Da Lat Railway Station
Ga Đà Lạt
A French Art Deco station completed in 1938, its three pointed roofs symbolising the peaks of Langbiang Mountain. Take a vintage sightseeing train to Trại Mát village to visit Linh Phước Pagoda.
Da Lat Railway Station lies about 1 km east of Xuan Huong Lake. French architects designed and built it between 1932 and 1938. Its front features three tall pointed roofs that symbolise the three peaks of Langbiang Mountain, and it also draws on the style of railway stations in Normandy, France. It is the best-preserved French-era station in Vietnam and a national architectural heritage site, often called the most beautiful station in Indochina.
The line originally connected Da Lat with the coastal town of Tháp Chàm, a distance of 84 km. Because of the steep mountain terrain, it used a rack-railway system. It stopped running and was dismantled after 1975. Only the roughly 7 km stretch from Da Lat to Trại Mát remains as a sightseeing route. Vintage wooden carriages run about 4–5 round trips daily, some of them former carriages donated by Japan. The one-way trip takes about 30 minutes, passing suburban vegetable farms and pine forests, to Trại Mát. There you have about 30 minutes to stop, with a 5-minute walk to Linh Phước Pagoda (the 'Porcelain Pagoda') before returning. Round-trip fares for foreign visitors are about 150,000–170,000 VND.
The station also has an old steam locomotive and vintage carriages that visitors can climb aboard for photos, and there is a café inside the station building. Entry to the station area costs about 10,000 VND (free for train passengers), and it is open roughly 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Nearby: Da Lat University and the French villa district are a 10-minute walk away. Two kilometres east are the Da Lat Observatory and the pine forest. A Grab motorbike from the city centre costs about 15,000–20,000 VND.
Note: train timetables are posted at the station on the day, so check them there. During peak periods (weekends and holidays), buy tickets a day in advance. The train only departs once enough passengers have boarded.
Opening hours
7:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (sightseeing train about 7:45 a.m.–4:00 p.m., multiple runs)
Nearby sights
- Lam Dong Museum
- Xuan Huong Lake
- Da Lat Flower Park
- Lam Vien Square
- Thien Vuong Pagoda
- Da Lat Night Market
- Da Lat Cathedral
- Crazy House (Hang Nga Guesthouse)