During the rainy season, Nha Trang, Vietnam, has 4 star and 5 star hotel rooms available at very low price.
For CAD $18 I stayed in the Summer Hotel. 4 Stars. Excellent breakfast buffet.
Next day I caught the bus up into the highlands ➙ a hill station called Da Lat.
There I stayed in a private room in the most popular hostel ➙ Dalat Family Hostel.
One Canadian has been living at the hostel for the past year. Less expensive than Edmonton, he told me.
I paid CAD $13.30 for a minimal private room. No TV. No window. No breakfast.
Cost-wise, both are about the same relative to my travel budget.
BUT my 4 star hotel room was boring. Like almost every hotel room at every price range.
The front desk was not very helpful. I went to a popular hostel down the street to get information and book my tour.
By comparison, within 10 minutes of arriving at Dalat Family Hostel I had my day tour booked. My onward night sleeper bus reservation made. AND I had signed up for a fun communal hostel dinner.
I left a review:
Unforgettable, fun hostel.
Scored 9.0
Advice on tours and bus. My 3 waterfalls tour on bike was excellent. Hostel is an entertaining maze of unique areas including weight room and pool. Great social dinners.
Most travellers recommend spending as little time as possible in Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon).
Good advice.
Terrible traffic. Sprawling urbanity of 14 million people.
On the upside, a modern metro line was opened late 2024.
BUT Saigon is a great place to shop. It a transportation hub. A place to get things done. AND see some interesting attractions, even if they are somewhat far apart.
After weeks of heat and humidity, I finally headed UP to Da Lat, or Dalat, at 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level. One of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam.
Tourists love any climate that can grow tea or coffee. Hill stations.
I walked the canals and lake both nights I was there. Pretty in the full moon.
No photo editing.
Short on time, I signed up for a VIP tour. A BIG day.
Cost was CAD $31.40 for 8 hours of non-stop entertainment. That’s VIP in Vietnam. 😀
Best was my Easy Rider motorcycle driver / guide, Mr Hieu. 60 years old — but hyper and energetic as a teenager.
We had lunch at one of his personal favourite spots, not a typical tourist only restaurant.
Mr Hieu been guiding this tour since 2002. He was handpicked as my driver by the hostel where I stayed.
Mê Linh Coffee Plantation & Weasel (Civit) Coffee … (NO, I did not drink weasel poop coffee)
Mr Hieu added many extra stops unknown to any other driver. Like this inexplicable giant chicken in one village.
He did his best to get me hooked up, as well, knowing ALL the single Vietnamese women en route. 😀
BEST was the Pongour Waterfall. I flew my drone here as Vietnam is yet to get organized enough to post signs disallowing them.
Pongour waterfall.
NEW was taking something called an “Alpine Rollercoaster“. Over 2,400 meters, the Datanla coaster is longest in Asia.
There was some extra cost for this. Well worth it.
Safe? I dunno. Signs say you can crash one into another. BUT I appreciated having brakes so I could slow down and not fly off at the turns. 😀
With its year-round cool weather, Da Lat supplies huge quantities of temperate agriculture products.
We visited a mushroom farm. VERY interesting.
We saw every stage of silk production. Fascinating, as well.
Almost every tour in Vietnam includes a giant Buddhist statue. Many are female.
The image of Quan Âm as a maternal figure of mercy and compassion evolved through the blending of Mahayana Buddhism with Vietnamese folk traditions, including the veneration of mother goddesses.
Nha Trang in 2025 is overfull with overweight Russian men with wife / mistress. Many signs include Russian and some businesses provide tourist services mainly for the Russians.
Unwelcome in many nations, in 2025 Russians are vacationing in Turkey, Thailand, China, the UAE, and Vietnam.
This city is very popular with Koreans, as well.
BEST time to walk the beach is early morning or in the evening.
Tourists feed them directly, risking scratches and bites.
I took in the “animal circus“, as well. Noting that dog tricks seem perfectly acceptable — but that monkey tricks seem abusive. No logic there, I’m afraid.
The BIG attraction is the Golden Bridge opened 2018.
You’ve seen it on Instagram looking like this.
The reality is that the bridge is constantly packed with hordes, many of whom would happily throw you off in order to get the ideal photo location. To them I say …
I DID throw some competitors over the edge to get my own iconic pic.
Best advice is to go to one of the less crowded Golden Bridgeimitators in the Philippines, China, or elsewhere. 😀
In fact, I found more hands in the resort. Since I was alone, I’m assuming this area was not open to tourists. Oh well.
Criticism of Ba Na Hills, referred to by some as “Fairyland,” centers on it being an inauthentic, overcrowded, and overly commercialized theme park, with visitors finding the environment fake, the food uninspired, and the Golden Bridge experience ruined by throngs of people.
At one point I concluded, this is what TrumpLand would look like, if a theme park. 😀
Of course if Vegas kitsch amuses, you’ll have some laughs.
The super popular tour from Da Nang starts with a visit to a gift shop en route. What else?
Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed learning about pearls and precious woods.
You take a cable car up to the mountain peak. It’s the “longest non-stop single track cable car“, at 5,801 metres. In fact, this attraction has 6 cable cars now. They need more.
Massive, impossible construction is underway. Our tour guide is very disappointed. He predicts it will be a disaster when finished.
Hanoi has already started implementing a motorbike ban, beginning with petrol-powered motorbikes inside Ring Road 1 on July 1, 2026. These restrictions aim to combat the city’s severe air pollution, progressively phasing out fossil-fuel vehicles
I’ll believe that when I see it. 😀
I did see tourist areas blocked off for the evening in some other cities. Restaurants and bars could spill on to the street as they do in Europe.
He was worldly having worked on ships from 1911 to 1917. This included stops in the USA.
He lived in France for years. Then moved to Moscow in 1923. And to China in November 1924. In Canton, Hồ organized the Association of Vietnamese Youth.
It wasn’t until 1941 that Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam to lead the Việt Minh independence movement.
Cát Bà Island is the latest, greatest tourist jumping off point for boat tours of Hạ Long Bay (or Halong Bay) and Lan Ha Bay. Everyone has seen and heard about this famed UNESCOWorld Heritage Site.
Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Most of this trip is scenic relaxation. 😀
I spent 2 nights in Cát Bà town andreally enjoyed the tourist trap.
Massive resorts are under construction here. Beautiful tourist attractions, as well.
Here’s the view from my hostel in 2025. Gorgeous sunset blocked by giant crane.
I’m not sure I want to come back when this is all finished.
Rick McCharles 