The former French hill station of Dalat is the birthplace of golf in Vietnam. Discovered by Europeans in the late 1800’s the city was established in 1912 and quickly became fashionable due to its 1,500 meter altitude and cool average 18 degrees centigrade temperatures. The French endowed the city with wide boulevards and its European charm remains today. Many beautiful lakes and waterfalls can be found in and around Dalat together with hills, pine-tree forests, vegetable gardens and flowers. Dalat has more than 300 French colonial villas scattered on the hills, the best of which now serve as glamorous hotels and a sign of good times past.

In 1922 the plan for Vietnam’s first golf course, the Dalat Palace Golf Club, was conceived. However, it was not until Bao Dai, the last of the Vietnam, developed his own golf interest that Vietnam’s first golf course was actually built and opened for play in the 1930’s. In 1994, a multi-million dollar restoration project was completed and since that time Dalat Palace course has been recognized as one of the leading courses in the whole of Asia.

With daily multiple daily flights from Hanoi, Danang, and Saigon, Dalat is an excellent golf stopover for those Vietnam golf visitors looking for a cool destination to contrast the otherwise tropical playing conditions throughout the rest of the country.