A day out from Da Lat - The Elephant Waterfalls , Linh An Pagoda and an Alpine Roller Coaster
Da Lat is a fantastic city, unlike any other in Vietnam, full of green spaces, lakes, fantastic foods and funky places to visit. However, there is more to this highland area of Vietnam than just Da Lat. In the rolling hills around the town there is so much to discover!
We had seen pictures of the famous alpine roller coaster that winds down to the Datanla Waterfall and we knew we had to go. We had also heard (via Int Affair on YouTube) of the Elephant Waterfall (Thác Voi) which sits next to the incredible looking Linh Ẩn Pagoda. So Ellie planned a route, we rented a scooter and set off to see what we could find!
In this blog:
Our experience with the Alpine Rollercoaster and Datanla Falls
Practical Information on:
Getting to and looking around the Linh Ẩn Pagoda - Ticket costs, dress codes, waterfall views etc
The ‘closed’ Elephant Waterfalls - How to get an up close view and how much it costs.
The Alpine Coaster and Datanla Falls - How to get there, ticket prices and how to have the best time!
Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
The Journey to the Temple and Waterfall
We left our lovely guest house(literally, the guest house is called Lovely House) and headed out through the morning traffic in Da Lat. Traffic in Vietnam is always exciting on a bike. From the pavement the chaotic Brownian motion of bikes cars and people looks impossible to navigate but, once you are a part of the swarm, it all just sort of works! It's not exactly relaxing but driving is nothing like as stressful as it looks from the outside!
Once out of Da Lat town we headed off to the Linh Ẩn Pagoda and the Elephant Waterfalls. Our route took us out from the town, along winding hill roads that snaked around towering green highlands.
We passed miles of greenhouses and farms, Da Lat is a hub of luxury agriculture in Vietnam. Micro herbs, strawberries and all manner of delicious fresh fruit and vegetables - Da Lat produces it all. This fresh produce is one of the reasons Da Lat has such good food, the veg is grown right on the outskirts of town! Many of these farms offer tours or farm shops. There was even an intriguing sign for “Little Hobbiton”… next time… maybe!
Another of Da Lat’s claims to fame is its coffee. We love / are dependent on a good cup of coffee and have indulged in many since arriving in Da Lat. The coffee is amazing, cheap and abundant with loads of cute cafes serving every style of cup imaginable. We have not, however, tried Da Lat’s famous Kopi Luwak - weasel poo coffee.
The idea is simple: weasel eats coffee bean, weasels digestion alters coffee bean chemically, weasels poop out altered bean, bean is harvested....profit! It is meant to taste incredible with more sweetness and less bitterness.
Along the road to the temple there were many farms making this Kopi Luwak. Despite being the caffeine fiends that we are, we didn't stop. The Kopi Luwak is very expensive and well outside of what we are prepared to pay for a cup. There are also some (quite major) ethical issues at some of these farms. Some have large enclosures for the weasel / civets to roam around and eat coffee beans at their leisure and some....don’t…
The most famous farm for tourists in the area is Me Linh Coffee Garden and we drove past it on the road to the temple. It is a large site with coach parking and tours of the coffee fields. It looked like it had a great view over the surrounding countryside but we didn’t stop.
If you are interested in coffee in Da Lat check out some tour options here:
We, with our limited time and budget, scooted on.
The road to the temple and falls was pretty busy with lorries and locals in every kind of car, bike and HGV imaginable. It wasn’t horrible to drive on, but it was very disconcerting how many people appeared to be happy texting whilst driving a bike down a hill at 50kph! We took it safe and slow.
Google put the travel time to be around 45 minutes to an hour between Da Lat and the Linh Ẩn Pagoda, due to being stuck behind a lorry transporting concrete slabs, it took us a little over this. Soon enough though we could see the huge white statue of the Linh Ẩn Temple rising above the buildings of a small town. We had arrived.
The Linh Ẩn Pagoda, Guan Yin Statue and a view of the Elephant Falls
We had set off that morning knowing that we may be disappointed. The recent Google reviews of the Elephant waterfalls had all mentioned that they were closed to the public at the moment. There was hope that we could still get some views of the falls from the temple and other viewpoints further down the valley. There was also an intriguing comment left in a review about another, less official viewpoint...
We knew we wanted to go around the temple and see the statue so we pulled off the main road and into the (massive) car park for the pagoda. Parking was free (they just ask for a donation in a box as you leave). So, scooter parked and our helmet hair swaying in the breeze (John’s could only be described as Pomeranian), we walked towards the temple.
Towering over everything and visible from miles around is the massive Guan Yin (Aka Guanyin or Kwan Yuan) statue. Pure white and over seventy metres tall the statue dwarves everything around it. The statue is of the female Buddha or Guan Yin a revered Buddha who, even after achieving enlightenment refused to escape reincarnation choosing instead to be reborn again and again in order to help others. The full story of Guan Yin is fascinating (and frankly wild) if you have a spare moment have a read here.
We skirted around the base of the statue and walked down some stairs to the left. We could hear, even at this distance, the roar of the Elephant waterfall. Our first view of the falls was spectacular: A little way off, across a ravine and between some trees, a churning, thundering torrent of water boiled over the lip of the falls before crashing down and exploding into a fog of spray far below. We were a good few hundred metres away but it was still a fantastic sight!
From our vantage point we could also see the rusted remains of viewing platforms, walkways and gantries. The waterfall's official entrance (next to the temple) was, quite definitely, closed and from up here you could see why. Whether it was by neglect, flooding or just the march of time, the old ways of getting to the waterfall had fallen apart and were now rusted and unstable. However, on the other side of the falls we could see a small platform... the Google review commenter was right, we would still be able to get up close to the Elephant Falls, just not by official means!
Zoom Lenses
Are fun!
Continuing our exploration of the Linh Ẩn Temple we walked across the raised path towards the enormous statue. Inside a small doorway to the side, we removed our shoes and began to climb stairs that run all the way up the inside of the seventy one metre statue. After each set of stairs, on every floor, was a shrine with colourful wall paintings, statues and a matted area for meditation and prayer. Around the walls small windows gave an increasingly amazing view of the surrounding hills and countryside. At the very top was an especially grand shrine. The view through the (tiny) windows was amazing, stretching off over the town and surrounding countryside.
You can’t see from this photo but the windows at the top of the statue are tiny!
After we had plodded back down the many,many stairs and re-shoed ourselves we walked back up into the temple complex. There are shrines, statues and carvings everywhere. There is an especially amazing stone turtle with a live tree being carried on its back. Inside the main temple building are large beautiful statues of the Buddha in various incarnations, including the many armed reincarnation of Guan Yin (again a wild story).
You can see Guan Yin on the left.
The site was not busy at all when we visited on a Thursday morning, there were a few other scooter mounted tourists and one bus full of pilgrims arrived just as we were leaving. When we had climbed the statue we were the only ones inside. The whole complex is free to explore, there is just a small donation box at the entrance to the car park along with a few offering stands and religious trinket sellers. There were the ever-present photographers offering to take photos of you and the statue but really no hassle or pressure from hawkers.
The Linh Ẩn temple had been planned as an afterthought, just a way of getting a glimpse at the waterfall but we ended up spending the best part of an hour and a half wandering around, climbing the statue and just taking in the sights. The photo’s online do not do it justice, it is so much bigger than it looks! We would recommend checking this out even if it wasn’t near the Elephant falls, the site is just so impressive and beautiful.
After we were done admiring the temple we mounted our little scooter, posted a small donation in the box and headed to the other side of the falls.
Getting to the Elephant Falls viewpoint - Elephant Coffee
A very short drive from the temple and closed waterfall entrance, right on the main road and just over the bridge, is Elephant Coffee (located here). This enterprising cliff side coffee house is clearly benefiting from the closure of the official waterfall entrance. It costs 50,000 VND (about £1.55 or $1.95) per person to park your bike and access the falls. We paid up and clambered down some slippery moss grown steps towards the roaring water.
As soon as you start down the path you can feel the spray from the falls. You cannot see the water but it saturates the air. We picked our way down the steps and came out onto the first viewing platform. Spectacular is a word too easily thrown around (that’s the second time we have used it in this one article for example), but we couldn’t think of another way of describing the falls. Up close the power of the water is unmistakable, It pounds down, smashing through rocks and carving a gash out through the vegetation before diving into a churning pool below. It had been raining for the past couple of evenings so the flow was in full impressive force.
We walked down to the next viewing stage, a precarious wedge of rock set right up near the falling water. There was no way not to get wet here, the water was atomised into spray by its own power and the spray drifted up and coated everything. We stood, getting gradually soggier and took in the power of the place.
At points it was like walking through a cloud!
There were a couple more viewpoints, each offering different angles on the waterfalls, we scrambled between them snapping away with our worryingly wet cameras. We were so relieved to have been able to get up close to the falls. The pessimistic reviews online had prepared us for the worst when we set off but we were very happy to have found this alternative viewpoint.
The weather forecast for the afternoon and evening was dire and we had no wish to ride our scooter back in a storm so we didn’t stay for coffees. We jumped on our bike and headed back along the road to Da Lat.
The Roller Coaster and the Datanla Falls
We had not originally planned on doing Da Lat’s famous alpine roller coaster and Datanla waterfalls that day. The forecast had said rain would be coming in the early afternoon and continuing all afternoon. However, as we were approaching Da Lat town again, the skies were still clear and the sun was still out. On the horizon we could see a few dark clouds but it didn’t look like it was about to rain.
The falls and roller-coaster are only a 15 minute or so drive from downtown Da Lat, and we didn’t really want to rent a scooter for another day or pay for a Grab taxi tomorrow, when we could do it all today. So we gambled with the weather, drove through Da Lat and headed for the Datanla Alpine Coaster.
The alpine coaster is located out the other side of Da Lat from the road to the temple. Just past the bus station and down a wide stretch of modern highway the road splits off into a wooded area and the entrance to the roller coaster and the Datanala falls. You can find the entrance and parking on a map here. The falls and the coaster are part of an activities park offering everything from alpine coasters to zip lining, canyoneering to trekking. There are multiple routes through the park with two coasters to try.
We knew we wanted the newer roller coaster; number three as it offers the longest ride to the falls. Route one is a much shorter ride (and doesn’t go to Datanla Falls) and it looks like route two is not currently running. Route three costs 250,000 VND (£7.75 or $9.75) each for tickets down the alpine coaster and then back up from the waterfall.
At this point we should probably explain, to those who didn’t play Roller Coaster Tycoon, what an alpine coaster is: You sit in a little car, attached to metal rails underneath, that rolls and careens down a track that resembles a bobsleigh run. It is very, very fun. The Da Lat coaster has the added pressure / thrill of making you responsible for your own braking. levers left and right will apply or remove the brakes and throughout the ride there are signs advising you to brake or accelerate through various sections.
Very very very fun!
With the weather warnings as they were and the fact that it was early afternoon on a Thursday, We didn’t have to queue for tickets or the ride at all. You can ride as a couple but we decided to each take a car down individually. We were strapped in given some basic instructions - i.e. don’t hit the car in front - and let loose!
How do you describe a roller coaster ride? It was a roller coaster! Twists and turns flung you around, the cars accelerating down helixes and nearly flying over bumps. The forest all around flashing past as the cart below rattled and careened down the track. All the while the adrenaline pumping, stomach flipping g forces attacking you. In short, it was great! Around halfway through the ride we slowed to a halt as the cars waited to be pulled up a massive incline. We clicked and clacked up the huge hill before charging in a mad swoop of turns and drops down to the finish.
There may be no better way of travelling to a waterfall.
The alpine coaster drops you off right at the base of the Datanla waterfall. Buzzing from the ride we walked down to admire the falls. Although not on the same scale or violence as the Elephant falls from earlier, the Datanla falls were beautiful, a multi stage waterfall that falls in silver rivulets down the mountainside we had just ridden past. The falls then splits into small streams which criss-cross each other and are spanned by bridges and selfie points. It is a little theme-parky (we know, it shouldn’t be surprising - we had just got off a roller coaster), but was still a very pretty place. There are plenty of spots to take photos and admire the view from.
Our ticket also entitled us to a return trip up the hill to the entrance. So, after we had had our fill of the waterfall we headed back onto the coaster.
The return trip was an unexpected bonus, it looks from the bottom that you are just going to be dragged straight back up the hill to the starting station, but there is actually a whole other section of coaster! Definitely not as long as the first set but still great fun.
At the top the sky had darkened noticeably and we could feel the occasional raindrop fall. We hurried back to our scooter, paid the parking fee (5000 VND) and drove off back to Da Lat.
Not all the best things in life are free, sometimes you have to pay the entrance fee!
The roller coaster was quite an expensive experience. The ride had lasted maybe 8 minutes down and 5 back up and had cost us the best park of £16 between us. However, sometimes you do have to open your wallet and have some good silly fun. It has been far too long since we were last on a roller coaster and, if we were still in Da Lat, we would definitely go again!
We had crammed a lot into one day, we had driven south for about an hour, seen a massive statue, beautiful temple and huge waterfall. We had ridden back through town and raced down a mountain to a waterfall on a rollercoaster! As we drove back, the beginnings of a storm dusting our faces, we couldn’t help but grin, it had been a great day.
The practical stuff
Linh Ẩn Temple and Pagoda information
Where is the Linh Ẩn Temple?
Right here. It is a medium length (45 minutes to an hour) scooter ride from Da Lat town along a quite busy stretch of road. We are no experts on two wheels but wouldn’t recommend this as a learning experience on a scooter. There is a fair bit of traffic to share the road with. If you are ok on a scooter and this is not your first time on public roads you should be ok.
Scooter rental seems to be uniform across Da Lat at around 150,000 VND per day.
If you don’t have a scooter you can easily get to the temple (and anywhere else) by Grab Taxi or by booking an Easy Rider in Da Lat town.
How much does Linh Ẩn Temple cost?
Nothing, it is free to enter and free to park your bike. There is a donation box that we would encourage you to use on the way out. It is a beautiful place and it would be nice if it stayed that way.
Is there a dress code at Linh Ẩn Temple?
Dress respectfully, it is a place of worship. Shoulders and knees should be covered, just be respectful. It isn't rocket science!
What are the opening times for the temple?
The temple is listed as being open 24 hours a day. It will be much busier on weekends and on festival days.
Can we get a view of the Elephant falls from Linh Ẩn Temple?
Absolutely. From the carpark head to the left of the statue (facing it) and go down the steps to the wide area around the base. From the railings here you can see the falls, however it is not the best vantage point. Continue on the left and go down the next set of stairs to the gardens area (still under construction at the moment) and you will be treated to a great view of the waterfalls.
Also the view from the top of the statue is fantastic. Just beware the windows to look out from are tiny.
The Elephant Waterfalls (Thác Voi) Information:
Where are the Elephant Falls?
The google listing for the falls is here however, this will take you to the closed (at the moment) entrance. Please let us know in the comments if this route reopens.
Is Elephant Falls closed? Can we still see it?
Until the main entrance reopens the best way to see Elephant Falls up close is from Elephant Coffee (location). They charge 50,000 VND for access to their viewing platforms but they do give a spectacular view of the waterfalls. Just park your bike / Grab taxi / tour bus, in the large car park pay the attendant and go down the steps at the rear of the building.
There are 3 main viewing areas from Elephant Coffee. Make sure you check out all of them, just beware of the slippery rocks and steps!
As we mentioned in the main article you can also get good views from the Linh Ẩn temple, although they are from much further away. Just head to the left of the statue and down the stairs (two sets of stairs for the best view). You can see the falls from within the massive statue but the windows are very small so they aren’t the best place to see it from.
You can also get some good long distance views from some of the cliff side coffee plantations and cafes along the valley. If we had better weather and more time we would have definitely explored further on down the valley as it looked very pretty!
The Alpine Roller Coaster and the Datanla Falls information:
Where is Da Lat’s Alpine Rollercoaster?
You can find the ticket booth, parking and entrance to the Alpine Roller Coaster here. It is an easy drive down a big busy road from Da Lat. Again, due to the traffic we wouldn’t recommend self driving to new or nervous drivers but it is not a long ride - only about 15 minutes from town. This can, like everything in and around Da Lat, be easily done via Grab taxi or easy rider.
How much does the Alpine Coaster Cost?
The coaster itself costs 250,000 VND per person for a return ride taking you down to the waterfall and back up to the entrance.
The parking costs 5000 VND per motorbike and a little more for cars.
Tips and advice for riding the alpine coaster - How to have the best time.
The roller coaster is great fun when it is quiet. As you, and everyone else on the ride, control their own speed, your experience is greatly affected by other people. There are signs and multi language loudspeakers warning you that you are responsible for your own speed and you are not to run into the car in front. We can imagine it being a frustrating and miserable experience if you are stuck in a queue of people never being able to take your hands off of the brakes.
We visited on a quiet Thursday afternoon when it was threatening rain and had the whole run to ourselves, we could go as fast or slow as we wanted! On our way back up however, we were treated to the sight of an elderly lady going around 2 mph down the steepest part of the descent, we were glad we were not behind her! The park will be much busier on the weekends and holidays so try and plan around this.
Is the Alpine Coaster worth the money?
This comes down to your personal experience and preference but for us it was a resounding yes! We had an absolute blast on the roller coaster and at the falls. It cost more than we would usually spend on such a short amount of time, but we had a great time! As we mentioned above, do try and get there at a quieter time as it would not be as fun if it was busy.
Can I ride the coaster with someone else? I don’t want to drive myself!
You can ride the Alpine coaster tandem, with one sitting in front of the other. The braking is easy and, by default, on. You accelerate by pushing the control lever away from you and brake by letting it come back. You can definitely make this someone else’s issue and ride with a friend but it was good fun driving yourself!
Organised trips and tours including the Elephant Waterfall Linh Ẩn Temple and alpine coaster
If you want to organise your holiday or exploration in advance and make the logistics someone else’s problem then you can easily arrange a tour around Da Lat and the surrounding countryside. All the attractions we talked about here are outside of the town but not a great distance from each other. You can book a tour inside the town, either with a group on a minibus or on the back of a bike with an easy rider. Alternately you can get it all organised online via Get Your Guide:
We hope you found all this useful, it is only a tiny fraction of the adventures you can get up to around Da Lat. If you have more time there is hiking, staying in other hill towns and tons more to explore.
For ideas of what to do, where to stay and what delicious food to munch on in Da Lat City itself, check out our article.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
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