Things to do in Dalat

Packaged day tours are easily purchased round town, which will take you to avariety of sites. (An indignity not uncommon in the developing world - visitorsfrom outside Vietnam are often required to pay double what Vietnamese pay foradmission to many places when visiting individually.)

Tours typically include a handful of stops like the following:

• The summer home of the colonial-era king of Vietnam which is modestly interesting.
 
• A striking, not-quite-finished fantasy house designed by the daughter of    an independence war hero. Worth a visit if you are interested in architecture, or like Dr. Seuss-style surroundings.
 
• A set of flower gardens centered around a re-constructed traditional Vietnamese teakwood house.
 
• A hill-top pagoda coupled with a brief cable car ride over the pine forest (which has a why-bother quality to anyone who has been to a Western ski    resort, but remember that 99% of Vietnamese have not.)
 
• A ride in a land rover up to the top of Langbiang mountain, with nice views of Dalat and the surrounding mountains and valleys. (If the syrupy invented legend of Langbiang is related only in Vietnamese, that's OK.)

Other sites of interest: 

• Ho Xuan Huong (Hồ Xuân Hương) aka Xuan Huong lake, center of town. Open daily, all hours. No admission fee but rental    fees vary if you want to boat. Approximately 5km in diameter, this lake was    made after two dams on the Camly river were destroyed during a storm in the 1930s. Now, Xuan Huong lake is one of the main draws of Da Lat, and you can see honeymooners and locals strolling its banks. Many nice hotels have a    view of the lake.
• Da Lat market filled with local specialities: strawberry jam, fruits conserves, avocado, artichoke.
• Da Lat train station: take the steam train through the 17km historical line to Trai Mat, from there you can visit the Linh Phuong pagoda.
• Ho Suoi Vang (Golden Spring lake). Rather unspoiled scenery.
• Monastery, at the top of where the cable car drops you off. The monastery has a magnificent view over the dams below and its gardens are    full of landscaped shrubs in animal form - very comic! Extremely peaceful -    a great place to relax and soak in the tranquility.
• Thung Lung Tinh Yeu (Thung Lũng Tình Yêu) aka Valley of Love, Phu Duong Thien Vong street. Open daily until 5PM. Admission fee    under US$1. About 5km outside of town, the Valley of Love is common stop on    Dalat tours and is very popular with honeymooners. The Valley of Love is    also a great spot for canyoning. See contact info below for canyoning operators.
• Lake of Sorrow or Lake of Sighs, 5km northeast of town on Ho Xuan Huong road. Admission fee under US$1. The Lake of Sorrow is another common    destination in Dalat. The Lake of Sorrow is so-named because of a tale of two lovers, one who committed suicide after the other was called up to serve    in the army. The exact tale changes depending on the age and gender of the    storyteller!
• Tuyen Lam Lake (Hồ Tuyền Lâm), 5km south of town on    highway 20. Its clean green waters flow from the beautiful Tia Spring and    from the Da Tam River, which flows down from Voi mountain. Its waters    stretch over an immense 350 hectares and because of its various sources,    Tuyen Lam is known as the lake where rivers, springs and forests meet. The lake was built in the 80s. It is one of the largest and most beautiful lakes in town. The other side of the lake is the Voi mountain which is a good    place for hiking.
• Prenn Falls, At the foot of Prenn Pass, about 10km outside of town.    Open daily until 5PM. Admission fee under US$1. A very common stop on a typical Dalat tour, Prenn Falls is quite beautiful but is a lot more fun    when you're hiking it than just taking pictures of it.
• Pongour Falls, 30km south of town on highway 20.

Buy:

Most visitors to Dalat are Vietnamese, and most of them leave loaded withstuff. What they like to take home is dried and candied fruits, strawberrypreserves, coffee, green and artichoke tea, local wine, dried venison, orchids,strawberries, avocados, and other fresh produce. If you take any sort oforganized tour, chances are you will be off-loaded for a half hour at a shopselling these items. Local treats are also for sale in abundance in the largecentral market. Part covered and part outdoor, the market has dozens of smallstalls selling also fruits and vegetables, clothing, and a wide variety of othergoods. Strolling around the market is a favorite evening activity, and everynight it buzzes with thousands of sweater-clad visitors.

Dalat does not offer lot of high-end handicrafts of the sort favored byoverseas tourists. Dalat is famous, however, for its beautifully crafted silkembroidered pictures, which can be purchased at a massive mark up from the manygalleries around Dalat or at a fraction of the price from the central Dalatmarket.

Dalat also has an abundance of fruit, vegetables and flowers available forpurchase if you plan to stay for a few days and want to liven up your hotel roomor cook your own meals.