A fifty-five-minute plane trip north from Ho Chi Minh City and a half-hour shuttle up into the mountains, bring you to the picturesque highland town of Dalat, originally the home of the Lat hill tribe after whom the place was named.
A French doctor, Alexander Yersin, was the first European to 'discover' the area in 1898 and the town, at 1475 metres, was founded in 1912 as a cool retreat for the French, wishing to escape the heat and humidity of Saigon and indulge in a spot of hunting.
There were tigers, gaurs and elephants roaming the area in those days.
This former French hill station has a delightful and invigorating temperate climate, beautiful landscape of hills, waterfalls, lakes and pine forests, and is known all over Vietnam and beyond for its flowers, strawberries and rich, smooth coffee.
Today it is still popular with ex-pats and foreign tourists as a golfing resort and as a retreat for writers and artists, as well as a romantic and refreshing get-away for Vietnamese couples and families.
Dalat's French colonial architecture, enhanced by the Vietnamese with an Eiffel-Tower-shaped radio station, has resulted in its tag of 'Petite Paris'.
There are approximately 3000 villas scattered over Dalat's hills.
Most of them were modeled after early 20th century French regional architecture with some featuring touches of the more modern art deco style.
The area around Tran Hung Dao, the road that runs along the ridge and offers panoramic views, is often referred to as 'the French Quarter'.
Some of these once lovely colonial summer homes are in a sad condition, a faded and eerie reminder of the recent colonial past.
However, where this road merges, via a roundabout with Tran Phu Boulevard, there are many elegantly restored examples of the French colonial period.
These include the five-star Sofitel Dalat Palace Hotel and its sister hotel, the Novotel across the road both of which have art deco facades.
The Dalat Palace, built in 1922 in a five-hectare park, and originally known as Langbian Palace, has been restored to its former glory.
It features chandeliers in the 43 guest rooms, brass fittings and claw-foot tubs in the bathrooms, and replicas of European masterpieces in the wide corridors.
Its French restaurant, Le Rabelais, has a magnificent view of the banana-shaped Xuan Huong Lake.
Outside the Sofitel gate is one of the earliest villas built for Dalat's first French Governor-General.
The Novotel, constructed in 1932 as an annex to the Dalat Palace Hotel, features antique casement windows, high ceilings, period light fittings and a vintage caged elevator of wrought-iron filigree.
Between the two hotels is the Cafe de la Poste, a former French colonial department store, converted into a 1950s French bistro downstairs and a Vietnamese restaurant upstairs.
It is well worth a visit for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Adjacent to the Novotel, is the spectacular European-style Dalat Cathedral with its 47-metre-high bell tower and seventy French-made stained glass windows.
The present church was constructed between 1931-42 and is nicknamed Hha Tho Con Ga because of the bronze rooster (con ga) weathervane placed on top of its bell tower.
Not far away is the now largely decorative former Dalat Railway Station reminiscent of the ones seen in little French towns of the first half of the 20th century.
The cog railway line was built in 1928 and ran from Dalat to Thap Cham until 1964 when it was closed.
Although it no longer operates, it is possible for tourists to take an old Russian-built steam train five kilometres down the track.
Even the little club house of the Dalat Palace Golf Course is a reminder of the original golf course built by the Frankophile Vietnamese Emperor, Bao Dai in the 1930s.
Dalat's temperate climate with its November chill, the surrounding pine forests, faded French villas and occasional cobbled streets, give it a European feel.
Even the children wear French-style chandails or sweaters against the cold.