NIGHTLIFE

Expats and locals – or at least the hip ones – laugh at the idea of nightlife in Dalat (and make frequent trips to Saigon or Nha Trang for the purpose).

Try Sofitel Dalat Palace Hotel’s surprisingly rustic basement LARRY’S BAR (12 Tran Phu St; open 4pm-midnight), which has a happy hour (5-7pm), US$2 Saigon beers, and good bar food (US$7 burgers, US$7.50 pizzas, US$6.50 tacos) in a stone-wall, wood-pillar cellar bar with lots of golf pics around and a pool table.

SAIGON NITE BAR (11a/1 Hai Ba Trung St) is a divey, two-floor bar with a pool table, a game on the TV, and a friendly local bartender who stays open later than most (midnight).

You can also get a drink at lake-side THANH THUY (2 Nguyen Thai Hoc St), open to midnight as well, or the more low-key, slightly odd, window-walled HANGOUT (71 Truong Cong Dinh St), where many Easy Riders hang out by the pool table.

Dalat makes its own wine – avoid the white ones, the red ones are passable. If you have to have something less Dalat-y, SND (24 Truong Cong Dinh St; open 7.30am-11pm) opened in May 2007 to provide imported wines (only) for US$10 to US$35 per bottle.