Buon Ma Thuot

Buon Ma Thuot or Buôn Ma Thuột (or sometimes Buôn Ma Thuật, Buôn Ma Thuật or Ban Mê Thuột), is the capital city of Daklak Province, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

Understand
Despite its quiet appearance, Buon Ma Thuot is very quickly developing. However, most of this development is from internal investment rather than the tourism industry. There are very few tourist sites, but the people are friendly, the coffee is great, and a stop here is well worth it to get off the beaten track and see Vietnamese city life that does not revolve around tourism. It is also an excellent base of operations to visit Yok Don National Park, Ban Don Village, and Lak Lake.

By car
Buon Ma Thuot is 194 km from Nha Trang, 197 km from Pleiku, 223 km from Qui Nhon, 350 km from Ho Chi Minh City, 396 km from Dalat and 1427 km from Hanoi.

By bus
There is a bus service to Buon Ma Thuot from Danang and Ho Chi Minh City (departs from Mien Dong Bus Station in Ho Chi Minh City). Buon Ma Thuot Bus Station is 3km east of the center. Several buses travel daily to Pleiku and Danang (buses will stop in Pleiku), Qui Nhon (11 hours), Nha Trang (6 hours), and Ho Chi Minh City (18 hours).

Mai Linh Express now operate their hunter green Mercedes Sprinters from Buon Ma Thuot, which cut down travel times considerably, even with short breaks at mealtimes. For example, the journey to Nha Trang is 90,000 dong, four times daily, and takes approximately 3½ hours.



Get around
Your usual selection of taxis operate here, including Mai Linh. The city is also eminently bikeable due to its compact size and flat terrain.

Mai Linh taxi phone number in Buon Ma Thuot is +84 500 381 9819, or 0500 381 9819 when using local mobile phone. Most drivers don't speak English, so prepare written notes or show them map on your smartphone screen.

See



 * Ako Dhong (buôn Cô Thôn in Vietnamese): An E-de minority community on the northern end of BMT. It's reachable on foot, but ask how to get there first. It's a nice part of town with longhouses surrounded by flowery yards, although now being part of town it can't really be called a village any more. Maybe 'longhouse suburbia' is more appropriate.
 * Khai doan pagoda
 * Khai doan pagoda
 * Khai doan pagoda
 * Khai doan pagoda

Do

 * Visit Ban Don village, ride elephants. From center of Buon Ma Thuot, you can catch a bus every 30 minutes to go to Buon Don (Ban Don). You should wait for the bus at Coop Mart in order to have a seat. Otherwise, the bus is normally full.

Eat
Despite what the guidebooks say, Buon Ma Thuot has a very solid selection of good eats. Fast development and not much tourist infrastructure mean that the guidebooks are behind the times and sorely misleading. A wander just northwest of the main roundabout after around 18:00 will turn up a truly great selection of street stalls and small restaurants, offering up very tasty standards such as hủ tiếu, phở, bún, cơm, and nem. Check Ly Thuong Kiet nearby for a selection of roll-your-own spring roll joints.

A very tasty cơm hến, the Hue speciality, is available at a simple-looking place across the street from the Co-op Mart that also advertises Bún bò Huế. Walk past the shabby looking front room into a spectacular little back home, complete with garden, birds, and an internal waterfall.

KFC is available in the Co-op Mart building, if you really need it.

Drink
Coffee, coffee, coffee. Buon Ma Thuot is the capital of coffee in Vietnam, a country that is second only to Brazil in coffee exports. Because of this, cafes are on every street corner, and most are spectacular. Many offer several different varieties of bean and roast. Standouts include Emerald's Cafe in Tan Loi and, just east of town, Trung Nguyen's flagship coffee gardens (a huge pleasure garden complete with man-made mountains and waterfall, lined with coffee trees and boasting both traditional Viet and Ede designed buildings). However, it's very difficult to find a bad cup of coffee.


 * Drink the local brew "ruou can".

Go next

 * Lak Lake is about an hour's bus ride to the south, on the way to Dalat. It's a beautiful lake with various minority villages all around. A few of them are reachable from Lak town on foot, others require a boat trip, motorbike, or longer hike. To cross the lake, you can choose between a boat or an elephant - it's so shallow that they can walk on the ground!

Between Lak and Buon Ma Thuot, a local bus runs every half hour or so. They have a couple of nice newer ones with AC (as of Jun 2013).


 * Pleiku - A small Central Highlands city critically important to both sides during the Vietnam-American war for its strategic location. 160 km (100 mi) west of Quy Nhon.

South

 * Tuy Hoa – City by the coast


 * Nha Trang – A booming beach resort popular among international tourists. 220 km (135 mi) south of Quy Nhon.


 * Gia Nghia – City off the beaten track that does not revolve around tourism.


 * Dalat – The old French hill-station with "eternal" spring climate and many nearby attractions easily explored by motorbike.

There are several buses a day to Dalat (coming from BMT), taking about 5 hours with the last bus leaving in the early afternoon (80,000 dong). Tuấn Anh, 36 Nguyến Văn Cừ, and Phuc Thai have services to Dalat (Nov 2018). Mai Linh Express goes to HCMC and Danang.

If you want to stay overnight in Lak, Mr Duc (+84 905 371633) from Café Duc Mai (dalateasyrider@gmail.com) can arrange homestays in Jun longhouses for US$5, half the price asked by Daklak Tourist. He can also arrange other activities, such as elephant rides and boat trips on the lake, for a much lower price than Daklak Tourist. The café serves an excellent set meal (US$3) for dinner.

To get to the café, call ahead to get picked up or consider taking a moto (10,000 dong) once you arrive in Lak as it's next to the Jun village and a bit hard to find from the main road. On foot, walk along the main road to the 3-way intersection at the market, then follow the alley going past the market all the way to the end. Turn left, where the road makes a right turn curving around some rice paddies. Follow this road until you see Café Duc Mai on the left side, 50 m in front of the Jun village entrance.

The people that provide you the service (homestay host, elephant rider, boat rower) get paid very little. For example, Daklak Tourist charges US$10 for homestay, Mr. Duc charges US$5, and the host only gets $0.50. You do need arrangement to be able to sleep in people's houses here as you're outsiders, but for other services (such as the boat tour of the lake), consider going directly to the locals.