Buon Ma Thuot travel guide with many useful information about means of transport, outstanding sightseeing places, and delicious dishes here. Hope this guide will accompany you on your upcoming trips to Buon Ma Thuot …
Considered the center of the culture of the Central Highlands, Buon Ma Thuot attracts visitors thanks to immense coffee fields, majestic waterfalls or the beauty of the legendary Serepok. Let’s explore Buon Ma Thuot with us if you are planning to travel here.
Photo: Tieu Duy
Ideal time to travel to Buon Ma Thuot
Buon Ma Thuot has two distinct rainy and sunny seasons. The dry season starts from November to April next year. The rainy season starts from May to October. Due to the relatively mild climate, the average annual temperature is 23-24 degrees C, so you can come to Buon Ma Thuot at any time of the year but ideally especially December (the season of wild yellow flowers and wild local festivals) or March (the coffee flower season and the attractive elephant racing festival).
Photo: Tieu Duy
Photo: Doan Vinh
Transportation to Buon Ma Thuot
Buon Ma Thuot is about 350 km from Ho Chi Minh City, about 1,400 km from Hanoi. You can choose to go by road or air:
– From Ho Chi Minh City: If you take a car, it will take you about 7-8 hours, tickets can be purchased at Mien Dong bus station for about 200,000 – 240,000 VND one way with many trips a day. You can choose a late trip (10pm) to take advantage of the night’s sleep on the bus.
In addition, you can choose direct flights of Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Jetstar for about VND 1-1.5 million round trip. It only takes you about an hour to get to Buon Ma Thuot.
– From Hanoi: you can buy flight tickets of Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, and Jetstar for about 2-3 million VND round trip. The flight from Hanoi to Buon Ma Thuot takes about 1 hour 40 minutes.
The airport is about 15 km from the city center, there are many taxis so you do not have to worry about moving.
Photo: youtube
Hotel in Buon Ma Thuot
Buon Ma Thuot does not lack hotels from budget to high-end. You can find many hotels on Ngo Quyen, Nguyen Duc Canh, Nguyen Cong Tru, Nguyen Chi Thanh streets … If you go on a holiday, you need to book in advance to avoid running out of rooms or being under price pressure.
Places to visit in Buon Ma Thuot
Depending on how long or short your Buon Ma Thuot trip is, you can schedule a reasonable visit. The attractions are mostly within a 50 km radius of the city. Here are a few places to visit that you can consult:
Located in Yang Tao commune (Lak district), the city center. About 40 km from Buon Ma Thuot along Highway 27, Yang Tao Elephant stone consists of a pair of Elephant Cha rocks and Mother Elephant stones appearing in the middle of the mountains and forests, bringing in the thrilling and mysterious legends. It is estimated that the Mother Elephant is about 200m long, about 500m in circumference at the foot of the rock, about 30m high and weighs tens of thousands of tons. This is the largest monolith in Vietnam.
Photo: Tran Qui Thinh
Photo: Tran Qui Thinh
From the ground, it only takes about 15 minutes to reach the highest peak of the rock by climbing over gentle slopes. From the top of Mother Elephant rock, you can observe many landscapes in the area such as Yang Reh Lake and Chu Yang Sin Range – the roof of the Central Highlands. Although it is not difficult to get to the top of the Mother Elephant rock, you must be very careful because there is very little grip on the rock. On strong windy days, climbing to the top of Mother Elephant is quite risky because the climber can be blown off the cliff by the wind.
Ko Tam tourist area
Ko Tam tourist area is 8 km from Buon Ma Thuot city center, located right on Highway 26, 789 Pham Van Dong, Tan Hoa Ward, Buon Ma Thuot City. Here, visitors can learn about the diverse cultures of the Central Highlands. In particular, all the architectural works in the resort are built of bamboo, neohouzeaua, and wood look impressive and fancy.
Photo: Mai Nguyen
Photo: pig_ham_an_
Here, there is also a stilt house where the pictures and musical instruments of the Ede people are displayed or the wharf area is reproduced in the most natural way to show the cultural beliefs of the people. It is an artificial fishing pond with basket boats that create opportunities for visitors to have a new experience of sailing.
Dak Lak Museum
Also known as the Tay Nguyen Ethnic Culture Museum. Built on the main Bao Dai Palace – a historical relic of Dak Lak, the museum has about 1,000 artifacts and images, organized into 3 main exhibition spaces (biodiversity, cultural people race and history). This is a cultural architecture built in a modern style combined with traditional cultural traditions. In particular, Dak Lak Museum is also one of the pioneering museums in the use of indigenous languages in the display.
Photo: caspol84
Photo: Tieu Duy
Victory Monument Buon Ma Thuot
The monument located in the middle of the Nga Sau rotation, with a flag tank model to commemorate the victory in Buon Ma Thuot, is also a sacred symbol of the people of the city. Wherever anyone goes, just seeing the Cross-shaped icon is like seeing your home.
Photo: Tieu Duy
Lake Ea Kao
The lake is located 12km southeast of Buon Ma Thuot city, in Ea Kao commune, formed by blocking streams Ea Knin, Ea Kao, Ea Chăt, Cu Mblim … to build irrigation works. for irrigation of rice and coffee. Interestingly, although the irrigation works have been in operation since 1983, the space of Ea Kao lake still has bold wild features. Under the lake bed is a diverse ecosystem with many species of freshwater fish and shrimp. Around the lake are mountains and hills overlapping with rich flora with forests with many ancient trees.
Photo: Tieu Duy
Photo: Zing
Gia Long, Dray Nur and Dray Sap waterfalls cluster
Dray Nur waterfall is located 25 km from Buon Ma Thuot city, following Highway 14, passing Buon Kop hydroelectric power nearly 3 km, this is a majestic waterfall that nature has bestowed on Dak Lak. Dray Nur means female waterfall. Therefore, the waterfall is also colloquially known as Wife waterfall, this waterfall is also called Dray Nur Thuong. Dray Nur is located right next to the Dray Sap waterfall (also known as the Chong waterfall) and is just a suspension bridge from Dray Sap over the Serepok river. Both are beautiful and majestic waterfalls.
Photo: Tien Thanh
Photo: Tieu Duy
Gia Long waterfall also has another name as upstream Dray Sap waterfall, located adjacent to Dray Sap waterfall upstream. According to the local people, the name of the waterfall is associated with Nguyen Anh (Gia Long) running away from Tay Son house here. To have a name for the waterfall and make a mark on the historical value of the landscape, local people began to call the name Gia Long waterfall instead of Dray Sap Thuong waterfall. However, there is a theory that the name of the waterfall was given by Bao Dai when he came here.
Thuy Tien Waterfall
Thuy Tien Waterfall, also known as Ba Floor Waterfall, is a waterfall in Dak Lak, located in Ea Puk commune, Krong Nang district. This is a beautiful, pristine landscape in the middle of the mountains and forests with countless stones overlapping each other and the strange woven forest roots.
Photo: Panoramio
Because there are 3 layers of water pouring, it is also called Three-story waterfall. The first floor is narrow, has a small slope with easy steps up and down. The second floor is spread out with many stone steps, and has shallow bathable pools. The third floor of water poured down from above on a wide and deep lake surface, threw white foam and returned to the gentle flow, winding among the deep blue ocean.
Yok Don National Park
Yok Don National Park is located in 3 districts: Buon Don district, Ea Sup district (Dak Lak province) and Cu Jut district (Dak Nong province). Yok Don is considered one of the largest special-use forests in Vietnam, located on a relatively flat area, with two small mountains south of the Serepok River. Forests are mainly natural forests, mostly dipterocarp forest. Yok Don is also the only national park in Vietnam that preserves this particular forest type. Visitors here will enjoy the typical types of ecotourism such as elephant riding, hiking, and terrain biking in the primeval forests. In particular, at night, you can go see wild animals, during the day you can go on a canoe on the romantic Serepok river.
Photo: tran.minhphuong.93
Chu Yang Sin National Park
Chu Yang Sin National Park is located in the two districts of Lak and Krong Bong in Dak Lak province, 60 kilometers east of Buon Ma Thuot city. If you want to find an attractive ecotourism destination, this is the perfect choice. Terrain cycling, watching the green pine forest, learning about wild birds or boating on the river to an outdoor picnic are exciting experiences you cannot miss when coming here.
Photo: Daklak newspaper
Tay Nguyen University
Located right in front of Le Duan street (Ea Tam, Buon Ma Thuot), this is a university in a multidisciplinary and multi-disciplinary region. Having the advantage of an area of about 30 hectares, the school invests in lecture halls, laboratories, research rooms, dormitories, libraries, Central Highlands general hospital … to facilitate students and lecturers to study and research. The campus has a lake called “lake of love” and a horizontal wooden bridge is very suitable for you to take pictures “virtual life”.
Photo: Mai Nguyen
The school still retains a quite special architecture, located between the lecture hall 1-5-6 area and the library has a long corridor roofed with tiled tiles, wooden pillars placed equal distances, the two sides are rows of white blooming old trees are planted straight to bring an incredible ancient space.
Buon Ako Dhong
Buon Ako Dhong (often called Co Thôn) is located in the North, about 2km from the center of Buon Ma Thuot city. “Ako” in Ede means watershed, “Dhong” means valley. Ako Dhong is a watershed valley. “Buon valley upstream” eats water from Ea Nhon stream. It is famous for being a rich merchant. It is also known as “Tile house trading” or “Buon Ama Rin”. The festivals are held regularly by the village patriarch Ama Rin, traditional lyrics, music and dances always resound under the long roof. The color of the highland area is always forever in Ako Dhong village, attracting many tourists when coming to this basalt land.
Photo: Vina
Trung Nguyen coffee village
Trung Nguyen Coffee Village is not only a famous place to buy coffee but also designed as a miniature park. The small landscape is beautifully designed, majestic such as large waterfalls, bridges, streams, ponds, houses on stilts … with busy tourists in and out. At this point, you may not need to buy any products, do not need to drink water in the bar and still be able to visit this complex for free.
Photo: minhluan307
Ban Don
Not only possessing beautiful landscapes, from immense forests to majestic rivers or muscular wild elephants, this place also has special dishes such as grilled chicken, Ama Kong wine.
Ho Lak
About 56 km south of Buon Ma Thuot, this is the largest freshwater lake in the Central Highlands and the second in Vietnam (after Ba Be Lake). Around the lake is covered with primeval forests. In addition to the natural beauty, the M’Nong ethnic villages living around the lake will also provide you with very unique cultural experiences. Lak lake is also an ideal place for you to watch the sunrise and sunset during the day.
Photo: Lu Quyen
Delicious dishes can not be ignored
– Red noodle is a specialty of this highland city. The name of the dish comes from a bowl of vermicelli with the distinctive red color of the broth. The dish combines many ingredients such as crab bricks, quail eggs, vegetables … You can enjoy this popular dish at Tran Phu & Y Zut intersection, at the corner of Phan Dinh Giot – Le Hong Phong street or at corner Le Duan – Phan Dinh Giot.
– Bun spring key: (or bun key) has a broth that is quite similar to Hue beef vermicelli. The biggest difference is in the ingredients. Instead of beef, the people of this highlands use the back of the pig’s hind leg. Selected meat is washed, then simmered in a pot of broth, then picked out to cool. Every time a customer orders food, the owner takes each piece of the key to bring it to a pot of hot broth, then puts it in a bowl of vermicelli that already has a little sauce, finally for green onions, onions and broth hot in the bowl. You can enjoy this dish at 222 Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, 18 Tan Da Street, noodle shop on YBih Aleo Street, Ba Trieu – Hung Vuong corner …
– Wet cake with grilled meat mixed with many ingredients: a plate of wet cake, a plate of barbecue, next to cucumber, green mango, sauerkraut, herbs … All rolled up and served with a cup of spicy sauce tear the tongue. Visitors can visit the address E45 Tran Nhat Duat (sold from 3pm).
Photo: Ngoisao
– Tamarind dipped beef with sweet and sour taste, served with bread, watercress and salad is also a famous dish. Address: 62A Le Thanh Tong.
Rice and chicken sa fire are two famous dishes of the people in Ban Don. Here, you can enjoy this dish in restaurants in Buon Ma Thuot.
– Leaf soup of the Ede people also known as leaf hotpot. The dish is made from 10 different types of forests. When eating, the taste of bitterness and bitterness is very strange. You can find this dish in specialty restaurants in Buon Ma Thuot.
– Sour soup with fish and rice flakes – tourists can hardly ignore the specialty fish of the majestic Serepork river. This is a delicious dish and has a very good cooling effect on sunny days. In addition, rice flakes are also used to store and fish rice flakes. You can enjoy this dish at Phuong Dung & My Lan – Hoa Phu.
Photo: Love Children
– 2 bowls of dry pho Tien: 39 Le Thanh Tong. Cool, clean, famous space in Buon Ma Thuot. Specializes in serving dry pho with rich taste, just to eat. Fast and attentive service.
– Bun rieu Le Thanh Tong street, Xo Viet Nghe Tinh.
– Hot cast cake on Phung Chi Kien Street (near the fried cake shop), in the morning you can eat at Ba Toa market (Nguyen Du street, cross Chui bridge, ask Ba Toa market, the shop only sells in the morning 7-9am).
Some nice cafes you can visit
1990 cafe (63 Nguyen Thong)
True to its name, 1990 coffee brings an old, idyllic feeling to the visitors here. Right from outside the door, the owner of the shop has hung a classic black and white signboard “Ban Me Coffee 1990”, opening up a simple space with old bookcases and timestamped wooden items. The shop has 3 small rooms with large windows, and a small and beautiful attic.
Photo: Ngoisao
House of Lens (14/19 Cu Chinh Lan)
The classic coffee shop, pure coffee, is a place for music exchanges on Thursday and Saturday evenings. The songs are performed mostly in gentle acoustic tones with guitar, violin and warm vocals.
Coffee bus (16 Nguyen Son)
Coffee bus is a meeting place for young people who want a new and unprecedented experience in Buon Ma Thuot, instead of sitting and enjoying a glass of water in a spacious restaurant, you will sit in the space of a familiar bus. . But not because of that, the restaurant is not beautifully decorated.
Thi cafe (71 Ly Thuong Kiet)
The main style is vintage, so from the typical pattern brick color, peeling wall color to the sofa table and chairs are preserved, bringing a peaceful atmosphere as back to the old days. The coffee market has a special kind of pure, pure coffee, making even coffee connoisseurs in Ban Me land praise.
The Asss Tea House (95 YBih Aleo)
The restaurant has an airy, bright, minimalistic decoration, a bit nostalgic, mixed rustic Nordic style. At The Asss Tea House, you can also enjoy the famous Western cake – the exotic silkworm dish with the chicken curry silkworm cake variation.
Name: the.asss.teahouse
Zip (49 Nguyen Cong Tru)
If you want to find a coffee corner to read books or manga, visiting Zip is a not bad choice. In addition, the shop has many beautiful corners suitable for those who want to have divine “so deep” photos. The shop is in a rustic style but no less artistic.
Bolero (No. 75 Y Moan)
The shop has a simple but delicate design style, vintage decoration space, cozy golden lights, especially with many beautiful corners on pictures.
Hippo Town (20A Ngo Quyen)
This shop is not too far from the city center, beautiful view, outfits are not bad. The drinks here are varied and eye-catching. If you like ice blended dishes, this is a great choice in terms of space, service and price.
Photo: Phunephune
Gift take home
As the capital of coffee, coffee is the number 1 choice if you want to buy as a gift for your loved one. In addition, dried venison, pure forest honey, wild banana seed, dried bamboo shoots, traditional woven brocade towels … are also convenient gifts for tourists as gifts after the trip.
