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Pleiku Travel Guide
The city of Pleiku is the provincial capital of the mountainous province of Gia Lai. It is located at the intersection of National Routes 19 & 14, leading to Kon Tum in the north, Buon Ma Thuot in the south, and Qui Nhon on the coast.
Pleiku is a crossroads of the highlands, and most visitors to the town are passing through on their way to another place, or going to explore the Highlands elsewhere.
Pleiku was an important battleground in the Vietnam War, and the reconstruction after the war changed the town completely, and now there is hardy any vestige of the destruction of the war.
Before the war, Pleiku was a village of only a few thousand residents where it would not be out of place to see Montagnards in loincloths. Today, Pleiku is a hectic city of 300,000 fast heading on its way to emulating other traffic choked towns of Vietnam. Being a principal crossroads in the highlands, it is a kind of wholesale market centre for the entire area, and there is a lot of heavy traffic on the roads, and many stores selling products in bulk.
However, judging from old photographs, it was probably a nice place before it was destroyed by war, and then replaced with modern construction. There are even fewer visitors to Pleiku than there are to Kon Tum.
What To See & Do
Unfortunately Pleiku does not have much in the way of things to see or do. Also, the infrastructure needed to explore the surrounding mountains is not well developed. However, in the city there are a couple of museums, and outside the city there is nearby Bien Ho Lake formed by a volcanic crater. There is also a kind of water-park called Dong Xanh with a small zoo.
Once you get out of the city, you will again be in the more picturesque and natural countryside of the highlands. There are several Jarai villages in the area that are worth visiting, and there is Yaly Falls on the road to Kon Tum heading north.
Weather If you visit Pleiku in the rainy season; please be aware that it is in the centre of the Central Highlands, and has the highest rainfall totals in the Central Highlands. It can be very, very wet in the wet season.
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