Three days in Da Lat covers the town, the waterfalls and the hills without rushing. Day 1 is the town: Xuan Huong lake, the Crazy House, the old railway to Trai Mat and the night market. Day 2 is canyoning at Datanla, or the Datanla falls, the alpine coaster and the cable car to Truc Lam monastery. Day 3 is Langbiang mountain and a coffee farm. It works best from December to March, the dry season, and nights are cool all year.
The plan assumes you stay in the centre around Xuan Huong lake and the market, as our where to stay in Da Lat guide recommends, and get around by taxi, GrabBike or scooter. Since the 2025 reforms, Da Lat is the capital of the merged Lam Dong province, which now includes Binh Thuan and Dak Nong, and the former city is divided into five wards, with the centre in Xuan Huong-Da Lat ward.
Day 1: the lake, the Crazy House and the old railway
08:00: Xuan Huong lake. Start with a walk around Xuan Huong lake in the cool of the morning, and coffee at a lakeside café.
09:00: the Crazy House. The Hang Nga villa, about a kilometre from the centre, is a guesthouse and gallery built as a fantasy of tree trunks, caves and bridges. The official ticket is 80,000 VND for adults; it opens at 8:30. Many older guides still quote 50,000 VND.
11:00: the railway to Trai Mat. The Art Deco Da Lat station, built in the 1930s and a national monument since 2001, runs a tourist train on the 7 km line to Trai Mat, taking about 30 minutes each way, with full fares from about 106,000 to 160,000 VND one way and 25% off a return, as of 2025. Tickets are sold only at the station. At Trai Mat, walk five minutes to Linh Phuoc pagoda, covered in mosaics and with a 27 m bell tower, then take the train back.
Afternoon: cafés. Da Lat's café culture is the best way to spend a cool afternoon. Our Da Lat food guide covers the town's specialities.
Evening: the night market. The night market around the central market and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street is busiest from about 19:00 to 22:00. Try banh trang nuong, grilled rice paper, and warm soy milk, and ask the price of everything before ordering.
Day 2: canyoning, or the falls and the cable car
Option A: canyoning. Da Lat's signature adventure is a full day of abseiling down waterfalls, sliding natural rock chutes and jumping into pools in the Datanla area. As of 2026, Dalattourist, which runs the site, lists its canyoning at 1,886,000 VND per person, and one licensed operator charges 1,390,000 VND for a 6 to 7 hour tour, with a minimum age of 7 and height of 130 cm. Tours usually include transport, gear, lunch and photos. Choose a licensed operator, not the cheapest: three British tourists died at Datanla in 2016 with an unauthorised guide, and there were further deaths in 2017 and 2018. Our canyoning page explains what to check.
Option B: the falls and the cable car. For a gentler day, go to Datanla waterfall, about 5 km from the centre, where entry costs 80,000 VND and an alpine coaster runs through the forest to the first fall for 130,000 VND, or a longer one to the third fall for 250,000 VND; the coaster ticket does not include entry. Then take the Robin Hill cable car, 2,267 m over the pine forest to Truc Lam Zen monastery, for 150,000 VND return; it stops in heavy rain, strong wind or thick fog. Truc Lam is free to visit, with Tuyen Lam lake below; cover your knees and shoulders.
Day 3: Langbiang and a coffee farm
08:00: Langbiang mountain. About 12 km north of the centre, Langbiang's entry costs 50,000 VND, and a jeep takes you up a 6 km road to the 1,950 m Radar peak for 120,000 VND per person once six people are aboard, or about 720,000 VND for the whole jeep. The views stretch over the plateau and the pine hills. You can also hike up.
Afternoon: a coffee farm. Da Lat is the heart of Vietnam's arabica country. Me Linh coffee garden at Ta Nung, about 20 km out, sells weasel coffee at about 75,000 VND a cup, and entry usually means buying a drink; note that civets are kept in enclosures there, and animal welfare groups urge visitors to avoid caged-civet coffee. The Cau Dat tea and coffee hills, about 23 km away, are another option. Our coffee farm tours guide covers the farms that welcome visitors.
A note on Elephant Falls. Elephant Falls, about 30 km west, has been closed to visitors since 2021, and the provincial newspaper Bao Lam Dong reported in September 2026 that it was still shut with no reopening date. Linh An pagoda above it stays open. If you want a big waterfall instead, Pongour, about 50 km south, was open in 2026, with tickets of about 20,000 to 40,000 VND. Our day trips from Da Lat guide ranks the options.
What three days costs
These are per-person estimates for the plan above, as of 2026, at about 26,000 VND to the dollar, excluding transport to Da Lat.
| Item | Budget | Mid-range |
|---|---|---|
| Three nights | $12-25 a night, $36-75 | $25-45 a night shared by two, $38-68 |
| Crazy House and the Trai Mat train | about $9 | about $12 |
| Day 2 | Datanla, coaster and cable car, about $14 | canyoning, about $53-73 |
| Langbiang and the jeep | about $7 | about $7 |
| Coffee farm | about $3 | about $3 |
| Getting around | scooter, about $17 | taxis, GrabBike or an easy rider, $25-45 |
| Food and drinks | $25-40 | $45-80 |
| Total | roughly $110-165 | roughly $185-290 |
Getting around
GrabBike and taxis booked through Grab operate in Da Lat, although GrabCar does not, and Xanh SM electric taxis can be booked by app or phone. A 125cc scooter costs about 150,000 VND a day, with a passport or cash deposit, but the hills are steep, and the roads are wet in the rainy season. Easy riders offer guided motorbike tours from about $25 for a half-day in town and about $45 for a countryside loop.
Weather and getting there
Da Lat stays mild all year, with days of about 21-25°C and cool nights. The dry season, from December to March, is the best time, with cherry blossom in January and February and the Da Lat Flower Festival from 19 to 31 December 2026; our flower festival guide has the programme. From May to October, afternoon downpours are common, canyoning water runs higher and the cable car can stop. Our Da Lat weather guide has the month-by-month figures.
Da Lat is about 6 to 8 hours by road from Ho Chi Minh City, or under an hour by air, and about 3.5 to 4.5 hours from Nha Trang; see our Ho Chi Minh City to Da Lat and Nha Trang to Da Lat guides.
Limitations
Prices for Datanla, Langbiang and the cable car come from Dalattourist's own site, and the Crazy House price from its official page, as of 2026; train fares are 2025 figures, and prices for Pongour and the coffee farms differ between sources. We could not confirm the entry fee for Linh Phuoc pagoda. The cost totals are estimates built from the line items above, not quotes.
Workaround: book canyoning with a licensed operator a day ahead, check the weather before the cable car and Langbiang, and confirm that any tour you book does not include closed sites.