Da Lat construction and transport report

Da Lat (Central Highlands of Vietnam), featuring a new international hotel, the greenhouse problem, the old Governor’s Palace, build too big and ask for permission later, an old military airport that would make a great park, international flights, and the proposed railway restoration.

Da Lat is the capital of Lam Dong Province in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam. The city is 1,500 m above sea level, and the nights get cold by coastal Vietnam standards. The cooler climate made it a prime location for French colonists to establish a retreat from the heat of Saigon.

The city still trades on being a city of French villas, and some travel guides persist on calling it Little Paris. Much of the colonial-era architecture has been lost due to a lack of heritage planning.

This telecoms tower is known as the Dalat Eiffel Tower.

The Da Lat urban area resembles a typical provincial Vietnamese city. As the largest city in the Central Highlands, Da Lat has the traffic to go with it.

Traffic in Da Lat

Despite the traffic and lost heritage, Da Lat still retains its appeal as a highland retreat. The lakeside area is a lovely place to walk, and the dazzling blue skies are a novelty if you are arriving from smoggy Saigon.

I visited Da Lat in November 2024 and March 2025, so this report is an amalgam of those two trips.

I got a van from Nha Trang, and as we approached the city, I could see a new hotel project being built.

Construction in Da Lat

After arriving at my hotel, I went to the Central Market area, and I was surprised to find a Starbucks. There are very few international chains in Da Lat, so Starbucks is a significant milestone.

Da Lat central market area.

I walked back the way I arrived to see the big construction site I passed in the van. This is the Best Western Premier project. The BWP brand is one of many offshoots of Best Western (there are currently 19 sub-brands).

This is also a significant milestone as Da Lat has been overlooked by the international hotel groups. There is currently the Mercure Dalat Resort, and Sofitel was managing the historic Dalat Palace Hotel until they departed.

Best Western Premier project in Da Lat

Greenhouses

One of the first things you will notice as you approach the city is the number of greenhouses in the surrounding hills.

The government has proposed to start removing greenhouses near the city, though this creates the problem of compensating farmers. The plan is to remove 20% of the greenhouses by 2025. Better land management in the first place would have saved this situation.

Governor’s Palace

Dinh Hill remains one of the last remaining patches of green in the city. The hill is topped by the former French colonial Governor’s Palace, though the palace and grounds are not kept in good condition.

There were plans to redevelop the hill, which involved turning the hill into a mall complex and relocating the palace on top of this fake hill. There was more outcry than normally seen in the local media, so this might have died a quiet death.

It would be good to see the place restored and for some green walkways around the hill. It is currently only accessible via a road at the back.

Merperle Hotel

Da Lat is not a city of skyscrapers, but there are some notable big buildings. The Merperle Hotel is the biggest in the city, and being on top of a hill makes it look bigger. Is it wide enough to be a groundscraper?

Merperle Hotel

The hotel looks out of place in its surroundings, and it turns out that they overbuilt from the original plan. The hotel was threatened with demolition when it was discovered that they built beyond what had been permitted. Vietnam is where you break the rules first and ask for permission later. It’s a gamble that some developers play. Sometimes they get a comically small fine, other times they are forced to demolish the entire building.

Merperle Hotel

Golf development

One development that is discovering if it can get away with overbuilding is a resort on the golf course by the city lake. The developer has built beyond what was allowed, and so far, they have been fined. The project has been suspended, so we wait to see if this goes ahead, or if it remains as a blight on the lakeside area.

Cam Ly Airport

I was looking at the satellite view of Google Maps for potential construction sites, which was how I found out about Cam Ly Airport. I saw a distinct runway-shaped gap among a sea of greenhouses, so I went to have a look.

The airport was for military training, and it wasn’t a commercial airport; thus, it is not on my list of defunct airports of Southeast Asia.

There is no obvious entrance to the airport, so you would never know it’s there if you were driving by.

I went for a walk along the runway with the cows, and I thought that it would be good if this were turned into a city park like Tempelhofer Feld Berlin.

While Da Lat is promoted as a green city in the highlands, the reality is that it’s heavily urbanised and has lost much of its green space. Turning the runway into a city park would considerably add to the tally of green space. The main problem is that it is on the outskirts of the city, so a bus service from the city centre would also be useful.

Air travel

Lien Khuong International Airport is the airport that serves Da Lat. There is currently one international flight from Kuala Lumpur, and I saw ads around the city for the flight. AirAsia fly to practically everywhere in Southeast Asia from KUL, so to be a serious city in Southeast Asia, you need an AirAsia flight from KUL.

AirAsia advertising in Da Lat

There used to be more international flights to Da Lat before the pandemic, with flights to Bangkok and South Korea. The archived page from 2021 shows the flights before the pandemic.

What is strange is that there was a ceremony to announce that Lien Khuong became an international airport in 2024, even though it was already receiving international flights.

The airport is now trying to get more international flights, with Singapore and Siem Reap being mentioned as possible Southeast Asia connections.

Future railway

The proposed Da Lat–Thap Cham railway restoration continues to be proposed, and it will probably be proposed in perpetuity at this point. I keep a record of the proposals, and the first time it was proposed (on record) was in 2007.

The most recent update was that a Chinese company has shown interest in restoring the railway.

The ultimate dream would be that in the future, you could get the high-speed railway from Ho Chi Minh City to Thap Cham, and then transfer to the Thap Cham to Da Lat railway.

Da Lat Railway Station

Even without the railway, I still find myself returning to the wonderful Da Lat Railway Station every time I am in the city. You can also ride a fragment of the railway to get a train fix.