Pleiku Adventures Homestay and Pleiku Balcony

Brad is Australian, lives in Pleiku and runs both places on this page: a bed in the coffee hills by Biển Hồ Lake, and a bar in town for the end of the day. He speaks English, so you can sort out rooms, tours and where to eat without any Vietnamese. Full disclosure: these are our favourite places in Pleiku, and we send readers who want an English-speaking local to Brad. We can vouch for both.

How to book

Message Brad on WhatsApp (English), +84 366 471 453, or phone +84 345 330 870. You can also book through the Hostelworld listing. For a tour, write a day ahead.

Pleiku Adventures Homestay: sleeping among coffee hills beside Biển Hồ Lake

The homestay sits in Hẻm 123 Hàn Thuyên, Biển Hồ commune, in the coffee hills right beside Biển Hồ Lake. You wake up with mist still lying over the coffee fields, and you can walk to the lake and the cafes along its shore. The lake itself is on Tôn Đức Thắng street, about 2 km from the junction with Highway 14 and about 7 km from the centre of Pleiku ward. The centre is 7.89 km from the homestay, an easy Grab ride for a night in town. It suits people who want to get away from the big city and its heat.

What sets it apart is Brad himself. He speaks English and Vietnamese, answers messages, and knows where to eat, drink and ride. If this is your first time in Gia Lai, we recommend starting here and asking him where to eat, drink and ride.

• Address: Hẻm 123 Hàn Thuyên, Biển Hồ, Gia Lai. Plus Code 22V4+QH Biển Hồ.
• WhatsApp (English): +84 366 471 453.
• Phone: +84 345 330 870.
• Map: Open Google Maps.

Rooms, check-in and what’s included

It is small, with 2 double rooms and 1 bed in a shared dorm, so in festival season ask early. Check-in is from 2 to 9 pm. Parking and luggage storage are free, there is space for bicycles, and Brad can arrange an airport pickup. The dorm has big beds and a clean bathroom, with towels, shampoo and shower gel provided. Upstairs there is a bar and lounge with a lovely view, where the day starts with coffee and ends with a beer or a local cocktail.

The mood is relaxed and easy for meeting other travellers. If you need total privacy, or breakfast in the room price, ask Brad before you book. If you like chatting with strangers on the terrace in the evening, you’ll be happy here.

Tours and activities: cycling, a volcano hike, coffee making

Brad runs hiking, cycling and motorbike trips, visits to organic farms, tastings of local coffee and rice wine, coffee and cocktail classes, and nights out in town. There are also cycling tours and classes on local culture. He treats the homestay as the starting point for climbing an extinct volcano, cycling through coffee and tea hills, or riding a motorbike up into the mountains. If you want to reach the Chư Đăng Ya volcano in wild sunflower season without working out the route yourself, ask him.

The tracks around the homestay are dirt lanes through the coffee gardens, lovely for a cycle at first light while the mist is still down, and Biển Hồ Lake is only a short way along them. Message Brad the day before so he can find you a guide; groups are small and tours run according to sign-ups.

There is live music at the hill bar on 29 October, 31 October and 5 November, right in the middle of the Gia Lai Gong Festival 2026 and the Gia Lai City Trail 2026, which starts at the Biển Hồ gate. Festival events are in Ia Gri village, Biển Hồ commune, from 30 October to 1 November, and the main days, 6–8 November, are at Great Unity Square (Đại Đoàn Kết). Rooms by the lake fill quickly in race week. If you run, you can walk from the homestay to the lake, right beside the start.

Pleiku Balcony: cocktails, craft beer and sunset

Pleiku Balcony is Brad’s bar and restaurant at 133 Bùi Đình Túy, Pleiku. Arrive when it opens and you catch the sunset over the fields from the balcony; the city lights come on below you after that. Brad mixes the cocktails himself and there is a good choice of craft beer. After a few weeks of iced beer and rice wine, a proper cocktail hits the spot.

The kitchen does Western dishes, and the creamy mushroom pasta is a favourite at a fair price; nothing on the menu is expensive. Live music plays on Thursday and Saturday from 7:30 to 9:30 pm, and the bar shuts at 10:30 pm.

• Address: 133 Bùi Đình Túy, Pleiku. Show it to your Grab driver.
• Hours: 5–10:30 pm.
• WhatsApp (English): +84 366 471 453.
• Phone: +84 345 330 870 or +84 329 733 485.
• Facebook and messages: facebook.com/PleikuBalcony, or message on Messenger.

Best on a dry afternoon: one drink, the city changing colour, then home early for tomorrow’s trip. For a balcony table, especially with a group on a Saturday night, message Brad on WhatsApp first so he can keep you a table.

Who they suit, and who should look elsewhere

Solo travellers, couples, runners who want to sleep near Biển Hồ Lake, and anyone who would rather have an English-speaking local than a map will like these two. A family that needs many rooms at once will find the homestay too small, so look at where to stay in Pleiku and the rest of things to do in Pleiku. And to sleep in the centre and walk to the square on festival night, book a hotel in town and make Balcony your late-afternoon stop.