The poetic city of Da Lat is found by French in 20 century. They built Da Lat into a leisure town with a lot of beautiful architecture. Here are the most 5 amazing buildings with French architecture style in Da Lat.

1.    Cock Church

Cock Church (Con Ga Church) is located on Tran Phu Street, featuring for Rome architecture. It is the oldest colonial building that the French designed in Vietnam. The name “Cock” is called by local people because it has a man-made cock stuck on the top of the tower.

The church had been built for 11 years and completed in 1942, with 65m in length, 14m in width and 47m in height. From the top of the bell tower, you can see the whole view of Da Lat, even stretching to Langbiang Plateau.

The Cathedral has 3 sections: one big room in the middle and 2 smaller ones in two sides. The church has a very high tower. Its windows have arch shape. Its roof is covered by tiles. Its walls are built by rocks with 30 – 40cm thick.

These inside walls are decorated with some 1m X 0.8m statues and outside walls are painted with pink.

2.    Mai Anh Church

Mai Anh Church (Domaine de Marie) is a Gothic architecture, with the style of churches in Nomandie, France. It was built from 1940 to 1943, located on beautiful hill named Mai Anh (because there used to be a lot of Mai Anh Đao (Prunus Cesacoides) – a special flower in Da Lat).

The design of Mai Anh Church, which has no bell tower, contained plenty renovation compared to the classic church in the West. It also has traditional style of local architecture. The facade of the building is designed as an isosceles triangle with many small arch-shaped windows, and a cross on the top. Right at the center of the facade is a grand rose-shaped window, a detail which usually appeared in the architecture of French church at the end of the 17th century. The walls are decorated with the Normandy style which allows creative manipulation of lights: dark-bright, solid-hollow, etc. Especially, the most unique point of the church is that its roof is similar to the roof of communal house of ethnic minority in Central Highland which called “Nha Rong”.

3.    Pedagogical College of Da Lat

The school was designed by architects Moncent and inaugurated in 1935. It is originally a high school and named after scientist Yersin. The architecture of the college is considered as one of world’s typical 1000 architectures in 20 century.

The building forms a beautiful curve with a high notable bell tower. It has 4 floors with huge arches in bottom floor, which featured by the combination of Western and Oriental architecture styles. The bell tower is a wonderful highlight of the building. It has 54m in height with a remnant of a big clock and a bell. Especially, the building was covered by special bricks and roof coatings brought from France. This is a rare and precious architecture not only in Vietnam, but in the whole world.

4.    Truc Lam Zen Monastery Da Lat

Truc Lam Zen Monastery is located in open poetic natural sceneries with Truc Lam Lake, Phoenix Mountain and bamboo forest, about 5km to the city center. It was built in 1993 by 3 Vietnamese architects with new style of Buddhism architecture. The sanctum has rectangle shape which is toward the South. The surroundings are a lot of traditional Vietnamese pagodas made of ferro-concrete. The monastery is designed modernly. It is traditional in its form but modern in structure and use.

With beautiful natural landscapes around, Truc Lam Zen Monastery is not only place for meditation, but also an ideal destination to visit.

5.    Da Lat Train Station

In 1932, the famous French architect Moncet and his partners designed and started to build Da Lat Railway Station. After 5 working years, this unique architecture completed in 1936. The building is featured with three triangle roofs, imitating the form of Nha Rong in Central Highland. Under each roof is a multicolored glass window, and under the central roof is a large clock, which has recently been restored. Inside the station, the elevated roofs create a raised ceiling. At the front of the station is a Porte-cochère, or coach gate, supported by two rows of twelve columns each.
Today, Da Lat train station is only used for tourist. The only train in the station is the oldest steam train which still be remained from colonial time. The only route to Trai Mat stretches 7km called Dalat Plateau Rail Road which take you a tour around the city.