Da Lat + Mui Ne // Vietnam Travels
- Mia Tortolani
- Apr 12, 2017
- 2 min read
My apologies... this post is LONG overdue, but here are some highlights from my weekend trips to the mountain city of Da Lat (in Vietnam's Central Highlands) and the beach town of Mui Ne.
Da Lat
This was one of our first trips within Vietnam after the Tet Holiday, and it was LOVELY. Between the serene lake, the colorful cityscape, and the towering mountains there was no lack of natural beauty on this trip. On top of all of that, the weather was a perfect escape from the heat of Saigon. We loved our stay at the NOMAD Home, a cute little hostel tucked away from the city. We spent an afternoon walking around the city, trying coffee and smoothies, and touring the Hang Nga Crazy House, a fun little surrealist guest house/tourist spot.
The highlight of our trip was easily the easy rider day tour we did throughout the highlands. On this trip we saw everything from tea plantations to waterfalls (we even tried weasel poop coffee - look it up). Click through the photos below for more of this adventure:
Mui Ne (photos coming soon)
A quick 6 hour bus ride away from Saigon is Mui Ne, the beaching and kite-surfing hot spot in the Southern half of Vietnam. We stayed at the Mui Ne Hills Hostel and the dorm was exactly what you'd expect for $5 a night, but bOY OH BOY was the pool a pleasant surprise. The property had 3 pools, a bar, and a restaurant and was a quick 5-minute walk away from the beach. The windy beach was super ideal for the kite surfers, slightly less than ideal for my hair, though sneaking onto resort lounge chairs made it a lot more bearable.
Our second day there called for a 4:00am wakeup to do a sunrise tour of the white sand dunes. (FYI we booked through our hostel for only 60,000 VND, way cheaper than anything online)! The sunrise was beautiful, but the loud rumbling of jeeps and ATVs driving over the dunes made the experience mildly unpleasant. After the white sand dunes we did a whirlwind tour through the red sand dunes, the ferry stream, and a fishing village.
Aside from this early morning, we did very little other than lounge by the pool or the beach, and it was absolutely the weekend I needed! I came back to Saigon feeling tan, refreshed, and energized.
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