotline: +84 896 684 588

Our services included:

➖ Local buddies: https://www.facebook.com/tubudd

➖ Visa: https://www.facebook.com/tubuddvisa/

➖ Transportation

👉 Find us on