Buon Ma Thuot

Coffee was introduced to Vietnam by the French in the nineteenth century and the basalt soils of the Dak Lak plateau proved suited to robusta; planting expanded enormously from the late 1980s under state policy, and Vietnam went from a marginal producer to the second largest exporter in the world after Brazil and by far the largest producer of robusta. Buon Ma Thuot is the centre of that, with a coffee museum, farms that take visitors, and a biennial festival in March. The expansion had costs - forest clearance, water abstraction and displacement of highland communities - which the industry's own literature is more candid about than it used to be.

What you actually see

• The capital of Vietnamese robusta - on the Dak Lak basalt soils.
• The world's second largest exporter - after Brazil.
• A coffee museum and working farms - open to visitors.
• The costs of expansion - forest, water and highland communities.

When to go

November to April; March in odd years for the coffee festival. Two days.

Honest expectations

The city is functional rather than attractive. Farm visits need arranging. The harvest runs roughly November to January, and outside it there is less to see. The highlands' displacement history is a sensitive subject locally.

Nearby

Lak lake is south-east; Yok Don national park is north-west.