Best Time To Visit Dalat

February and March are dry, clear and the peak of the season. March is the last month before the rain returns in earnest.

Expect valley mist in any month, though. It sits over the adjoining valleys almost year-round, so the sunrise viewpoint shots that sell Da Lat are never a certainty.

April is the hottest month of the year and it still only reaches the mid twenties. The rain comes back through it as the wet season starts.

May is properly wet, though the temperature barely shifts. Prices drop and the town gets much quieter.

June and July are wet but stay cool, which is why Da Lat fills with Vietnamese visitors escaping the lowland heat.

This is the domestic peak. Rain arrives mostly in the afternoon, so the market, the lake and the villas still work in the morning.

September is the wettest month of the year and August is close behind. Rain sits over whole days rather than clearing after an hour.

The temperature is the same as ever. If you are here for cool air rather than views, these months cost you less than they would in Phu Quoc or Ninh Binh.

October is still wet, though the peak has passed, and November drops away sharply.

Late November is the best value of the year, sitting just ahead of the dry season with the countryside at its greenest.

Da Lat sits at about 1,513 metres, and its mean daily maximum never passes the mid twenties in any month. The average temperature moves less than four degrees across the whole year, which is why it is called the city of eternal spring.

Pack for cold nights. The record low is just below freezing, and visitors arriving from tropical Vietnam routinely turn up under-dressed for the evenings.