Dalat Canyoning Day Trip: Rappelling, Waterfalls & Zipline

4.99

(314 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I almost forgot my left shoe at the hotel — classic me — so we started our Dalat canyoning day trip with a quick dash back up the stairs. Our guide, Minh, just grinned and said “no problem, happens every week.” I liked him immediately. The van ride out of town was only twenty minutes but the air already felt different: piney, kind of sweet, with that faint chill you get in Dalat mornings. I kept fidgeting with my helmet strap while Minh explained how to use the harnesses and ropes. He made it sound easy but my hands were sweating anyway.

The first abseil was dry — 18 meters down a rock face that looked steeper from above than below. Minh showed us how to lean back into nothing and trust the rope. My knees wobbled but he just nodded like he knew I’d figure it out. There was this moment halfway down where everything went quiet except for water dripping nearby and someone’s nervous laugh echoing off the stone. After that we got to swim under a 30-meter waterfall (cold as hell) before sliding straight down a mossy chute into the pool below. My heart was pounding so hard I could barely hear myself shout.

Lunch was a baguette picnic on some rocks — cheese, fruit, sticky fingers — and then came what Minh called “the real canyoning.” That meant a 25-meter abseil right through thundering water. I swallowed half the river by accident and Minh laughed when I tried to say something in Vietnamese (“cam on?”) with water up my nose. Then we did a 7-meter free jump (I hesitated way too long), zipped across the gorge on a line that whined in the wind, and finally tackled “The Washing Machine,” which is this wild spinning rappel where you come out soaked and grinning like an idiot.

The hike back up was muddy and loud with everyone retelling their favorite wipeouts or near-misses. My legs were jelly but honestly I didn’t care — still thinking about that weird moment of silence halfway down the first cliff, or how Minh kept making sure everyone felt safe without making it awkward. If you’re thinking about canyoning in Dalat, just do it. You’ll probably forget something too.