100 Roofs Cafe

For those who like a shot alongside their fantastical, creepy-fairy-tale architecture, there’s no better destination than Đà Lạt’s 100 Roofs Cafe. Tucked along a side road, the building is surprisingly inconspicuous from outside. Inside, a multistory labyrinth a-mazes visitors with stairways to nowhere, underwater arthropods, and—for those who manage to make it to the top—breathtaking views of the city.

Don’t let the “cafe” in the name fool you: 100 Roofs is a bar, and while it does serve coffee, most patrons come in search of stronger stuff. Visitors have to buy at least a drink in lieu of a cover fee—a decent deal to experience an epic maze—but considering the dim lighting and uneven surfaces, it may be wise to know your limits. In the midst of the maze, dead ends abound, sculpted women twist out of the walls, and tunnels appear seemingly out of nowhere. Once you emerge on the open roof, a tiered garden continues upward, ending in a sweeping view of Đà Lạt and, if you’re lucky, the night sky. Perhaps this is why locals call the building Đường Lên Trăng, or “the Way to the Moon.”

Đà Lạt, the capital of Vietnam’s Lâm Đồng Province, is a small city that’s packed with architectural wonders. Besides the Way to the Moon, the city is also home to the “Crazy House,” a guesthouse whose toadstool twists and timber-like facade were the passion project of expressionist Vietnamese architect Đặng Việt Nga. Perhaps this concentration of architectural oddities explains the 100 Roofs Cafe’s magical vibe: Guests have compared the building to Hogwarts or hobbit homes in the Shire. If you pay the cafe a visit, enjoy sipping a drink while wandering through the labyrinth—just watch your footing lest you trip on an intoxicated Bilbo Baggins.