A French-era hill station, this national park reaches a peak of 1450m at Bach Ma mountain, only 18km from the coast. Today there are walking trails, birdwatching and a pagoda to explore in the relative cool. The French were attracted by the cool climate, and started building villas here in 1930; by 1937 the number of holiday homes had reached 139 and it became known as the ‘Dalat of central Vietnam’.
Not surprisingly, the Viet Minh tried hard to spoil the holiday – the area saw some heavy fighting in the early 1950s.