Overview
Buon Ma Thuot is a city under Daklak province in the center of Vietnam Central Highland, this city is also the largest city of the area in the population scale and considered the cafe capital of Vietnam. Thanks to its beautiful landscape, temperate climate and unique indigenous culture, Buon Ma Thuot is making its efforts to become the economic, culture and tourism center of entire Central Highland.
Geographical location of Buon Ma Thuot
Buon Ma Thuot is located in the western part of Truong Son mountain range at the average altitude of 500 meters above the sea level. The terrain slopes gently from East to West that leads to the change of the flora and fauna ecosystem.
The land in Buon Ma Thuot city has been largely exploited and put into production for many years with the main strengths of industrial crops, especially Buon Ma Thuot coffee is rated as the best in Vietnam.
Buon Ma Thuot
Climate of Buon Ma Thuot
Buon Ma Thuot is dominated by the monsoon tropical climate, but at the same time strongly influenced by the “sub-region of the highland” climate in the west of the Truong Son range, so the city climate also has its own characteristics with two distinct seasons:
In the rainy season, due to the strong influence of the west Truong Son climate, Buon Ma Thuot receives a great amount of rainfall, lasting for 6 months from May to October. Rainfall accounts for about 87% of the annual rainfall. August and September are the months with the highest rainfall.
Dry season lasts 6 months from November last year to April next year, coinciding with the season with the East and Northeast wind. Rainfall accounts for only about 13% of the annual rainfall.
With the climate characteristics above, Buon Ma Thuot has many advantages to develop the tourism, and the peak tourist season in the city is considered from October to November with the highlight is the cafe festival.
Population and culture of Buon Ma Thuot
Buon Ma Thuot is considered a miniature Vietnam because this is a multi-ethnic city, the city is home to 40 ethnics, whereas, Kinh people exceed 85% of entire population, and the group of indigenous ethics just exceed 10%, of which E-de ethnic has the largest population.
Buon Ma Thuot
Each ethnic group in Buon Ma Thuot has their own culture and religious belief. Some other groups are the followers of Buddhism, Catholicism, etc. Kinh people in Buon Ma Thuot bring the new flow of culture to this city due to a big wave of Kinh people’s immigration during the years of 80s, 90s of the previous century. However, because of the effects of the market economy and modern culture, the ancient traditional culture of indigenous groups are being faded quickly.
Tourism potentials of Buon Ma Thuot
Thanks to temperate climate and beautiful nature, Buon Ma Thuot has so many advantages to attract tourists. Here is the list of tourist destinations in this city.
Mother Elephant Stone
Located in Yang Tao commune, 40 km from Buon Ma Thuot city along the national road No.27, Yang Tao Elephant Stone include a pair of huge stones called Father Elephant and Mother Elephant. Mother Elephant Stone has approximately the length of 200 m, perimeter of 500 m, height of 30 m. This is the largest monolith stone in Vietnam.
It takes about 15 minutes to climb to the top of the stone. From the top of Mother Elephant Stone, tourists can see out many beautiful landscapes in the area such as Yang Leh lake, Chu Yang Sin mountain- the rooftop of Central Highland, etc. Although it is not hard to climb on the top of Mother Elephant Stone, tourists should be careful because the stone is quite slippery, especially in the rainy season. During the strong wind days, it is very dangerous for those who want to conquer the top because the wind can knock you down and hurt you.
Mother Elephant Stone
Ko Tam tourist area
Ko Tam tourist area is 8 km from Buon Ma Thuot city, located right in 789 Pham Van Dong street, Tan Hoa ward, Buon Ma Thuot city. Coming here, tourists can learn the diverse culture of Central Highland. Especially, all constructions in the tourist area were built by wood, bamboo, etc.
There is a stilt house which displays the pictures, musical instruments of E-de people or the river pier which describes clearly the lifestyle and culture of ethnic people. Besides that, the artificial lake is a place for tourists boating and amusing.
Dak Lak museum
Dak Lak museum or Museum of Ethnic Culture in the Central Highlands is built right on the basement of Bao Dai palace- a historical relic of Dak Lak province. The museum has over 1000 artifacts and pictures which are displayed in three main areas (diverse biology, ethnic culture and history). This cultural construction is built in the mixture of modern style and traditional architecture of local ethnic groups. Especially, Dak Lak museum is one of the first flags of using the indigenous languages to present and explain for the artifacts in the area.
Buon Ma Thuot Victory Monument
The monument is located right in the Nga Sau junction with the tank model that was built to memorize the victory of Buon Ma Thuot, now it becomes the sacred symbol of people in the city. No matter where you go, seeing the Buon Ma Thuot Victory monument, you will realize it is Buon Ma Thuot.
Buon Ma Thuot is a beautiful city hiding many exciting things that you should come to explore. With that advantages of nature and people, Buon Ma Thuot will be a spotlight in Central Highland tourism besides Dalat.
