Pongour Waterfall, Dalat

Pongour Waterfall is located 1 hour by road to the south west of Dalat in Vietnam, and is considered by many to be the most beautiful waterfall in a region with a great many waterfalls.

• Opening hours: 07:00 to 17:00
• Entrance fee: 20,000 VND

About Pongour Waterfall

Pongour Waterfall does not get as many visitors as other waterfalls closer to Dalat such as Elephant falls. The majority of the visitors who go to Pangour Waterfalls are Vietnamese tourists stopping off on route to or from Dalat. The turning to the falls is located on the main highway between Ho Chi Minh City and Dalat and if you are touring the country in own car or motorbike then you should also take the time to visit. Most foreign visitors, however, will be based in Dalat which is the regional capital and the location of the nearest airport and long distance bus station. There are four ways to travel from Dalat to Pangour Waterfall:

• Rent a motorbike: This is a cheap option, bike rental costs 100,000 200,000 a day depending upon what type of bike you rent. However, do please bear in mind that there are dangers involved in driving your own motorbike, including being stopped by the police if you don’t have the right paperwork.
• Take a Bus: From Khu Hoa Binh Bus Station in Dalat you can take a public bus to Bao Lac, which passes by the turning to Pangour Waterfall. The bus ticket will cost around 20,000 VND one-way. The problem with this very cheap option is that the bus will drop you 6 km from the entrance to the waterfall. Local motorbike taxi drivers demand a massive fee (typically 100,000 VND) for taking stranded foreign visitors for the last 6 km of their journey.
• Take an organised tour: You will be charged around 700,000 VND for the pleasure of being taken to the falls in a shared minivan, along with a stop at some of the other local tourist attractions.
• Hire a car and driver: This is the most comfortable option, but also the most expensive, costing around 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 VND.

Pongour Waterfall is located on the Da Nhim River. Up stream from the falls are two hydro-electric plants which control the flow of water, which can reduce to a trickle in the dry season. The low volume of water flow is one of the features of this waterfall. The falls themselves are 100 metres wide and 40 metres high, ascending in stages, and clearly the product of thousands of years of a much heavy flow of water. The other unique feature of this waterfall is that the water flows over stone ledges that look like steps. When the flow of water is low lots of visitors ascend this waterfall via these steps, which is a distinctly risky activity because if you fall then you will fall onto the hard sharp edges of the ledge or ledges below which is likely to result in broken bones. A much safer option is walk up one of the two routes which run along the side of the falls. One route is a well constructed staircase, the other a dirt track with some less well constructed steps.

Location of Pongour Waterfall

Pongour Waterfall is located 47.3 km by road from Dalat Town.