VPT

We provide private 16 seats van ( suggest for family or small group from 8-10 passengers + small luggage) for transfer from Saigon- Dalat (airport/ city) for 1day and 1 way.

Driving schedules ( flexible):

Day1: pick up at your hotel in Saigon this morning and driver Dalat mountains, some 300km and driving time around 6 hours,  on arrival, transfer to your hotel/ home and end car rental services.

Van rental included: Driver (Speak very little in English), Private 16seats Van, Gas, Road tolls, Parking fees
Van rental excluded: meals, hotel rooms, travel insurance, personal expenses.

 Note:
+ Surcharge for departure from Saigon, after 13.00 Pm, this surcharge for hotel room for driver and van stays overnight in Dalat = 50$/ 1van
+ No accept booking for departure from Saigon after 14.00 PM, as the mountain roads
+ Our driver speak very little in English, so if you need an English speaking guide for this trip, escort guide from saigon = 40$/ working days  (upon request only)  
+ For 2days or 3days rental car and Van in Dalat, please contact us for better rates:

  info@vietnampathfinder.com or call/ whatsapp: 084.913323977

Dalat car rental - Da lat trips

16seats Van for your Dalat trips

Interior - 16seats Van for Dalat trips

7 seater Dcar Limousine Van for Dalat trips

7 seater Dcar Limousine Van for Dalat trips for small tour groups

Interior-7 seater Dcar Limousine Van for Dalat trips
We also provide private luxury van : 9-18 seaters Limousine for your trip from Ho Chi Minh city to Da Lat mountains or Opposite ways

Dalat at Night

Dalat mountains

Dalat school girls

Tuyen lam Lake in Dalat

 Destination and Highlights:

Dalat is quite different from anywhere else you’ll visit in Vietnam. You would almost be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled into the French Alps in springtime. This was certainly how the former colonists treated it – escaping to their chalets to enjoy the cooler climate.

The French feel is compounded by a radio mast shaped like the Eiffel Tower and the local bohemian artists’ predilection for swanning around in berets. Dalat is small enough to remain charming, and the surrounding countryside is blessed with lakes, waterfalls, evergreen forests and gardens.

1. Truc Lam Zen Monastery, The Meditation Center in Dalat

Location

On the way to Tuyen Lam Lake, tourists have to run right onto a zigzagging road at the mountain side to Phoenix Summit, on which stands beautiful famous Truc Lam Zen Monastery in an open poetic natural environment.

Historical records of Truc Lam Zen Monastery

Established in special social conditions, with the aim of restoring Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen School founded by the King Tran Thanh Tong, this Zen school has harmoniously combined different Zen schools with Vietnamese cultural and tradition into Vietnamese Zen. Truc Lam Zen Monastery lies on a protected forest of 23,2 hectares, of which 2 hectares is the building area.

With its advantage of location, Truc Lam zen monastery was designed with a new style of architecture by Mr. Ngo Viet Thu. The sanctum was designed by architecture Huynh Ngoc An. The sanctum has rectangle shape which is toward the South. Sanctum surroundings are a lot of traditional Vietnamese pagodas which were built by ferro-concrete. The monastery was designed modernly. It is simple in its form but modern in structure and use.

The pagoda was built in 1993 – 1994 by superior Buddhist monk Thich Thanh tu and it was designed with the oriental architecture style. With the beautiful landscapes, the pagoda is not only a place for meditation but also an ideal place for visiting.

Linh Phuoc pagoda-Dalat

2/ Records of Linh Phuoc Pagoda in Dalat

(Also called with another name is Dragon Pagoda)

Location

Linh Phuoc pagoda is located at 120 Tu Phuoc – Ward 11 which is in the northeast, 8km from the city center. Taking the train to Trai Mat to visit Linh Phuoc Pagoda in the chilly cold of the central highlands city of Da Lat is an exciting adventure for those who seek the sanctuary of a worshipping place and the unique architecture of Asian pagodas.

History of Linh Phuoc pagoda

Linh Phuoc Pagoda, also called Ve Chai Pagoda, was built from debris of glass, pottery bowls and porcelain between 1949 and 1952 in a remote residential area of Da Lat City. The pagoda has been led by many Buddhist monks and was renovated by Monk Thich Tam Vi in 1990.
The pagoda was built in 1949 and finished in 1952. It had being managed by 4 Buddhist monks, including Mr. Thich Minh The (1951 – 1954), Mr. Thich An Hoa (1954 – 1956), Mr. Thich Quang Phat (1956 – 1959) and Mr. Thich Minh Duc (1959 – 1985). Since 1985, Mr. Thich Tam Vi has managed this pagoda and it had a big restoration in 1990.

3/ Dalat Railway Station
The railway line to Da Lat was one of the finest feats of colonial engineering in Vietnam. Plans to build the Da Lat Railway Station were laid tabled at the turn of 20th century but construction did not commence until 1932. There was no point building a railway station without a railway line to get there and that was quite a challenge considering the rugged terrain and precipitous slopes.

The station has been recognized as a national cultural site and is very much a symbol of French Indochina. Today the only train trip you can take is the relatively short 7km tour that circumnavigates Da Lat, but the views from the train will help give you a sense of what the engineers achieved.

After the French occupied Vietnam, as part of the colonialists ‘mission civilastrice’, major infrastructure projects were initiated. The French installed electricity power stations, built French-style buildings as well as roads, parks, canals and of course a rail system. In the early 20th century, Paul Doumer, the French Governor-General of Indochina from 1897 to 1902, approved the construction of a railway line from Thap Cham in Ninh Thuan province to Da Lat at a cost of 200 million franc.

The colonialists hired Swedish engineers for the job, who had experience at building zigzag railways for use on steep slopes. Although the initial survey was conducted in 1898, construction of the first phase running from Thap Cham to Song Pha, just 38 kilometres, only commenced in 1908 and took seven years to be completed.

During the second phase the railway line was laid down from Song Pha to Eo Gio, just 10km as the crow flies, but it had to run over the vast Ngoan Muc pass. Work on the railway from Thap Cham to Da Lat continued until 1932. The last stretch was said to be the hardest as it traversed the Lam Vien Plateau, 1,500m above sea level. The construction of Da Lat Railway Station was subsequently completed in 1938. The railway station was among the first colonial-style edifices to be built in the area.

Attracting train trip for tourists at Dalat Train Station

But in 1997, as Vietnam’s economy began to flourish and tourism industry was starting to thrive, the seven-kilometer railway tour around Da Lat city was initiated and has proven to be highly popular. The railway station was also restored. You can find vintage post boxes and time-tables still fixed on the walls and antique chairs and tables in the waiting rooms.

Outside there’s an original Black Prairie steam engine which was manufactured in 1930 in Germany. The tour, which runs from Da Lat Railway Station to Trai Mat, has now run for a decade. It’s worth taking for the spectacular views. This is Da Lat, the flower capital and fruit farm of Vietnam. All around the city you can spot orchards, rolling fields of vegetables and flowers, pine trees and lakes.

4/ Some other highlights such as: Bao Dai King Palace, The French old quarter, Dalat Flower Market

Dalat Map

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