My Son


My Son Travel Information

(A world cultural heritage site)


The tower temples were constructed over ten centuries of continuous development in what was the heart of the ancestral homeland of the ruling Dua Clan which unified the Cham clans and established the kingdom of Champapura (Sanskrit for City of the Cham people) in 192 CE. During the 4th to 13th centuries CE this unique culture, on the coast of contemporary Viet Nam, owed its spiritual origins to the Hinduism of the Indian sub-continent. Under this influence many temples were built to the Hindu divinities such as Krishna and Vishnu, but above all Shiva. Although Mahayan Buddhist penetrated the Cham culture, probably from the 4thcentury CE, and became strongly established in the north of the kingdom, Shivite Hinduism remained the established state religion.


How to get to My Son

Take a motorbike taxi. A round-trip on a motorbike taxi from the centre of Hoi An should cost about USD 10.

Hire a motorbike: from Hoi An take Hung Vuong St and keep following it towards the town of Vinh Dien for about 7 km until you pass under a highway. Take the first left in the curve and go straight for about a km till you reach the T-junction on Rte 1 (or 1A), turn left towards the south. Drive for 7 km to Nam Phuoc. In the town, you'll see a big sign for My Son posted on a lamp post. Turn right there. From there, keep following the signs for 30 km until you reach the entrance for My Son.

Car hire with driver. A car hire will cost about USD 35 from Hoi An. From Da Nang, a private driver and car costs about USD 70 (My Son admission excluded) with return trip included.

Take a boat. The caveat being that the "My Son Boat Tour" goes no further than about 10 km north of Hoi An and stops at the Rte 1 bridge, which is still about 40 km from My Son.

Join a tour group. These leave Hoi An at 05:00 and 08:00. These are cheap, USD 3-5, not including the My Son entrance fee. The reason the tours are cheap is that they stop at restaurants and businesses allied with the tour operator. They are also inefficient. While the "tour" lasts about 6 hr, only about 1 hr of that will be at the site of the ruins. The rest will be spent waiting for others to join the tour or visiting dodgy businesses.