Arriving in Dalat from Ho Chi Minh City was as different as night is to day. At 1500ft above sea level Dalat is much cooler and certainly far less congested/noisy/polluted. The Dalat Palace Hotel is prominently positioned, overlooking a massive lake. The architecture is French Colonial and every attempt has been made to retain an almost 'art deco' style. This is a double-edged sword in as much as the hotel is very luxurious/stylish/ambient but is lacking some of the modern conveniences many of today's traveller expect. For example the rooms have baths instead of showers, no air-conditioning (although being cool at night this was no big deal!), the restaurant is very formal and expensive (albeit very fine cuisine) with no on-site alternative. Fortunately there are plenty of good restaurants in the town. The staff are great although their command of English was less than was the case in Ho Chi Minh City. There is no pool.
For golfers I really do recommend the Dalat Palace golf club. It is a very good, challenging course and relatively flat, so walking (with a caddie) is not a problem. We played the course twice and thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Dalat although after three days you might be hard pressed to find new things to do if you are not a golfer..

Take a trip back to yesteryear at this grand old hotel. A couple of modern touches such as an extremely comfortable bed with good pillow menu, and magnifying make up mirror for those of us who may be a little vision challenged were appreciated. The claw bath with hand held shower were a bit of a challenge and after soaking not only myself, but the entire bathroom I decide to give myself a bit of "me" time and take a bath. Unfortunatley the water was a little on the cool side though this may be my personal opinion and the next person may think that its fine. The vista from the hotel looking over the lake is superb, do take some time to stroll the gardens while staying here. The hotel is within easy walking distance to Dalat city, but be warned the gate leading to the city closes quite early so your trip back to the hotel is legnthened considerably unless you discover the walk through the park and side street, which is best done while exploring in daylight.

Depending your expectations, this old lady has still got a lot to say...
Yes bathrooms are not state of the art but they are huge! We loved the extra comfort of the bed and the old charm of the room, remind me my grand-ma house! We also arrived late, almost 9.30pm (which is very late in Vietnam) and they nicely proposed dinner in the formal dining room, very good formal service but really too expensive! Only us there and for the 3 days spent there, the whole hotel felt very inhabited! Most of guest come for one night...and they are probably right, we were bored and wondered why we booked in Dalat for 3 days! The best is it's central market and the first floor dedicated to local restaurants Yummy!

Service is generally excellent (bar a few slight English problems). Breakfasts are very good, but the food at the signature Le Rabellais restaurant for dinner is average and over priced.
Small problems such as no ac, antique plumbing shower arrangeemts in the bathroom for the bath/shower can be annoying often resulting in water on the floor. Ambience and location are stunning, room service great, but overall slightly disappointing for a five star hotel.