Dalat: Xuan Huong Lake, the Crazy House and the night market

A day in the pine-ringed hill town: a misty lakeside walk, a guesthouse that looks like a melting tree, and an evening of grilled rice paper and hot soy milk in the cold.

Area

Dalat & highlands

Start from

Central Dalat

Distance

about 4–5 km on foot

Time needed

1 day

Best season

All year; December – March is driest and coolest

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

On foot; short taxi rides on the hills

Tickets & rules

Ticket for the Crazy House

Why go

Dalat is unlike anywhere else in Vietnam. It sits at about 1,500 metres, the air smells of pine and woodsmoke, and in the evening people walk the streets in puffer jackets and woolly hats. French villas with steep roofs and chimneys peep out from the hills, and the centre curls around a long, willow-fringed lake.

The Crazy House is the city’s most famous oddity: a guesthouse and art project built to look like a giant tree, with twisting concrete branches, cave-like rooms, spider-web windows and narrow bridges that wind over the rooftops. It is part Gaudí, part fairy tale, and still a work in progress.

As dark falls, the steps and streets around the central market turn into a night market. Stalls sell wool hats and strawberries, and the smoke of countless small grills rises into the cold air. It is one of the happiest evenings you can have in Vietnam.

The story

Dalat began with a recommendation. After Alexandre Yersin explored the Langbiang plateau in 1893, he reported that its cool climate would make a good sanatorium for French officials and soldiers worn down by the heat of the lowlands. Over the following decades the French built a resort town here, with villas, schools, a railway and a lake created by damming a stream.

Xuan Huong Lake, at the heart of the town, was formed in the early twentieth century and later named after Hồ Xuân Hương, a celebrated Vietnamese poet of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, known for her witty, daring verse.

The Crazy House was begun in 1990 by architect Đặng Việt Nga, who studied in Moscow and returned to create a building that fit into nature rather than dominating it. Each guest room has an animal theme, and construction has continued for decades. Locals were sceptical at first; now it is one of the city’s best-loved sights.

The night market grew from the street vendors around the central market. Its best-known snack is bánh tráng nướng, sometimes called ‘Dalat pizza’: rice paper grilled over charcoal with egg, spring onion, dried shrimp and chilli sauce.

Getting there

Dalat’s centre is compact but hilly. Walk around the lake and down to the market; take a taxi up to the Crazy House if you’re tired of climbing.

Dalat is reached from Nha Trang by road in about four hours, or by air via Lien Khuong airport, about 30 km south of town.

A suggested plan

1. 7:00Walk around Xuan Huong Lake in the morning mist; coffee by the water.
2. 9:00Dalat Cathedral, known for the rooster on its spire.
3. 10:30The Crazy House; climb the walkways and peek into the themed rooms.
4. 1:00 pmLunch and an afternoon nap or café hour.
5. 6:00Night market: grilled rice paper, hot soy milk, strawberries, sweet potatoes.

Where to stay

Stay in or near the centre to walk to the market at night. Small guesthouses and older villas on the hills above the lake have character and views.

Good to know

• Bring a warm jacket; nights can drop to around 10–15 °C.
• Try artichoke tea, a local speciality.
• The Crazy House is easier early in the morning before groups arrive.
• Strawberries and other fruit in the market are best bought in the evening when prices fall.