Should you fly into Dak Nong?

Dak Nong has no airport. Fly to Buon Ma Thuot: the provincial handbook puts Gia Nghia about 125 km away, Bao Lam Dong about 135 km, and Vexere about 120 km and two hours by airport limousine. Lien Khuong, near Da Lat, is the other flight when Ta Dung is the plan; Gia Nghia to Da Lat is about 180 km and four to four and a half hours.

Can you walk into the volcanic caves on your own?

No. Krong No banned self-guided entry to the lava tubes, C7 included, after deaths. Go with an authorized guide. C9 is a 217-metre tube with free entry; settle the guide’s fee before you go in.

How many days does the geopark need?

Two days cover Gia Nghia, a short stop such as Lieng Nung, and a Ta Dung boat morning. Add a third for Dray Sap, about 110 km from Gia Nghia, so it is never the same morning as the lake.

Dak Nong travel guide: Dray Sap and Ta Dung lake

Dak Nong

A highland geopark in the Central Highlands, with wide waterfalls, lake islands and volcanic lava tubes. See the Dray Sap falls on the Serepok River, take a boat on Ta Dung lake, and eat bamboo-tube rice with grilled meat. A two- or three-day road trip by car or motorbike suits nature lovers.

●●●●○ Worth a geopark loop from the highlands

Dry roads, fuller falls Serepok waterfalls

Photo: Bich Le · CC BY 3.0

Time2 to 3 days

Get thereFly to Buon Ma Thuot, then the road to Gia Nghia. Dak Nong has no airport.

Best monthsJanuary to early April for the roads; May to October for fuller falls

Stand where the Serepok drops in one wide sheet through primary forest. Dray Sap is about 100 metres across and about 12 metres down, in Dak Sor, Krong No, about 110 km from Gia Nghia, with Gia Long and Trinh Nu falls in the same cluster. Give it a day of its own. It is not a stop you add after a Ta Dung morning.

Ta Dung is the other picture: the Dong Nai 3 reservoir at Dak Som and Dak Plao, in Dak Glong, with dozens of wooded islands, the highlands’ own Ha Long Bay. The lake is about 45 km southeast of Gia Nghia on QL28. Entry to the park is free; boats and lakeside resorts sell their own tickets. Sleep in Dak Som when the boat is the morning and the cool air is half the point.

Gia Nghia sits where National Highway 14 meets National Highway 28. Lieng Nung, a 35-metre fall inside a hexagonal basalt vault, is about 9 km out on QL28. EXPLORASOUND, on Dak Nur hill, is Vietnam’s first sound museum. The Dak Kar lithophone hall, about 9 km toward Da Lat in Dak Nia, keeps stones nearly 3,000 years old. Buon Buor, about 90 km toward Dak Lak, is an Ede longhouse village on the Serepok. Evenings in town are dinner and an early night.

Stay if you will hire a car or a motorbike and accept the distances. Fly into Buon Ma Thuot when the Serepok is the plan, or into Lien Khuong, near Da Lat, when Ta Dung and the cool hills are one trip. The mistakes are stacking Krong No and the lake into the same morning, and walking into a lava tube without an authorized guide: Krong No banned self-guided entry after deaths. C9, near Chu Bluk, is a 217-metre tube with free entry; settle the guide’s fee before you go in.

Common questions

Should you fly into Dak Nong?: Dak Nong has no airport. Fly to Buon Ma Thuot: the provincial handbook puts Gia Nghia about 125 km away, Bao Lam Dong about 135 km, and Vexere about 120 km and two hours by airport limousine. Lien Khuong, near Da Lat, is the other flight when Ta Dung is the plan; Gia Nghia to Da Lat is about 180 km and four to four and a half hours.
Can you walk into the volcanic caves on your own?: No. Krong No banned self-guided entry to the lava tubes, C7 included, after deaths. Go with an authorized guide. C9 is a 217-metre tube with free entry; settle the guide’s fee before you go in.
How many days does the geopark need?: Two days cover Gia Nghia, a short stop such as Lieng Nung, and a Ta Dung boat morning. Add a third for Dray Sap, about 110 km from Gia Nghia, so it is never the same morning as the lake.

Top attractions in Dak Nong

Dray Sap Waterfall Thác Đray Sáp

Walk the viewpoints over the wide Serepok sheet in Dak Sor, Krong No.

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Truc Lam Dao Nguyen Thiền viện Trúc Lâm Đạo Nguyên

Walk the pine-forest monastery at Nam Nung, about 39 or 40 km north of Gia Nghia.

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Side trips from Dak Nong

Da Lat

A cool mountain town in the Central Highlands, with pine hills, flower gardens and a lake in the centre.

Dak Nong by interest

Dining and F&B

Serepok waterfalls

Shopping

Getting there and around

Dak Nong has no airport of its own. How far Buon Ma Thuot is from Gia Nghia depends on who is counting: the provincial handbook says about 125 km, Bao Lam Dong about 135 km, and Vexere about 120 km and two hours for the airport limousine. One limousine line, Hoang Kim, has listed 150,000 VND; night buses run higher. From Ho Chi Minh City it is about 250 km and about six hours by bus, for about 150,000–200,000 VND. Gia Nghia to Da Lat is about 180 km and four to four and a half hours. Ta Dung is about 45 km southeast on QL28, and Dray Sap about 110 km away in Krong No. For more than one stop, hire a car or a motorbike and line it up before you arrive.