Search hotels in Buon Ma Thuot

We went to visit You Don National Park, one of the reasons we went to so much trouble to travel to Buon Ma Thuot. We hired a car and drove there, but when we arrived at 10:30 am, we were pressured to pay for one of a number of expensive tours we weren't interested in. We just wanted to purchase a 60,000 dong entrance ticket and enter the park to walk around by ourselves. However, the receptionist insisted we had to hire a tour guide, which would cost 600,000 dong for the two of us. We looked at the English regulations above the ticket counter but saw nothing about being required to hire a guide. We didn't feel we needed a guide, but agreed to pay the fee as we were keen to visit the venue. The receptionist then told us that as it was 10:30 am the guides were all on their lunch break and that we should come back at 1:30, three hours later. We ended up taking our taxi back to the city without having even seen the park. Vietnamese friends later said that visitors are not required to have a guide to enter the park. So we wasted a lot of time and money for a car and driver, but left the city without setting foot in the park. If you go to the park I suggest you hire a guide from your hotel and choose the program you're interested in before driving all the way out there--about 75 minutes from our hotel. Fortunately, in the afternoon we stumbled across some interesting cafes and restaurants in the city. Our favorite places were: La Garden, which serves excellent Western and Vietnamese cuisine; Soul Coffee, a modern coffee shop next door to La Garden; Arul Coffee, a local coffee shop set in the grounds of a traditional Ede home. There was a lot of greenery there and some wonderful Ede carvings that were very photogenic, although we found the coffee quite strong, as Vietnamese coffee often is; The World Coffee Museum; and Koala Cafe, which has very good coffee and pastries.

This is a gorgeous authentic vietnamese provincial city. Laid back compared to the very big vietnamese cities, but in fact absolutely in touch with the best of modern life. You will even get the fantastic Indian food, all you can eat buffet with seafood (including oysters) for 99 000 dongs per person. We got as well astonishing quality in bling massages. Do not miss the anthropological museum, so informative! And give yourself time to interact with the locals, they are so friendly in this remote area !

I liked Buon Ma Thuot for the fact that it has a slower, more relaxed feel than travellers will find across much of Vietnam. Less tourism means less unpleasantness; Dak Lak Province has an enchanting ambiance along with a wonderful feeling of trust and safety.

Very hard to give a realistic view of the city. No one I came across spoke English and no one had google translate on their phone. Proved impossible for me to communicate with anyone. I think it could be awesome to check the city and the various coffees out but I needed someone who spoke english and vietnamese to help. In the end I just gave up and stayed at the hotel. People all seemed friendly and really nice so it was a shame I couldn't converse at all with them.

Hire a bike and get out into the countryside. Find the elephants. Drive along rice fields with amazing smells of growing rice. In April it is butterfly season and there are millions of butterflies. It is a magical time. Find the ethnic minority boarding house and hear traditional music played by the children on the Bamboo instruments they make themselves. Everyone in the city made us feel so welcome. We are definitely returning to this warm and friendly city.

Went there for The Coffee Festival (next one 2021) so remained in city The city has all you need .Really friendly but next visit will get out in the country..Beware, plenty of traffic, it is VN after all. Plenty of coffee available in lots of good cafes and lots of bars after dark. Enough vegan eateries, just ask taxi drivers.