What's on in Dalat (Da Lat), Vietnam through the year

Peak crowds — Mai anh đào cherry blossom, Tết

• Nature

  Mai anh đào cherry blossom

  5 Jan – 20 Feb · usuallyCrowded

  The pink cherry the town plants along Xuan Huong lake and the Tran Hung Dao streets flowers for a fortnight around Tết. Which fortnight depends on the year. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Tết

  15 Jan – 28 Feb · usuallyLunar New YearCrowdedClosures

  Dalat is where southern Vietnam takes its new-year week. Rooms go for multiples of the usual, the lake road is a car park, and a lot of the restaurants close anyway. Source ↗

Still on: Coffee harvest on the plateau (1 Nov – 15 Jan (usually))

Peak crowds — Mai anh đào cherry blossom, Tết

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Mai anh đào cherry blossom (5 Jan – 20 Feb (usually)), Tết (15 Jan – 28 Feb (usually))

Busy — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in March.

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Quiet — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in May.

Peak crowds — Domestic summer peak, Summer break in Vietnam

• Season

  Domestic summer peak

  1 Jun – 15 Aug · usuallySchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  School holidays send the lowland cities up here for the cool, which is the point of the place. Book ahead and expect the waterfalls and the flower gardens to be queued.

Peak crowds — Domestic summer peak, Summer break in Vietnam

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Domestic summer peak (1 Jun – 15 Aug (usually))

Peak crowds — Domestic summer peak, Summer break in Vietnam

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Domestic summer peak (1 Jun – 15 Aug (usually))

Busy — Summer break in Vietnam, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in September.

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

• Nature

  Dã quỳ wild sunflower

  25 Oct – 5 Dec · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  Yellow along every roadside verge and pass out of town as the rains stop; the first half of November is usually the thick of it. Source ↗

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Nature

  Coffee harvest on the plateau

  1 Nov – 15 Jan · usually

  Picking season across the Lam Dong smallholdings, with beans drying on tarps in every farmyard and the cafés in town selling this year's crop by December. Source ↗

Still on: Dã quỳ wild sunflower (25 Oct – 5 Dec (usually))

Busy — Dalat Flower Festival, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Dalat Flower Festival

  10–31 Dec · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  A week of flower displays and street events staged by the province, held every second year rather than annually — check that the edition is on before you plan around it. Source ↗

Still on: Dã quỳ wild sunflower (25 Oct – 5 Dec (usually)), Coffee harvest on the plateau (1 Nov – 15 Jan (usually))