Dak Lak Province Travel Guide
Located 600 meters above sea level, Dak Lak is a Vietnamese province which is a part of the Dak Lak plateau. Situated in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, this is the site of capital Buon Ma Thuot and Lak Lake.
Lak Lake is also home to Emperor Bao Dai’s former summer residence which has been converted into a boutique hotel. The Jun Village is also near the lake. There is a small flow of tourists that pass through Dak Lak and the local villagers or Jun people usually offer them elephant rides across the lake and through the villages.
For those visitors lucky enough to watch the Jun people partake in fishing, witness the technique of hooking metal rods to car batteries and then placing the rods in the lake to shock and stun the fish.
For the local villagers of the Dak Lak province, coffee plays a major role in the economy along with rubber and fruit. The province is culturally diverse, with many of its native inhabitants E De and Tay as well as Vietnamese.
Dak Lak was originally ruled by the Champa kingdom and was annexed and conquered by the Vietnamese in the 15th century. Ethnic Vietnamese came to be a part of the province when noble Bui Ta Han ordered the settlement of Vietnamese to the area.
Dak Lak is one of the more popular destinations for tourists for the Central Highlands. The Buon Ma Thout Airport is conveniently located 10kms (six miles) from the center of town, and daily flights leave Ho Chi Minh City and Danang to Dak Lak.