Dalat in the season of ripe persimmons - autumn colors attract tourists

Watching roses in the street

No need to go far, right in Da Lat city, there is a place to sip a hot cup of coffee while admiring the persimmons on a cold, foggy morning. That is "The Cafe of Youth" at 9B Trieu Viet Vuong Street, Xuan Huong Ward - Da Lat. The cafe is famous in Da Lat because the service staff are young deaf people, as a project to create jobs and an environment to help them integrate into the community. The special feature of the cafe is the 2 persimmon trees over 40 years old in the premises, becoming an impressive highlight every time the persimmon season comes.

According to Mr. Nguyen Trong Duy - store manager, the two persimmon trees were small before, hidden by the porch so they were not noticed much. By 2024, after the shop renovated the swamp area to avoid slipping during the rainy season, the trees grew strongly, spread out their canopies and bore many fruits, creating a cool green space, blending with nature in the shop. "We prioritize taking care of these two persimmon trees in a natural way, only using basic fertilizer to stimulate roots, and regularly picking leaves to help the trees produce more fruit for the next season," said Mr. Duy. Every persimmon season, this place is crowded with customers coming to enjoy coffee and admire the persimmons, especially young people from everywhere. Customers are often given a persimmon as a small gift during their visit.

Tourists take photos at Le Phuc Rose Garden

Go to the suburbs to see the rose garden

However, to see the most fully ripe persimmons, visitors should go to the suburban rose gardens around the wards of Da Lat. One of the ideal spots is the rose garden of more than 3,000 m² with about 50 persimmon trees located in the "Tropical Forest" cafe, located at alley 63 Prenn Pass, Xuan Huong Ward - Da Lat.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Trieu (born in 1987) - the shop owner, the persimmon trees here are about 30 - 35 years old. Initially, the garden was simply a place to grow persimmons like many surrounding households, she had no intention of opening a coffee shop. After many years of living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, in 2006 she returned to Da Lat with the desire to live close to nature and take care of the garden every day. One time, when the persimmon tree was so full of fruit that the branches broke, she recorded a short video and posted it on her personal tiktok page. Unexpectedly, the video went viral, many people came to ask for the address to visit the garden to see the persimmons. From then on, in 2021, she decided to open a persimmon garden cafe right in her garden. “I had to cut down about ten persimmon trees to open a more spacious shop, which was a pity because they were all large persimmon trees. There are many varieties of persimmons in the garden, such as: egg-shaped persimmons, cup-shaped persimmons, etc. The garden lets the trees grow naturally, without using chemicals. Customers can pick and enjoy ripe persimmons right there,” Ms. Trieu added.

In previous years, during the persimmon season, the shop welcomed hundreds of visitors every day, but this year, the number of visitors has decreased a bit. She happily said: "The persimmons ripen on the tree, so visitors can pick and enjoy them themselves. If there are no visitors, birds will come to eat them, and the garden is always filled with the sound of birds." Recently, the garden has also organized for visitors to experience making crispy persimmons, instructing them on how to distinguish between different types of Da Lat persimmons, the process of incubating egg persimmons to remove the astringency, and making wind-dried persimmons.

Visit the "rose forest"

There is a beautiful rose garden like a fairy tale in the fruit ripening season, like getting lost in a "rose forest", located in a beautiful area, quite far from the center of Da Lat, about 30 - 40 km, it takes nearly 1 hour by motorbike to get there. That is the Rose Garden Tourist Spot of Le Phuc's family in Tram Hanh, Xuan Truong commune - Da Lat. Here, there are about 200 rose trees in a garden of about 2 hectares, including rose trees that are 100 years old. "These are the rose trees that my father planted himself when he first started his career in this land", said Mr. Le Phuc Duy - the owner of the garden. Those hundred-year-old rose trees with large trunks, tall branches, and green leaves still continue to bear fruit, the fruit turns yellow then red, soft and sweet.

This rose forest is located in a village on a gentle mountainside, with a beautiful view down below. Standing on high ground, you can see the village with undulating tiled roofs amidst the immense green of the garden and pine forest running along the winding D'ran pass road. Far below is a large residential area of D'ran commune with the Da Nhim Hydropower Plant shimmering in the reflected sunlight. This season, Da Lat has cloudy days, standing here you can see the occasional mist drifting over the garden.

Mr. Duy said that in recent years, his family has developed the garden into a tourist spot to see persimmons and has been recognized by the province as a Family Farming Tourist Spot since November 2024. Here, the family has gradually invested in a cafe, rooms, overnight tents, a campfire area, food service and guides tourists to pick and enjoy persimmons on the spot.

Although very far from the center, when we were here, many tourists coming to Da Lat came to this place to see persimmons, enjoy coffee, and homemade persimmons dried in the garden.

Not only attracting domestic tourists, the garden also welcomes many foreign groups who know about it online. When they come to Da Lat, they visit and many groups choose to stay overnight in the garden during the persimmon season.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/da-lat-mua-hong-chin-sac-thu-niu-chan-du-khach-395760.html