With spectacular nature and unique mountain dishes, Kon Tum has become a favorite destination for tourists. Find out now the best travel guide for Kon Tum. 

What to Know About Kon Tum, Vietnam

Kon Tum Vietnam is one of the five provinces in the northernmost region of the Central Highlands, located at the Indochina t-junction, the intersection of three countries: Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. This is also a province with a very unique name. It is known that in Ba Na language, Kon means village, Tum means lake, the name Kon Tum means an ancient village near a large lake next to the Dak Bla river.

The topography here is mainly high mountains, plateaus and lowlands alternating with each other, creating a rich and unique landscape. This is also a place with a long-standing history marked with legendary epics. In the journey to Kon Tum, tourists will not only be able to visit long-standing famous landmarks but also enjoy the food of the mountains and feel the taste of unforgettable nature. With a variety of experience activities, a trip lasting about 5 days to 1 week will be the right choice for tourists.

What Is the Best Time to Visit Kon Tum

The climate of Kon Tum Vietnam has the common features of the tropical monsoon climate of the South of Vietnam and has the characteristics of the highland climate. Kon Tum's climate is divided into two distinct seasons: the rainy season and the dry season. In particular, the rainy season usually starts from April to November, and the dry season from December to March next year.

Tourists can visit Kon Tum, Vietnam, at any time, but keep in mind the ideal timelines that suit your travel purposes. If you want to see the beauty of Kon Tum when the rubber forest changes leaves, schedule a trip in January. 

If you want to see the scene of coffee flowers blooming in the sky, visitors should go in March. December is when wild sunflowers are in season, blooming brightly in the sunlight. Visitors who love the lightness and poetic features of wild sunflowers should visit at this time.

How to Get to Kon Tum, Vietnam?

By road: For those who like the feeling of watching nature and saving money, they can choose a coach to go to Kon Tum. Kon Tum is about 1050 km from Hanoi, about 290 km from Da Nang, and 550 km from Ho Chi Minh City. 

Visitors from Hanoi can catch a coach at Giap Bat bus station. In Ho Chi Minh City, you can go from Mien Dong Bus Station. The distance between Kon Tum and other provinces is different; the travel time will range from 8 to 25 hours.

By air: Currently, Kon Tum does not have its own airport, so if you want to go to Kon Tum by air, you must choose a flight to Pleiku airport, about 50 kilometers from Kon Tum.

Specifically, tourists can choose flights of airlines such as Vietnam airlines, Vietjet, Pacific... After arriving at Pleiku airport, tourists will catch a bus to reach Kon Tum.

Or most simply, visitors just need to contact Vietnam Original Travel, which will support you in every move no matter where you go.

Best Hotels to Stay in Kon Tum, Vietnam

The tourist and dining attractions of Kon Tum, Vietnam, are mostly concentrated in the city center. Therefore, for the convenience of sightseeing, you can choose to rent a hotel room on the main roads in the center, such as Phan Dinh Phung, Truong Chinh, Duy Tan... Although located around the central area, the hotels and motels here have moderate prices, good quality, and provide full amenities for tourists.

In addition, in Kon Tum, tourists who want to learn more about the culture here can choose to stay at homestays in cultural villages such as Kon K'lor and Kon K'Tu with very cheap prices. Vietnam Original Travel believes that this is a much better choice for tourists to be able to immerse themselves in the culture and life of Kon Tum ethnic groups but also enjoy traditional dishes, festivals, and old stories…

Top “Must-Try” Food in Kon Tum, Vietnam

Kon Tum Vietnam is known not only for its natural scenery, historical destinations, and cultural people, but also for its unique traditional dishes with unforgettable mountain flavors. Let's find out now the things not to be missed when coming to Kon Tum.

Sticky Rice with Bamboo Shoots

Sticky rice with bamboo shoots - A dish made from familiar ingredients, but when combined, it brings a taste of the mountains and is loved by many tourists. This dish consists of sticky rice and fried bamboo shoots. The rice is carefully selected and soaked with turmeric powder to create an eye-catching yellow color.

Bamboo shoots are made fresh, cut into pieces and stir-fried with spices. The crispiness of bamboo shoots blends with the plasticity of sticky rice, making the dish undeniably attractive.

Leaf Salad

In Hue, there is a unique sweet soup of roasted pork, and in Kon Tum, that uniqueness belongs to the leaf salad. Leaf salad is a specialty dish of Kon Tum, twice recognized by the Vietnam Record Organization as one of the top 10 Vietnamese specialties with Asian culinary value. 

The way to eat this dish correctly is to take the leaves of cabbage or apricot leaves outside, add sour leaves and other leaves according to the preferences of the eater, then roll them into a small funnel and put meat and shrimp inside. With rich ingredients, this dish has a strange fleshy, sour and acrid taste.

Ghe Liquor

Ghe Liquor, also known as Kon Tum Can Liquor, is a very "mountain town" drink and tourists will find it frequently appearing in the lives of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands of Vietnam in general and Kon Tum in particular. The raw materials for Ghe Liquor are usually glutinous rice or cassava combined with yeast from forest leaves. 

Ghe Liquor has a very typical flavor of the mountains and forests of the Central Highlands because it is brewed from the roots of trees deep in the forest and is difficult to find.

Red Noodle Soup

Red noodle soup is a dish that visitors should put on their must-try list when coming to Kon Tum, Vietnam. Different from Bun Bo Hue, Bun Ca Nha Trang… Kon Tum red noodle soup is simpler to process but still brings out an unforgettable plateau flavor.

The main ingredients of Kon Tum red noodle soup are Vietnamese crab paste, some fried balls and boiled quail eggs. This dish impresses from the very beginning with the slightly reddish color of cashews, mixed with the bright green of raw vegetables, or the brown color of fish cakes, crab paste…

Many visitors may mistake this for Crab paste vermicelli Soup which is often sold in the towns. But the unique feature of Kon Tum Red Noodle Soup is that it is served with celery sticks, bean sprouts, onion fat, and boiled quail eggs.

Fried Crickets

Another unique specialty that tourists can find at many eateries and restaurants in Kon Tum, Vietnam, is Fried Cricket. 

To make this dish, the crickets will first be caught, washed, drained and fried. Next is to add some spices such as lemon, chili, and chopped lemongrass. Fried crickets bring a very delicious aroma, with a rich nutty flavor that makes tourists not take their eyes off this dish.

What to Visit in Kon Tum, Vietnam

Kon Tum Wooden Church

Kon Tum wooden church (also known as the cathedral church) was built in 1913. This is a long-standing symbol of Kon Tum Vietnam in particular and the Central Highlands in general. The church has a unique architecture that harmoniously combines the West and the East, giving a strong impression of a building that is both slightly modern but still mixed with ancient and long-standing features.

More specifically, this church is made entirely of wood, not using reinforced concrete and lime mortar to paint. The system of columns and rafters here is meticulously carved, exuding the natural but heroic aura of the indigenous people.

Kon K'lor Communal House

The communal house is a symbol not only of Kon Tum but also the pride and tradition of the Central Highlands in general. The Kon K'lor communal house shows the solidarity and strength of the Kon Tum community. The house is 22m high, over 6m wide and 17m long. 

With traditional design and completely wooden materials combined with paintings, bamboo, cork, leaves...and meticulously carved motifs, all have created a unique Kon Tum communal house, interesting for tourists to visit.

Kon Tum Prison

Built in 1930, Kon Tum prison used to be a place to hold political prisoners and revolutionary soldiers. Here, you should visit the memorial complex, the traditional house, the reception house, the indomitable monument cluster and two mass graves located on the banks of the Dak Blar River.

Dak To Victory Monument

Dak To Victory relic site was built on a hill 600m high. This was once the fiercest battlefield of the Central Highlands region, the strongest base of Saigon puppet troops and the US imperialists. Currently, tourists can visit 15 cultural, ecological and historical tourist attractions, the most prominent of which is the monument area.

Mang Den Ecotourism Area

Mang Den eco-tourism area is a destination for tourists who love cool nature. This place is considered the second Da Lat of Vietnam. Located at an altitude of over 1,000m above sea level, the Mang Den eco-tourism area has a cool year-round climate, many lakes, waterfalls, rocky streams and attractive landscapes. Besides, you can also visit the statue of "Duc Me Sau Bi," an architectural work built during the resistance war against the French.

In conclusion, Vietnam Original Travel has just introduced to you the best travel guide of Kon Tum, Vietnam, with notes on time, place and things not to be missed when visiting this wild land. If you are in need of a Kon Tum itinerary to get away from your busy work, give us a call to customize your most memorable trip to Kon Tum.

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