The central highlands, and the road nobody takes
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North of Da Lat the highlands go quiet. The basalt plateau that grows most of Vietnam's coffee runs for hundreds of kilometres through Dak Lak, Gia Lai and Kon Tum, and almost no foreign itinerary touches any of it.
The central highlands route is four or five days on that road. It is not a highlights trip. Anyone treating it as one will be disappointed by every individual stop.
What is the route?
Da Lat to Buon Ma Thuot to Kon Tum, with Pleiku as an optional fourth. The legs are long and the towns are working provincial cities rather than sights. The plateau between them is the reason to do it.
| Leg | Distance | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Da Lat to Buon Ma Thuot | About 190 km | 5 hours | Pine, then coffee and rubber |
| Buon Ma Thuot to Kon Tum | About 245 km | 5 to 6 hours | Plateau, villages, few towns |
| Kon Tum to Pleiku | About 50 km | 1 hour | Optional, for the airport |
| Kon Tum to Hoi An | About 300 km | 7 hours | The way back to the coast |
Day one and two: Da Lat
Start where the highlands are comfortable. Da Lat sits at 1,500 m, holds 14 to 23°C all year, and carries the only tourism infrastructure on the route. The things to do page and where to stay both cover it in detail.
Use it as the acclimatisation stop rather than the destination. Two nights is enough, and the canyoning, the waterfalls and one farm are the things that justify them.
Day three: the road to Buon Ma Thuot
Leave early. The 190 km takes about five hours: the road climbs, descends and passes through every village on the way. The last hour is coffee and rubber plantation on both sides.
Buon Ma Thuot is the country's robusta capital and an unpolished provincial city. The plateau around it earns the stop: the Dray Nur and Dray Sap falls half an hour out, the plantations, and Yok Don national park to the northwest.
Yok Don is worth knowing about for one reason. The park has moved away from elephant riding towards observing the animals in the forest, which is the version to book if you go at all. Read what an operator actually offers before paying.
Day four: on to Kon Tum
The longest leg and the emptiest. Five to six hours of plateau, with Pleiku roughly two thirds of the way if you want to break it.
Kon Tum is a small river town with two things worth the journey. The Bahnar villages around it still keep communal rong houses under high thatched roofs, and French missionaries left a wooden cathedral in the town. Almost nobody visits, which is the point of this route in one sentence.
Should you ride it?
Only if the road is the reason you came. These are long highland legs with lorry traffic, and in the wet months the afternoon rain is heavy enough to stop you. The motorbiking guide covers the licence position, unchanged out here.
A car with a driver split between two or three people is the sensible version, and it costs less than the same arrangement on the coast. The transport guide sets that against the sleeper buses that also run these roads.
When are the highland roads dry?
November to April. The dry half of the year on the plateau means warm days, cool nights and usable side roads. The coffee harvest runs from about October to December, when the villages are busiest and the drying yards are full.
May to October brings heavy afternoon rain, red mud on every unpaved turning, and long legs that stop being pleasant. The month-by-month guide puts the highlands against the two coasts, which run on their own calendars.
Who is this route for?
A second or third trip, and travellers who have already done the coast. Nothing here competes with Hoi An or the bay on a first visit. That is exactly why the road is empty.
The off the beaten track route is the wider version of the same argument, and this is the section of it that most people skip.
FAQ
What is the central highlands route?
The road north from Da Lat through Buon Ma Thuot towards Kon Tum and Pleiku, across the basalt plateau that grows most of Vietnam's coffee. It takes four or five days at a sensible pace and carries almost no foreign traffic.
How long does the central highlands route take?
Four days as a minimum and five with room to stop. Da Lat to Buon Ma Thuot is about 190 km and five hours, and Buon Ma Thuot on to Kon Tum is roughly 245 km and another five or six, on roads that are good but slow.
Should you ride the highlands route or hire a car?
A car with a driver if the point is the towns, a motorbike if the point is the road. These are long highland legs with lorry traffic and afternoon rain in the wet months, and the riding is more demanding than the Ha Giang loop despite being flatter.
What is in Buon Ma Thuot?
Coffee, and the plateau that grows it. Vietnam's robusta capital sits at about 500 m with plantations around it, waterfalls at Dray Nur and Dray Sap, and Yok Don national park to the northwest. It is a working provincial city rather than a pretty one.
Is Kon Tum worth reaching?
For the villages and the Bahnar rong houses rather than for the town, which is small and unremarkable. It is the least visited stop on this route by a wide margin, and that is most of its appeal.
When should you drive the highlands?
November to April, the dry half. The wet season from May to October brings heavy afternoon rain that turns the side roads to red mud and makes the long legs unpleasant rather than dangerous.
Can you skip Da Lat and start further north?
You can fly into Buon Ma Thuot or Pleiku, both of which have domestic airports, and cut the route in half. That is the version for anyone with three days rather than five, and it loses the best-known stop rather than the best one.