My Son Sanctuary Day Trip in Hoi An
A visual guide from the Hoi An travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
About an hour's drive southwest of Hoi An, the brick towers of My Son rise from a jungle valley ringed by mountains — the holiest site of the Cham civilisation, a seafaring Hindu kingdom that ruled this coast, built between the 4th and 13th centuries and dedicated largely to Shiva. War left craters among the temples; what survives is haunting, and the engineering — fired bricks bonded with no visible mortar — still puzzles conservators today.
Seeing the Sanctuary
Sunrise tours leave Hoi An around 5am to reach the towers before the heat and the coach crowds — worth every minute of the alarm. Electric shuttles run from the gate to the temple groups; allow about two hours for the walking loop. The small site museum adds context, traditional Apsara dance shows are staged mid-morning most days, and the bomb craters beside the ruined Group A speak entirely for themselves.
Practicalities
Entry has hovered around 150,000 dong — check current pricing — and tours from Hoi An run the full range: cheap group buses, private cars, and guided motorbike routes through gorgeous rice country. Bring water, a hat and covered shoulders; shade is scarce once the sun is up. To decode what you're seeing, pair the trip with the Museum of Cham Sculpture in Da Nang, whose galleries hold the finest carvings recovered from these very temples.