Kon Tum
A highland city in central Vietnam, known for its wooden cathedral and Ba Na villages along the Dak Bla River. See the cathedral built in timber from 1913 to 1918, cross to Kon Klor’s communal house and bridge, visit the prison museum, and eat dry two-bowl pho and leaf salad. One or two days suits culture-minded travellers.
●●●○○ Worth it for Central Highlands culture
Photo: Bùi Thụy Đào Nguyên · CC BY-SA 4.0
The wooden cathedral stands in Thống Nhất ward, dark cà chít timber raised between 1913 and 1918, Roman arches under a Ba Na roofline, stained glass inside. Entry is free and an hour covers it. On Sunday, Mass is at 6:00, 8:00, and 17:00, so come between services for a quiet nave. Breakfast is phở khô in two bowls, dry noodles in one and hot broth in the other, at the shops around the market from about 6:00 to 10:00, before you walk to Nguyen Hue.
Give the afternoon to the river. Kon Klor’s cable bridge opened on 1 May 1994 and runs 292 metres over the wide Đăk Bla, and you can walk it for free. The steep-roofed nhà rông beside it is the large Ba Na communal hall, rebuilt after a fire in 2010, about 3 km from the centre. Across the bridge, about 5 km out, Kon K’Tu is a Ba Na village of stilt houses. Entry is free and the visit takes two to three hours. Come early or late for the light, stay off the deck in high wind or heavy rain, and step into a home only when you are invited.
Keep a morning for history. The French-era prison sits in the centre, about an hour and a half of cells and displays, and its subject is colonial imprisonment rather than a heritage stroll. The provincial museum holds the gong collection tied to UNESCO’s listing of the Central Highlands gong space, the background to what you hear in the villages. Lunch is gỏi lá on Trần Cao Vân, a table of forest and garden leaves you roll around boiled pork and shrimp with a fermented rice and dried-shrimp sauce. In the villages it is cơm lam, sticky rice grilled in bamboo, with grilled chicken. Evenings are coffee in cafés that look over the Đăk Bla, not a bar quarter.
Stay if the church, the bridge, and the villages are the trip. Go to Da Lat if you wanted a cooler hill station. Măng Đen is the side trip, about 54 km northeast on National Highway 24, a pine plateau of lakes and waterfalls. Chu Mom Ray is the wilder one, a rainforest national park on the border. Fly into Pleiku, about an hour away by road, and treat it as the gateway rather than the night.
Common questions
- Which airport serves Kon Tum?
- Pleiku (PXU). Kon Tum has no passenger airport. Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air fly nonstop to Pleiku from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. From there it is about an hour by bus or taxi: nearly 45 km by kontumtourism.com’s count, 51 km by Travelmath’s.
- Is the wooden church the same visit as Kon K’Tu?
- No. The church is on Nguyen Hue in the centre and takes about an hour. Kon K’Tu is a Ba Na village about 5 km out, across the Kon Klor bridge, and takes two to three hours. Do the church in the morning and the village in the afternoon.
- What does the prison museum cost?
- 30,000 VND. Allow about an hour and a half for the cells and displays, and go in the morning before the heat.
- Where is breakfast, and where is the evening?
- Breakfast is phở khô around the market, about 6:00 to 10:00, at 20,000–33,000 VND a bowl or up to 35,000 VND for a large one. The evening is coffee in the cafés over the Đăk Bla. An arabica cup runs about 25,000–40,000 VND in town, and coffee in Măng Đen about 30,000–60,000 VND.
Top attractions in Kon Tum
1 Kon Tum Wooden Church Nhà thờ Gỗ Kon Tum
Walk the timber cathedral on Nguyen Hue, raised in cà chít wood from 1913 to 1918.
2 Kon Tum Provincial Museum Bảo tàng tỉnh Kon Tum
Walk the provincial museum at 659 Nguyen Hue.
3 Kon Klor Communal House Nhà rông Kon Klor
Walk the Ba Na communal house in Kon Klor, the tall thatched hall on stilts beside the Đăk Bla.
4 Kon K'Tu Village Làng Kon K'Tu
Walk Kon K'Tu, the Ba Na village in Đăk Rơ Wa, through stilt houses and the communal house in the middle.
5 Kon Tum Prison Nhà tù Kon Tum
Walk the French-era prison on Truong Quang Trong, through the memorial yard and the displays.
Side trips from Kon Tum
Kon Tum by interest
Getting there and around
Fly into Pleiku Airport (PXU). Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air fly nonstop from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, about 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes in the air. Kon Tum has no passenger airport. From Pleiku it is about an hour by bus or taxi: nearly 45 km by kontumtourism.com’s count, 51 km by Travelmath’s.
Long-distance buses run from Da Nang in about eight hours for about 180,000–200,000 VND, from Ho Chi Minh City in about twelve hours by sleeper for about 220,000–300,000 VND, and from Hanoi in about twenty-five hours for about 600,000–650,000 VND. Da Nang is about 299 km by road.
In town, the church, the prison, and the provincial museum are a walk apart, and the whole city cluster sits within about 10 km. Kon Klor’s communal hall is about 3 km out and Kon K’Tu about 5 km, across the bridge. Take a motorbike or a taxi for those, then walk the bridge.
Kon Tum itineraries
Hotels
Tours & Attractions
Restaurants
What to order is on the food guide.
Southeast Asia TravelGuide Network
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