While there are not a lot of museums in Dalat, there are three “palaces” or mansions (or large homes, really). These belonged to the Vietnamese Last Emperor, Bao Dai, that he and his family used for vacations. Only the 3rd Palace was open for visitors when we were in Dalat, the aptly named Bao Dai Palace #3. We visited on yet another rainy day.
This “palace” was built in the 1930s, though I felt it had more of a 60s vibe.
There were a lot of people inside, and more than a few couples taking wedding photos. The most famous room we couldn’t even see as there were so many tourists taking pictures with costumes (that could be rented onsite), so we aren’t sure why it was famous.
The European Gardens surrounding the house were a highlight, and must have been a peaceful and relaxing place for the Emperor and family to get some R&R.
The rain picked up as we readied ourselves to leave, and we waited under the ticket booth awning for our taxi as the rain came down. Shortly we were off to see a different museum, however, when we got there, it appeared closed, though it was lunchtime, and many museums close for lunch.
So, we excited the car and looked for a coffee shop, but all the nearby ones were closed. We hid under the overhang to one shop, and noticed our taxi driver hadn’t left. I checked my phone, and he had sent us a message that confirmed the museum was closed today. We picked the only other museum in town nearby, the Lam Dong History Museum.
Lam Dong is the name of the province in which Dalat is located, and the museum covered so much information about the area. From the flora and fauna to the historic tribes that occupied the area, including many dioramas and other artifacts, and continued through modern times. We learned as much as was translated into English.
There were also some nice paintings, and a few Bonsai trees outside.
It was a really informative museum and way better than we had expected. After we left, we walked toward a nearby cafe, and saw a big sculpture garden. There was no entrance, and it looked like it had been a homestay or hostel, but was definitely closed, and the map had no info either. The sculptures and statues were cool though, from street level.
There are many nice Buddhist Temples around Dalat. I’ve already mentioned a few in prior posts, and we went to a few more. Right down the street from the Hoa Thong Brewing Co. that we visited in the last post is the Chua Tam An, which is a big temple and was nice and peaceful when we stopped in (after we waited for a big tour group and their bus to leave, that is).
One of our last mornings in Dalat we skipped the hotel breakfast and instead walked to a French breakfast cafe called Morning In Town (though it was much easier to remember “Morning Town”), which also provided some really great views of the mountains and trees near our hotel. We also passed the below, European-looking building known as Tram’s Castle, but we couldn’t go in.
We knew we wanted to visit the Linh Son Pagoda, which is the most famous Pagoda in Dalat proper. It is a really big complex, and they are still expanding. When we visited, there were only a few other tourists, so we really enjoyed exploring and took a long break, basking in the serenity.
In the back is the tall pagoda tower, which is mostly mosaic and really colorful.
We walked through the nearby neighborhood on our way to our next destination.
Soon we arrived at Domaine de Marie, a Catholic Church that looked like it could’ve been just as easily in Switzerland (save the familiar pink color of Vietnamese Catholic Churches, that is).
We had to really search for the Virgin Mary Grotto, which has been a staple of Vietnamese Catholic Churches (if you’ve been following our adventures). Find it we did, but it was behind a locked gate, so this is as close as we came.
The rain came back heavy just as we were leaving, so we made haste for the hotel. The hotel offered an afternoon tea every day between 2-4pm, which was rather nice, and we did it couple of times. They offered a pot of herbal tea, homemade cookies, pickled artichokes (which were surprisingly sweet and tasty) and dried persimmons.
We have become something of cable car connoisseurs on this trip (not on purpose) and we took the nearby Dalat Cable Car up to Tuyen Lam Lake. Another rainy day, but we were down to our final days, so on we went in our raincoats.
We traveled by ourselves in the cable car, down to the lake area. It felt odd, as usually the cable car always goes up to start, in our experience. Besides the rain, it was quite the windy day, which rocked the car and sounded ominous when howling through the small window. Jessica does not love cable car rides and this did not help.
We finally arrived on the other side, at Truc Lam Zen Buddhist Temple. There were many other tourists when we arrived and it was still raining, so we quickly tried to find a place for shelter, on the other side of the main temple.
We saw many Bonsai trees around (and a little doggie).
We kept walking, and came upon a peaceful garden, with many blooming and bright flowers, some statues, and a pagoda we could take shelter from the rain under.
Once the rain subsided, we decided to take a short walk and visit Tuyen Lam Lake, as we had seen a couple of coffee shops on the map, along the 20-minute route.
Unfortunately, the rain picked back up pretty quickly, and chased us all the way to the Abidera Cafe. Luckily, they had coffee and shelter, and a sweet old dog that Jessica was so excited to pet.
After we finished our coffees, we walked along the road, next to lake, appreciating the clouds rolling over the mountains behind the lake.
We walked and walked, passing the most popular spot for lake pictures, with lots of tourists.
We continued on walking, knowing that we would have to walk back up to reach the cable car area and temple again. We made a wrong turn, had to backtrack, saw the cable cars, and finally, after lots of uphill walking in the rain, and humid sweating, we arrived back.
We boarded the cable car and took our windiest ride yet. Jessica was not pleased, as the car swayed back and forth, heading up to Dalat Station. Luckily, the rain had stopped and we were treated with great views of the countryside and the city.
At the station, we looked out onto the city from the observation deck, appreciating our time in Dalat.
We truly enjoyed the city so much. It has been one of our favorite places we have visited thus far, as we enter the seventh month of traveling in SE Asia. If the opportunity presents itself, take a trip to Dalat, and you’ll be lucky, as the airport should be open by then and you won’t need to take winding mountain roads many hours by car to reach it.
On to our last Vietnam destination, the coastal city of Nha Trang!
Phil's WayPastCool 