DAY 1: HANOI – PLEIKU (D)

Arrived Pleiku at 8pm, check in at Duc Long Gia Lai hotel and have dinner. There are plenty of local restaurants with nice food in the city. Recommend beef hotpot and beef bbq.

Can have coffee at the most beautiful-view coffee shop in the city named KUPPLEI café at No.38 Hung Vuong str. 

DAY 2: BIEN HO LAKE – KOMTUM

Visit Bien Ho, Tea plantation, Chu Dang Ya volcano and wild sunflower valley

7am: Have breakfast at Ngoc Son dried noodles. Many locals eat here (the review is quite good).

8am: Bien Ho (T’Nung lake) is regarded as the eye of Pleiku. Bien Ho, in fact, is a crater of a large volcano, which has been passive for hundreds of millions of years, at a distance of seven kilometers from Pleiku City and 900 meters above sea level. In the rainy season in the Central Highlands, the lake becomes larger as water level rises making small streams stretching down to mountain foot. Villagers from ethnic minority groups earn their living by fishing at Bien Ho.

From Pleiku city, go along highway 14 toward Kon Tum county town for a few kilometers, a mountain covered with fog will appear. Out of the highway, go over some canyons, there will be a beautiful road with bitumen. The scenery around is so impressive that it can even help travelers to wear away all tiredness and be more eager to reach Bien Ho. When the road becomes more sloping, it is suddenly stopped by a three steps staircase that leads to a small watch tower on the top of the hill that juts out into Bien Ho.  From that tower, Bien Ho appears so impressively. All scenes around are just like mixing in a beautiful deep blue color, so peaceful and imposing

Check if there has the service for boat on T’Nung lake, will take a boat if offered.

Direction: From Pleiku city go straight to Pham Van Dong, then Ton Duc Thang, you reach the lake around 2km.

9.30am: Tea plantation and pine forest

Founded 100 years ago, Bien Ho tea plantation is an ideal destination for nature lovers and young people. The tea plantation, planted from the 1920s, is located in Chu Pah district, about 13km from Pleiku city. This is the first French tea plantation in Gia Lai. Following the red soil road, you can smell the tea leaves faintly on the breeze. The right time to visit this place is early in the morning, when the dew still stands on the grass under the sunrise. Renting a boat to discover the lake is wonderful. Another interesting experience is wandering around the surrounding small tracks, where there are tall green pine trees. Leading to the tea plantation is a small road surrounded by pine trees. It is called Korean road because of its romance.

Direction: From Pleiku city go to Pham Van Dong, then Pho Duc Chinh, the direction to Buu Minh pagoda.

11.30am: From November 10th to November 13th, 2018, it is the best period when the areas of Chu Dang Ya Extinct Volcano will be carpeted with the beautiful yellow wild sunflowers. This is also a great opportunity to honor the land, the people, and the culture of the ethnic groups in the district. 

Lunch at a restaurant.

1.30pm: Visit the wooden Cathedral in Kontum province.

Have dinner at Nha hang Ngon Ba Mien, tel 0269 3828 811. Add: 158 Hai Bà Trưng, P. Yên Đỗ, Thành phố Pleiku, Gia Lai

DAY 3: Pink grass hills, Bau Can coffee plantation, Phu Cuong waterfall (B, L, D)

7am: Have breakfast and heading for vibrant pink grass hills

Discover the vibrant pink grass hills of Gia Lai (20km from Pleiku City). Located in the Glar commune, Dak Doa district, about 20km from Pleiku city in Gia Lai province, hills carpeted with a vivid pink grass are attracting hundreds of visitors for photo opportunities in the stunning scenery. Endless pink grass meadows among the pine forests of Glar commune. This is an ideal place for families to relax and go for a weekend picnic. The pink grass meadows are considered the secondary Da Lat grass hills in the Central Highlands.   In cooler mid-November, the wild grass hills take on shades of pink and purple colour. 

9.30am: Visit Bau Can coffee plantation and experience picking up coffee with local minorities at their plantation. There is the tea plantation surrounding as well.

11.30am: Have lunch 

1.30pm: Go to Phu Cuong waterfall

Surrounded by lush vegetation, Phu Cuong Waterfall, or Tac Phu Cuong, is a dramatic cascade that slides over red rock and thunderously tumbles down 38 metres. The sight is truly breathtaking, and what’s even more impressive is that this waterfall is completely off the tourist radar – it remains natural, without the restaurants, shops and kitchen that befall so many other sights in Vietnam. Prepare to be amazed. Located off QL 25 down an unassuming country road, a set of rusty metal stairs leads down to an enormous boulder garden. Carefully make your way over the rocks to get an unobstructed view of the falls. Though there was evidence that a few people do visit the spot (rubbish left behind from picnics), we had the falls completely to ourselves. And what’s really refreshing, aside from the mist tickling your face, is that there were no concrete animals, no swan boats or other such tourist-oriented additions.

4pm: Leave Phu Cuong waterfall for dinner at Grilled Chicken Plei Tieng restaurant. You will be served in the traditional house of minorities here, and they will play the traditional instruments during the meal. Reservation number 0166 573 8905.

5.30pm: Leave for Buon Me Thuot, stay at Coffee Tour resort.

Day 4: Check in Lak tented camp on Lak river in Daklak and trekking Bim Bip waterfall. 

7am: Leave Buon Me Thuot for Lak lake
8.30am: Trekking Bim Bip waterfall. Transfer to Buon Bip (Bim Bip) 8km from Lak then trek for 2km to the waterfall. Have a BBQ picnic lunch by the waterfall. Quiet, hidden and peaceful to enjoy nature.

3.30pm: Biking (6km biking) passing farms and rice terraces + 3km around the village to Yang Tao and visiting M’Nong village with their traditional ceramic village. Visit coco garden, taste coco drink, and explore how they made coco powder. 

5pm: Back to Lak and explore the process of making coffee (picking coffee, removing skin, grin ect.)

DAY 5: GIA LAI – BUON ME THUOT

Back to Buon Me Thuot after breakfast. Visit Ban Don (Don Village) and leave for airport for coming back Hanoi