My Son, the Cham towers that outlasted the bombing
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My Son is what is left of a kingdom that ruled this coast for a thousand years and is now largely absent from it. The Cham built here for nine centuries, the valley was bombed in 1969, and about twenty structures still stand.
What is the site?
The My Son sanctuary is a valley of Hindu temples about 40 km southwest of Hoi An, built by the Cham between roughly the 4th and the 13th centuries. It served as the religious and burial centre of Champa, the kingdom that held central Vietnam before the Vietnamese moved south.
The temples are brick, built without visible mortar, and dedicated mostly to Shiva. The construction technique is still argued about, because the joints are so fine that nobody has fully reproduced the method.
UNESCO listed the site in 1999, four hundred years after the Cham court had abandoned it. The UNESCO guide covers the country's other listings.
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Built | 4th to 13th centuries, by the Cham |
| Standing | About 20 structures of roughly 70 recorded |
| Damaged | Heavily bombed in 1969 |
| Listed | UNESCO, 1999 |
| Ticket | 150,000 dong, shuttle and dance included |
| From Hoi An | About 40 km, an hour by road |
What happened to the rest of it?
Bombing destroyed most of group A, which held the largest tower on the site, during the war in 1969. Craters remain between the groups and are pointed out rather than hidden.
Before that the valley had simply been left. The Cham court moved south, the jungle took the temples, and a French survey rediscovered the site at the end of the 19th century.
What stands now is a mixture of original brickwork, French-era consolidation and modern restoration, with the joins visible. The war sites guide covers the wider set of places where the same period is still legible.
What does the visit cost?
Entry is 150,000 dong for a foreign visitor, which is under six dollars at about 26,000 dong to the US dollar. The ticket covers the electric shuttle from the entrance to the temple groups and the Cham dance performances staged in the pavilion through the morning.
A guided tour from Hoi An runs from about 250,000 dong including transport, and a private car costs 700,000 to 1,000,000 dong for the round trip with waiting time. The car and driver guide covers how those are priced.
Riding there on a rented motorbike costs the fuel and an hour each way. The road is easy and flat for most of it.
When should you arrive?
Take the first departure of the day, around seven from Hoi An. The valley faces east, the light is good early, mist sits in the trees, and the site is empty enough to hear it.
Coaches arrive from about nine and the groups bunch at the shuttle stops. By eleven the brick is radiating heat and there is almost no shade anywhere on the circuit.
The dance performances run at set times in the morning. They are short, staged and included, and worth ten minutes if you happen to be passing the pavilion.
How long does it take?
Two hours on site covers the standing groups at a slow walk, plus the museum by the entrance. The shuttle handles the first kilometre, and the rest is flat paths between the groups.
Add the travel and the trip is a half day from Hoi An. That is the usual shape: leave at seven, back by noon, and the afternoon free.
Nobody needs a full day here. The site is smaller than its reputation, which is the single most useful thing to know before going.
What should you expect from it?
Expect a modest site with remarkable brickwork rather than a grand one. My Son is not Angkor and does not try to be: the towers are small, several are roofless, and the carving is weathered.
What it does hold is a record of a civilisation that has otherwise left very little on this coast. The Cham museum in Da Nang holds the sculpture taken from these towers and is the natural companion visit.
Read the two together and the kingdom becomes legible. Read the site alone with no context and it is forty minutes of brick.
Where does it fit in a route?
The My Son sanctuary fits a Hoi An morning, before the town gets hot and the old quarter fills. The three days in Hoi An route puts it on the second day for that reason.
My Son also works from Da Nang, an hour and a half each way, for anybody basing on the coast instead. That leaves the afternoon for the Marble Mountains on the way back.
Combining it with anything else in the same morning is a stretch. The heat decides that as much as the distance.
FAQ
What is My Son sanctuary?
A valley of Hindu temples built by the Cham kingdom between roughly the 4th and 13th centuries, about 40 km southwest of Hoi An. It was the religious centre of Champa for most of a millennium, and UNESCO listed it in 1999 as a surviving record of that civilisation.
How much does My Son cost?
Entry is 150,000 dong for a foreign visitor, which at roughly 26,000 dong to the US dollar is under six dollars. The ticket includes the shuttle from the gate to the temple groups and the Cham dance performances staged through the morning.
What time should you go to My Son?
On the first bus or tour of the day, which leaves Hoi An around seven. The site opens early, the coaches arrive from about nine, and the valley is hot and shadeless by eleven. Early also means mist in the trees and birds instead of guides.
How badly was My Son damaged?
Severely. Of roughly seventy structures recorded, about twenty stand in any complete form. American bombing in 1969 destroyed much of the largest group, and what remains shows craters and reconstruction alongside original brickwork.
How do you get to My Son from Hoi An?
It is about 40 km southwest, an hour by road. Tours from Hoi An run from around 250,000 dong including transport and a guide, a private car costs 700,000 to 1,000,000 dong for the trip, and a rented motorbike makes it an easy half-day ride.
Is My Son worth visiting?
Worth a half day if ruins and history interest you, and worth skipping if they do not. The towers are modest against Angkor or Bagan and the site is small, but the brickwork is remarkable and the valley is quiet at seven in the morning in a way Hoi An never is.