Two days on the coast at Nha Trang, then over the Khanh Le pass into the highlands for Tuyen Lam Lake, LangBiang and the Da Lat night market.
Photo: Pete Walls / Unsplash
Day 1
The group flies from Da Nang to Cam Ranh, then drives about 35 km up the coast road into Nha Trang to check in. In the afternoon we climb Cu Lao hill to the Po Nagar Towers, a Cham temple complex begun around the eighth century, looking down over the mouth of the Cai River. The evening is free for seafood and a walk along the Tran Phu seafront.
Day 2
In the morning you board at Cau Da harbour for the four-island trip around Nha Trang Bay. The main stop is Hon Mun, Vietnam's first marine protected area, where you snorkel over the coral reef. Lunch is seafood on the boat, and the afternoon is spent swimming and resting at Hon Tam before the return to shore. The evening is free.
Day 3
We check out and head for Da Lat on Highway 27C over the Khanh Le pass, 33 kilometres of road linking Khanh Hoa to Lam Dong that lifts you from sea level to nearly 1,500 metres in about ninety minutes; we stop at the viewpoint midway, where cloud usually sits across the mountainside. We reach Da Lat in the early afternoon and check in, leaving time to adjust to the change in climate. The evening is free at the Da Lat night market around Hoa Binh square.
Day 4
The morning is spent on the Robin cable car down to Truc Lam Zen Monastery, the largest in Lam Dong province, on Phung Hoang hill above Tuyen Lam Lake. In the afternoon a jeep takes the group up LangBiang to the Radar peak at 1,950 metres, looking out over the Lat valley and Lac Duong township. On the way back we stop at a greenhouse strawberry farm where you can pick your own and buy fresh fruit and preserves.
Day 5
After checking out there is time at Da Lat market for candied fruit, artichoke tea, coffee and dried flowers. The coach then runs about 30 km down the Prenn Pass to Lien Khuong Airport. Your guide travels with the group through check-in for the flight back to Da Nang, where the programme ends.
This route puts two climates into one trip. On the morning of day three you are swimming at Nha Trang; by that evening you need a jacket in Da Lat. The Khanh Le pass is what joins them, and for a lot of groups the drive itself turns out to be the part they talk about afterwards, not the destinations.
We fly into Cam Ranh and out of Lien Khuong rather than doubling back. That saves the better part of a day sitting in a coach, but it means two one-way fares that move independently, so this itinerary needs booking earlier than most. The sooner you fix your dates, the easier the seats are to hold.
Day three is deliberately the lightest day in the programme. The Khanh Le pass is one bend after another and a fair number of people arrive feeling it, so that afternoon is nothing but check-in and rest, with the night market saved for later. If anyone in the group gets travel sick, tell us in advance and we will seat them at the front. Group size, hotel category and flight times are agreed before the contract is signed.
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