Buon Ma Thuot or Buôn Ma Thuột (or sometimes Buôn Ma Thuật, Buôn Ma Thuật or Ban Mê Thuột), is the capital city of Daklak Province, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
Despite its quiet appearance, Buon Ma Thuot is very quickly developing. However, most of this development is from internal investment rather than the tourism industry. There are very few tourist sites, but the people are friendly, the coffee is great, and a stop here is well worth it to get off the beaten track and see Vietnamese city life that does not revolve around tourism. It is also an excellent base of operations to visit Yok Don National Park, Ban Don Village, and Lak Lake.
- Khai doan pagoda
- Ako Dhong (buôn Cô Thôn in Vietnamese): A E-de minority community on the northern end of BMT. It's reachable on foot, but ask how to get there first. It's a nice part of town with longhouses surrounded by flowery yards, although now being part of town it can't really be called a village any more. Maybe 'longhouse suburbia' is more appropriate.
- Lak Lake. the mother lake of the Central Highlands.
- Dray Nur waterfall. Impressive waterfalls and recreation area, especially recommended in wet season.
- Đray Sáp waterfall. Another waterfall, located about 300 meters from Đray Nur. Looks less impressive in dry season, but still interesting area to explore. 30 000 VND.
- Lady Jiangshan. Breathtaking views from the hill top and halfway to the top. Well worth a visit on the way to Lak Lake.
Lak Lake. the mother lake of the Central Highlands.
Dray Nur waterfall. Impressive waterfalls and recreation area, especially recommended in wet season.
Đray Sáp waterfall. Another waterfall, located about 300 meters from Đray Nur. Looks less impressive in dry season, but still interesting area to explore. 30 000 VND.
Lady Jiangshan. Breathtaking views from the hill top and halfway to the top. Well worth a visit on the way to Lak Lake.
- Visit Ban Don village, ride elephants. From center of Buon Ma Thuot, you can catch a bus every 30 minutes to go to Buon Don (Ban Don). Note that you should wait for the bus at Coop Mart in order to have a seat. Otherwise, the bus is normally full.
- Phượng shop, 45 Ngô Quyền, +84 500 3852 981. Wood sculptures and bamboo souvenirs, cocoa powder, coffee - ground and in beans, assorted nuts and local spices. Tour to coffee roasting factory can be arranged.
- Vincom Plaza, 78 Lý Thường Kiệt. Big shopping center with clothing stores, movie theater, fast food, supermarket and Baskin Robbins ice cream cafe. No local souvenirs there.
- CoopMart, 71 Nguyễn Tất Thành, Tân An, +84 262 3957 988. 08:00-22:00. Supermarket and shopping center, check second floor if you are looking for non-food items. KFC restaurant is located on the first floor.
Phượng shop, 45 Ngô Quyền, +84 500 3852 981. Wood sculptures and bamboo souvenirs, cocoa powder, coffee - ground and in beans, assorted nuts and local spices. Tour to coffee roasting factory can be arranged.
Vincom Plaza, 78 Lý Thường Kiệt. Big shopping center with clothing stores, movie theater, fast food, supermarket and Baskin Robbins ice cream cafe. No local souvenirs there.
CoopMart, 71 Nguyễn Tất Thành, Tân An, +84 262 3957 988. 08:00-22:00. Supermarket and shopping center, check second floor if you are looking for non-food items. KFC restaurant is located on the first floor.
Despite what the guidebooks say, Buon Ma Thuot has a very solid selection of good eats. Fast development and not much tourist infrastructure mean that the guidebooks are behind the times and sorely misleading. A wander just northwest of the main roundabout after around 6PM will turn up a truly great selection of street stalls and small restaurants, offering up very tasty standards such as hủ tiếu, phở, bún, cơm, and nem. Check Ly Thuong Kiet nearby for a selection of roll-your-own spring roll joints.
A very tasty cơm hến, the Hue speciality, is available at a simple-looking place across the street from the Co-op Mart that also advertises Bún bò Huế. Walk past the shabby looking front room into a spectacular little back home, complete with garden, birds, and an internal waterfall.
Of course, KFC is available in the Co-op Mart building, if you really need it.
Coffee, coffee, coffee. Buon Ma Thuot is the capital of coffee in Vietnam, a country that is second only to Brazil in coffee exports. Because of this, cafes are on every street corner, and most are spectacular. Many offer several different varieties of bean and roast. Standouts include Emerald's Cafe in Tan Loi and, just east of town, Trung Nguyen's flagship coffee gardens (a huge pleasure garden complete with man-made mountains and waterfall, lined with coffee trees and boasting both traditional Viet and Ede designed buildings). However, it's very difficult to find a bad cup of coffee.
- Drink the local brew "ruou can".
- Trung Nguyên flagship restaurant, 149-153 Lý Thái Tổ, +84 262 3958 868. 06:30-22:00. Coffee, drinks and food available, nice gardens with a lot of coffee trees, artificial cave and pond. Coffee can also be bought here, beans or ground.
- Mehyco cafe, 159/3, Nguyễn Văn Cừ, +84 262 3865 221. Another cafe with a nice garden, belonging to a coffee manufacturing company.
Trung Nguyên flagship restaurant, 149-153 Lý Thái Tổ, +84 262 3958 868. 06:30-22:00. Coffee, drinks and food available, nice gardens with a lot of coffee trees, artificial cave and pond. Coffee can also be bought here, beans or ground.
Mehyco cafe, 159/3, Nguyễn Văn Cừ, +84 262 3865 221. Another cafe with a nice garden, belonging to a coffee manufacturing company.
- Lak Lake is about an hour's bus ride to the south, on the way to Dalat. It's a beautiful lake with various minority villages all around. A few of them are reachable from Lak town on foot, others require a boat trip, motorbike, or longer hike. To cross the lake, you can choose between a boat or an elephant - it's so shallow that they can walk on the ground!
Between Lak and Buon Ma Thuot, a local bus runs every half hour or so. They have a couple of nice newer ones with AC (as of Jun 2013).
There are several Mai Linh buses a day to Dalat (coming from BMT), taking about 5 hours with the last bus leaving in the early afternoon. Buy your ticket (80,000 dong) at the Mai Linh office rather than Daklak Tourist who will ask a much higher price. (Update Nov 2018: Mai Linh Express only does HCMC and Danang, not Dalat. Tuấn Anh, 36 Nguyến Văn Cừ and Phuc Thai? have services to Dalat)
If you want to stay overnight in Lak, Mr Duc (+84 905 371633) from Café Duc Mai(dalateasyrider@gmail.com) can arrange homestays in Jun longhouses for US$5, half the price asked by Daklak Tourist. He can also arrange other activities, such as elephant rides and boat trips on the lake, for a much lower price than Daklak Tourist. The café serves an excellent set meal (US$3) for dinner.
To get to the café, call ahead to get picked up or consider taking a moto (10,000 dong) once you arrive in Lak as it's next to the Jun village and a bit hard to find from the main road. On foot, walk along the main road to the 3-way intersection at the market, then follow the alley going past the market all the way to the end. Turn left, where the road makes a right turn curving around some rice paddies. Follow this road until you see Café Duc Mai on the left side, 50 m in front of the Jun village entrance.
The people that provide you the service (homestay host, elephant rider, boat rower) get paid very little. For example, Daklak Tourist charges US$10 for homestay, Mr. Duc charges US$5, and the host only gets $0.50. You do need arrangement to be able to sleep in people's houses here as you're outsiders, but for other services (such as the boat tour of the lake), consider going directly to the locals.
Lak Lake is about an hour's bus ride to the south, on the way to [[Dalat]]. It's a beautiful lake with various minority villages all around. A few of them are reachable from Lak town on foot, others require a boat trip, motorbike, or longer hike. To cross the lake, you can choose between a boat or an elephant - it's so shallow that they can walk on the ground!