Dalat vs Buon Ma Thuot

Has anyone visited both Dalat and Buon Ma Thuot and done the touristy thing? I heard good and not-so-good things about both places and just can't make up my mind which one to visit (we don't have time to visit both). I am also aware that BMT is not a touristy town but there are some interesting tours in the surrounding districts.

Our family (2 adults and 2 kids aged 6 and 8) will soon be spending 3.5 weeks in Vietnam - on the usual Hanoi / Halong Bay / Ninh Binh / Hoi An / Hue / Saigon trail.

I have decided against going to Sapa but would like to get up into some hills during our travels. I would appreciate feedback from people (particularly families) who have visited both Dalat and BMT as to which place is the most worthy of a visit (we will have 2 or 3 days maximum).

Thank you
Anna

I really liked both places.
Dalat is a sort of old fashioned resort town.
BMT is not at all touristy so gives you a good feeling of what Vietnam is really like. I thought it was quite an attractive city and it has great coffee shops all over the place. I also liked the ethnographic museum which has beautiful grounds (and contrary to the info in my guide book, is actually very cheap). BMT has a good local bus service and you can get a bus to Yok Don national park (takes about an hour, costs 7000vnd goes every half hour or hour- last bus returns at 5pm). There you can go for a bush walk and take an elephant ride. There is also a village nearby but it's very touristy. I think there are tours you can do from BMT to see minority villages but I didn't do any, having done that in Kontum, where Banar and Jarai villages are very accessible.

I also really liked the market there and found some good places to eat and a great bakery. You can fly direct from Saigon (takes about half an hour)

Thanks. Given that feedback to my earlier TT post suggests that we could end up spending the best part of 2 days travelling overland from Hoi An to get to either destination, I have decided that flying is our best option.

I know there's no direct flight from Danang to Dalat, so I'm tempted to go to BMT simply because it's less hassle. My decision, however, will ultimately depend upon whether BMT or Dalat sounds the most attractive option for our needs. I like the fact that BMT isn't as touristy as other places. But I guess this will soon change as more and more people head to non touristy places like BMT in an effort to escape other tourists ;-)

Hi - I can't compare as we've only just been to BMT - but we loved it and are so glad we included it in our itinerary. We flew HCMC to BMT, stayed 3 nights and then flew on to Danang. We would go out walking of an evening and see virtually no other tourists. We enjoyed getting to see people going about their everyday lives - families relaxing in the park on a Sunday - playing soccer and flying kites. People were very freindly and curious - and we stopped to try and chat with many different folk. Damsan hotel was great - huge clean pool that the kids loved - great big fmily room for $US40 inc b/fst. As violest says great coffee. REally nice easy low pressure destination. Tourism is taking off though - there were some big groups around lak lake - but we did our own tour thru Damsan and enjoyed being the only ones on the elephant ride, at the waterfalls etc. It was definitely a highlight for us.....