Cooler Climates in Dalat

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Our bus ride from Saigon to Dalat took 8 hours but was one of the nicest bus journeys we have had since leaving the UK.  There was only about 10 of us on a 50 seater bus with perfect working aircon and leg room - what luxury.  We purchased a USD18 ticket which will take us all the way up to Hanoi and is open so we just book our dates along the way - excellent idea, however some of the bus journeys are over 12 hours, so may get the train from Hoi An to Hanoi.

Arrived into Dalat at 4.30pm and predictably dropped off at a Guest house in town.  Had a look at a room and we were so tired, we decided to take it.  Negotiated the rate down from USD8 to USD7 per night and dropped off our packs.  However, on closer inspection the room was scruffy and there was ants climbing up the bathroom wall.  We decided therefore to have a walk out and see what other places were on offer.  Not three doors up the road was a lovely hotel with balcony and was immaculate.  The rooms were also USD7, but the reason we think this hotel was so cheap and quite was that it catered for the local market rather than tourists.   Nothing was written in English and the staff could not speak English.  However, we got our point across and promply went back to our original hotel to check out.  Felt pretty rotten for leaving but there was no way we could sleep in the room so dirty.

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We quickly discovered we were the only guests at the hotel so was pretty weird to say the least - thought it might have been like Bates Guest House!  However we were really pleased with the place and have been looked after very well.  The room has ensuite, TV, minibar, balcony, two double beds, mozzie nets - what more could we want.

Spent our second day in Dalat visiting some of the attractions in the countryside.