Dalat, the city covered in mist and surrounded by pine trees, is not only a destination for tourists to see splendid hills, rivers, waterfalls, ponds and ancient pagodas, but also the ideal market for visitors to buy diverse and colorful winter clothes, especially woolen clothes and jackets.

A woman knits a sweater at her woolen goods counter.

At the market, where most items are over VND100,000, tourists can get a good coat or jacket, a nice sweater, a pretty woolen hat, gloves and scarf. However, buyers have to bargain to get a fair price.

Stroll around the small city in the evening to enjoy the cold of the highlands as well as buy winter clothes at two other markets. Tourists can get a sweater or a jacket for as little as VND50,000 at la market (shouting market).

Da Lat. (Photo: www.vietnamopentour.com)

Another market is chay market (running market). Bathed in bright, colorful light, goods here sparkle in buyer’s eyes. The market is located along the way to Dalat market, thus, sellers run when the police come.

These two markets offer tourists nice winter clothes and other items at a lower price than souvenirs shops. To bargain and run to have a pretty sweater seems an adventurous experience.

Winter not only makes the city more attractive with its chilly weather and dense mist, but is also shopping season for tourists and locals. Nice colored gloves, cute hats and scarves seem to make people more beautiful as well as keep them snugly in a wintry breeze.

Woolen knitting is the main craft of the central highlands city of Dalat, passing through a long time of development and preservation. Most women here are able to knit or weave. This is not only a livelihood for locals but also a cultural feature of the highland city.

Moreover, this handicraft also helps providing job for disadvantaged people in Dalat. Tourists want to buy woolen products and dolls made by disadvantaged children could contact Nguyen Thi Thuc, 3 Nguyen Thuong Hien Street, Dalat City, tel: (063) 3815 459.