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As a special place in the tour packages of central Vietnam, Dak Lak does not attract tourists with its high-rise buildings and bustling neighborhoods but with its vast mountains and pristine forests, immense coffee fields, and villages of ethnic people. This Dak Lak Complete Travel Guide will help you with all the information you need for a perfect Central Highland trip!
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1. What does Dak Lak have?
From Buon Ma Thuot city center, within a radius of about 50 km, Dak Lak has many places to explore. For the beautiful natural landscapes which are quite far from the city, you can spend about 3 days and 2 nights, or longer if you have plenty of time.
Buon Don tourist area
Located more than 50 km from Buon Ma Thuot City, Buon Don is known as the elephant territory of the Central Highlands. Here you will learn about the tradition of hunting, taming, and raising wild elephants.
In addition, visitors can also visit the 300-year-old ancient stilt house and unique tomb architecture of elephant hunting king Ama Kong, feed the elephants and take pictures with the elephants, go on a 1km long suspension bridge, etc.
Troh Bu Garden
Troh Bu is considered the first eco-tourism farm in Buon Don. Here there are picnic activities, fun activities, learning about wild orchids, forest trees, wildflowers, etc. The tourist area also has food and accommodation services.
Ca Sau Lake
This lake is a blue rock lake located in the Serepok 3 hydropower area, about 40 km from Buon Don, and is sought after by many young people as a beautiful photo spot.
However, because this place is deserted, the rocks are bumpy and the lake water is very cold, you should not bathe or climb too high.
Yang-tao Rock
This place has a pair of giant monolithic rocks shaped like elephants, including a large rock close to the foot of the mountain called Mother Elephant Rock, and a smaller rock called Father Elephant Rock about 5 km away in the middle of a field.
To see the panoramic view of the fields and corners of Chu Yang Sin forest, you can climb to the top of the rock at a gentle height that is not too dangerous.
Lak Lake
Lak Lake is the second largest natural freshwater lake in Vietnam after Ba Be Lake and Bac Kan. The lake is surrounded by large mountain ranges with primeval forests. Arriving at Lak Lake around 4:30 p.m. is a beautiful time to watch the sunset on the lake.
The most interesting activities here are boating tours around the lake to admire the scenery and swimming.
In addition, you can visit Jun village or M'Lieng village, where most of the M'Nong people live and two architectural relics for visitors are the M'Nong long house and the palace of King Bao Dai.
Ancient Pottery Village
Less than 10 km from Lak Lake is Yang Tao commune, the only place in the Central Highlands that still preserves the ancient pottery craft of the M'nong Rlam people. Here, visitors can learn about the art of handmade pottery as well as buy ceramic products as gifts.
Serepok River
The Serepok River flows to Cambodia before entering the Mekong River, then returning and forming the rich Mekong Delta region in Vietnam. The 406 km long river has many majestic and pristine waterfalls.
Serepok is a combination of two rivers: Krong Kno and Krong Ana. Another strange thing is that the two rivers flow in parallel, but one is red all year round, and the other is always blue.
Dray Nur Waterfall - Dray Sap Waterfall
Serepok River creates beautiful waterfalls such as Dray Sap, Dray Nur, Gia Long, Trinh Nu, Bay Branch, Krong Kmar, Bim Bip and the Dray Nur is considered the most majestic waterfall in the Central Highlands.
During the high water season, the white waterfall is about 250m wide and more than 30m high, pouring into the lake bed. The most interesting thing is to cool off in small water holes and under the water flowing from above the cliff behind the waterfall.
Although Dray Sap waterfall is not as large as Dray Nur, it still makes visitors excited by the white foaming water, so it is also called a smoky waterfall.
National Parks
Dak Lak has many famous national parks: Yok Don (one of the 10 greatest national parks in Vietnam), Chu Yang Sin, Nam Ka, and Ea So. The Chu Yang Sin Range, which divides the park into two areas: North and South, is the highest mountain range, with a peak of 2,442 m.
Yok Don National Park is home to many large mammals, such as bison, gaur, wild buffalo, elephants, monkeys, gibbons, tigers, leopards, peacocks, pheasants, hawks... This is also a place to preserve many unique cultural values of the Central Highlands ethnic groups such as Ede, M'Nong... With an area of more than 1.15 km2, Yok Don spreads across the two provinces of Dak Lak and Dak Nong. There is up to 90% of the area of primary forest, of which dipterocarp forest is the main one. This is also the only forest in Vietnam that still preserves this special type of forest.
Chu Yang Sin Peak is known as the second roof of the Central Highlands, after Ngoc Linh Peak in Kon Tum province. The journey to conquer Chu Yang Sin requires at least 3 days and 2 nights.
These national parks have breathtaking landscapes with more than 40 different high and low mountain ranges, many steep slopes, vast forests, interwoven streams, and waterfalls, and are also home to many large mammals.
Yang Prong Tower
Unlike the Cham towers along the Central region, which are located on high hills, the tower here is nestled in an old forest, with a gurgling stream, birds singing, and bright yellow wild sunflowers on the trail to the tower.
Wind Power Field
The main wind farm is the Dlieyang Wind Power Plant. The field belongs to the Central Highlands Wind Power Farm Project whose path leading to the windmill field is beautiful but has some difficult sections.
Buon Trap Hydropower Plant
The road leading to the hydroelectric power plant is beautiful, with some sections stretching to the horizon, sometimes through large valleys, sometimes through ravines.
Below the dam is the Buon Trap bridge spanning the Serepok River. On one side of the road are mountains, on the other side is a blue lake bed that conquers tourists who are passionate about exploring.
2. Best time to visit Dak Lak
Dak Lak has two distinct seasons: the rainy season (from May to October) and the dry season (from November to April of the following year) with the average temperature being 24 degrees Celsius.
Dak Lak is most beautiful around the end of November because the rainy season has passed, the autumn sky is clear and cool, and the waterfall still has a lot of water.
Late February and early March are the seasons of coffee flowers, April is the season of po lang flowers (rice flowers), bright red in the mountains and hills, and November is the season of wild sunflowers.
Summer in the Central Highlands often often has short rains in the afternoon. Therefore, you should focus your sightseeing time in the morning.
3. Accommodations
There are many accommodation options if you stay right in the center of Buon Ma Thuot city. Muong Thanh Hotel, Thanh Mai Hotel, Nice, Bazan Xanh, Biet Dien, Elephants, Sai Gon Ban Me, Hami Garden, etc., are highly rated accommodation establishments.
- Prices range from 300,000 to 900,000 VND per night.
Some famous homestays are Zan Homestay, Lee's House, and Doi Sao Homestay.
- Prices range from 300,000 to 1,200,000 VND per night.
If you go in a large group, you can stay in the Ban Don tourist area or Lak Lake. Lak Tented Camp is also a famous lakeside resort in Buon Ma Thuot.
4. Foods
Surely Dak Lak travel guide cannot lack the food. Dak Lak holds a rich culinary culture, the crystallization of the ethnic groups living together here.
Red vermicelli - a specialty of this highland city. The name of the dish comes from a bowl of vermicelli with the characteristic red color of the broth. The dish combines many ingredients such as crab, quail eggs, and vegetables.
Steam rice roll with grilled meat - this dish is mixed with many ingredients: a plate of wet cake, a plate of grilled meat, and next to it are cucumbers, green mangoes, sauerkraut, herbs... All rolled up and served with a cup of dipping sauce.
Leaf soup - also known as leaf hot pot - is made from 10 different types of forest leaves.
Sour soup with lentil fish (or lentil fish hot pot) is a delicious dish and has a very good cooling effect on sunny days.
Coffee - don't forget that Dak Lak is known as the capital of coffee in Vietnam.
Moreover, Dak Lak specialties have many other dishes such as grilled chicken, chicken cooked with giang leaves, bamboo-tube rice and stem liquor.
5. How to get to Dak Lak?
Buon Ma Thuot city of Dak Lak is considered the center of the Central Highlands, with accessible means of transport such as plane, car, bus, or motorbike depending on the starting point.
By plane
Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, and Bamboo Airways all have flights to Buon Ma Thuot. Round-trip ticket price ranges from 1,500,000 VND (~ 60USD) if flying from Ho Chi Minh City, about 60 minutes.
The direct flight from Hanoi takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes, round-trip ticket price is about 2,700,000 VND (~ 110 USD).
By Coach
Bus tickets from Ho Chi Minh City to Buon Ma Thuot (8 hours) range from 300,000 to 450,000 VND; Bus departing from Hanoi costs from 800,000 VND (24 hours).
If you want to freely stop and rest, you can go by car or motorbike and use Google Maps.
We hope this Dak Lak Complete Travel Guide will be helpful for tourists planning trips to Dak Lak and the Central Highlands. If you want a free-hassle trip to Central Highland, let IziTour be your travel mate. Please send your inquiry to sm@izitour.com or fill in our Contact Us form here. We will get back to you with a free proposal. Happy Travelling!
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