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Story: Pham S
Photos: Quang Ngoc
With a temperate climate and enchanting natural landscapes, Dalat has inspired many romantic films, as well as poems, songs, and paintings. Known as the “City of Thousands of Flowers”, Dalat always tops lists of favorite destinations for domestic and international tourists.
The miracle of nature
At an altitude of 1,500m above sea level, Dalat enjoys a cool, gentle highland climate all year round. With romantic hilly terrain, interesting geology, and highland flora, the landscape attracts millions of tourists annually.
Along with its beautiful nature, this city is known for its diverse sacred spaces, with hundreds of temples, churches, and monasteries. It also serves as a center for education and scientific research in various fields. Most notably, Dalat is an agricultural center and the leading supplier of high-quality agricultural products for the Vietnamese market. Its produce is exported to many countries worldwide.
Like the saying, “Good birds flock to good land”, this bustling city draws people to settle and work here, thereby creating a unique, gentle, elegant, and hospitable character. No city in Asia boasts old French architecture as charming as that found in Dalat.
Visitors to Dalat should explore National Highway 27C, a road that connects fields of flowers and the sea, passing through ancient forests, plus natural vistas of clouds and mist. This is considered the most beautiful natural heritage road in Vietnam. Nature has blessed this misty city, creating a paradise for travel, love, and agriculture.
Untold mysteries
Where else should visitors explore? With its mountains, steep passes, and endless green meadows, Dalat attracts tourists who love adventurous treks and picnics. Dalat is also famous for its many large and small waterfalls, including Datanla, Prenn, Bao Dai – Jraiblian, and Hang Cop. To explore the natural beauty of this highland region, visitors can enjoy hikes at all levels of difficulty. As well as discovering nature, visitors to Dalat can savor the area’s culinary arts, including many unique dishes, such as 100 artichoke dishes (an Asian record), bánh căn (Vietnamese mini pancakes), chicken hotpot with local herbs, meatball baguettes, and grilled rice paper. This region is renowned for beverages that delight travelers, like rare, richly flavored Arabica coffee, and Oolong tea infused with the pure essence of nature.
Preserving nature and heritage while modernizing
Dalat is transforming into a modern urban area of international standards. Over more than seven years spent following the government’s plans, the city and its surrounding areas have gradually stabilized their technical infrastructure, connected inner and regional areas, contributed to socio-economic development, promoted urbanization, and generated momentum for the next development phase.
The development of Dalat has and will continue to attract many investment projects in industrial development, forming smart financial centers, science and technology projects, and world-class educational and training initiatives. However, the city always prioritizes the conservation of its natural landscapes and architectural heritage. Dalat maintains its urban center, linking green urban villages with their own roles and functions to support and share the developmental pressures of the city, creating new interconnections in the regional planning area. Additionally, efforts are being made to protect nature and biodiversity, while balancing population density appropriately, preserving the environment, enhancing architectural and cultural landscapes, embracing digital transformation, and proactively warding off natural disasters caused by global climate change. These are the goals for the development of Dalat and its surrounding areas in the future, as it aims to become a global creative city and a world heritage urban area.
The Prime Minister issued Decision No. 257/QD-TTg dated March 17, 2023, approving the task of an overall adjustment of the General Planning of Dalat City and its surrounding areas until 2045: Developing Dalat into a green, modern urban area focused on tourism, culture, and science. To ensure step-by-step compliance with this plan, the Lam Dong Provincial Party Committee issued a Resolution to merge Lac Duong district into Dalat city. This is a favorable condition to expand Dalat toward a future of green urban development and scenic urban landscapes.
