A woman in a white ao dai and conical hat walks among the ancient brick towers of My Son Sanctuary surrounded by green hills.

Central Vietnam

A ruined valley, best at seven in the morning

The religious centre of the Cham kingdom for nine centuries, in a bowl of hills west of Hoi An. Smaller than people expect, older than most of Angkor, and quiet only at dawn.

Plan my trip

Orientation

What My Son is

The Cham kingdom ruled central Vietnam for over a thousand years and built in brick, without mortar, in a technique nobody has fully reproduced. My Son was its religious centre — a valley of towers dedicated to Shiva, built and rebuilt from the fourth century to the thirteenth. It is a Hindu site in a Buddhist country, which tells you how much has changed here.

Be honest with yourself about scale: this is not Angkor. It is a group of ruined brick towers in a small valley, and much of it was destroyed by bombing in 1969. What makes it worth the morning is the age, the craft of the brickwork close up, and the setting — hills on every side and almost nobody there if you arrive first.

Time needed: 3 to 4 hours including transfer
From Hoi An: 1 hour
Best hour: 06:30 opening, before the coaches
Shade: Some, not much
Combine with: A river boat back to Hoi An

How to visit

How to do it well

Leave Hoi An at half past five to be at the gate when it opens. By nine it is hot, crowded and much less interesting.
Take a guide who knows the Cham periods — without one it is a pile of bricks, and with one it is a thousand years of architectural change you can actually see.
Look at the brickwork joints. The mortar-free technique is the thing to take away, and it is visible at arm’s length in group B.
Visit the Cham Museum in Da Nang before or after — the best sculptures from here are in it.
Come back by boat down the Thu Bon river if the water is high enough; it is a far better return trip than the road.

Ancient brick Cham tower with carved stone doorway stands amid greenery at My Son sanctuary, Vietnam.

Tourists pose with a heart-shaped hand gesture before ancient brick ruins at My Son Sanctuary, surrounded by hills

A weathered stone guardian statue stands at the base of an ancient brick tower at My Son sanctuary.

A stone footbridge with tall pointed brick arches leads through greenery near My Son.

Honest expectations

What to expect, and what not to

Expect four or five temple groups in varying states, an unavoidable dance performance near the entrance, a hot walk between groups and a bomb crater or two left where they fell. Do not expect a restored complex: some groups are propped up with scaffolding and the most complete tower, group A1, was destroyed entirely in the war and is now an outline on the ground.

It takes two hours at the site to do it properly and ninety minutes to do it quickly. The valley floods briefly in the wet months and the paths turn to mud; footwear matters more than people expect.

Not for everyone

Who should skip it

If you are going to Angkor later in the same trip, My Son will feel small, and one of the two is enough for many people. If you cannot get up at half past five, the experience drops sharply — the middle of the day here is hot, exposed and busy. And if ruins without explanation bore you, skip it rather than go without a guide.

Common questions