How to Travel from Hoi An to My Son?

Vietnam is full of wonders! One of them being a beautiful, sea-side historic town named Hoi-An and another, the age-old, abandoned, archaeological ruins of My-Son sanctuary. Both of these destinations are situated in the middle of the country accessible from the nearest airport of Da-Nang city. Most of the tourists stay at Hoi-An and book either a guided day tour to My-Son, or just book a to-n-fro car ride for a much more comfortable experience. However, all those (like us) who love adventure and have the nature of an explorer, almost always prefer motorcycle rides! Though the roads are rough and long, a motorcycle ride from Hoi-An to My-Son can gift the travellers a perfect look and feel of the core Vietnamese country side, it’s people and their lifestyle. Read along to know more about planning a day trip from Hoi-An town to the My-Son sanctuary.

Also, learn more about the Top 5 Travel Tips for Vietnam and How to book a perfect Cruise Trip to Ha long Bay or Lan Ha Bay by clicking on these links.

One of the temple ruins dedicated to Lord Shiva, My-Son Sanctuary

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Quick Tips:

Entry Ticket Cost: 150,000 VND per head (USD 6.4 & INR 450) plus 5000 VND if you park a vehicle.

Opening Hours: 6:30 Am to 5:30 Pm everyday

Clothing: Dress code for visiting My-Son is termed as “civilised attires”. Choose light, comfortable material as the place is hot and humid.

Carry Along: Enough water bottles, sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, emergency first-aid kit. A light raincoat if visiting during rainy season.

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About Hoi-An Town

The old town, Hoi-An

The historic town of Hoi-An is definitely a must visit in Vietnam. The history of Hoi-An goes long back when the town was actually a prosperous port city. Back in the 15th century Hoi-An became a primary trading zone of South-East Asia. The town was built by channeling the river water through well planned canals ideal for transportation of small boats that carried goods from the nearest harbour. The location of Hoi-An was strategically great for trading as it has it’s entire eastern side open to the South-China sea.

The Hoi-An ancient town is now a well-preserved, picturesque destination with it’s roads decorated with colourful Vietnamese lanterns and little jazzy shops everywhere and age-old buildings influenced by the Far Eastern architectural styles, as well having a great influence of European architectural style that later came in along with the Portuguese and French traders. It is a beautiful little township.

But Hoi-An town is not limited to this. In a 15 minutes motorbike ride from the old town lies the sea. Another beautiful beach getaway for a perfect vacation. This part of Hoi-An is newly developed and still much less cluttered. A great part of the beach areas of An-Bang and Cam-An in the extended Hoi-An town are maintained by private resorts or local home-stays, hence are mostly clean, isolated and perfect for relaxation.

About My-Son Sanctuary

The cluster of temple ruins, My-Son

My-Son is the archaeological ruins of a cluster of ancient Hindu temples built by the Champa Kings of Vietnam. Most of these temples are dedicated to Lord Shiva, constructed over the time frame of 4th to 14th Century, when Hinduism flourished in Vietnam influenced mostly from India. It was discovered by a group of French archaeologists in 1885. Majority of these temples were later destroyed in 1969 during the Vietnam war, by the US carpet bombings. This place was completely deserted, until 1999 when My-Son was recognised by UNESCO as a heritage site. My-Son Sanctuary is now preserved by the India-Vietnam collaboration initiative maintained by the Archeological survey of India. It is a beautiful location amidst sheer greenery, misty mountains which is a great destination for one day-trip.

Motorbike Rental Tips

Motorbike ride, Hoi-An to My-Son

It takes about 1 hour and 10 minutes approximately to reach My-Son from Hoi-An with a motorbike.  Probably a bit less in a car. We did not stay near the Hoi-An old town but selected a beautiful beachside resort in the An-Bang area which is just 15 minutes away from old town. We stayed there for 3 days and rented a motorcycle from our resort everyday for our little adventures. The motorbike given to us was in a decent condition and they also provided a couple of helmets and all the required papers of the vehicle. Motorbike rental was super cheap there. They charged us just 150,000 VND per day (which is about USD 6.4 and INR 450) and we were charged on the basis of 8 hours rental time in a day. We had to fill-up the petrol on the way every day based on usage and distance covered. Price of petrol per litre was VND 25,000 as of March 2019. The entire trip from Hoi-An to My-Son and back was possible with a fill of 3 litres petrol. Our motorbike’s petrol tank indicator wasn’t working so we were worried all the time about being stuck in the middle of the way. However, we asked the guy from the filling station and he told us not to worry and be sure that 3 litres would be enough for riding all the way to My-Son and back. Taking another opportunity to shout-out and mention that Vietnamese locals are amazing! They have always been very friendly and helpful all along, and whether they understood our language or not, they ensured that we get our answers by whatever means of communication!

The Route and The Road

A scenic lane in the rice fields beside the highway, Hoi-An to My-Son

We started early from the resort right after breakfast in the morning. It is advisable to start at least before 8 Am, because the later you start, more crowded My-Son gets. All the guided tours start to arrive at the My-Son sanctuary from 10 Am onwards and it gets awfully cluttered. You would be able to notice large tourist buses and cars parked outside the sanctuary’s main entrance if you arrive late. However, though we started at 8 Am, we did not reach the sanctuary before 10:30. We could have reached in an hour if we hadn’t stopped on the way for photo and video shooting on multiple occasions. But we don’t regret because the journey through the country side was just a-m-a-z-i-n-g !

We used our local Vietnamese SIM card data for GPS tracking and we were guided through a route that was mostly the highway, but occasionally we also took turns to pass  narrow muddy roads through local villages, rice paddies, rivers and quite a few Buddhist burial grounds. There are other routes to reach My-Son as well, but we didn’t want to deviate from the Google map. We pre-booked our local SIM cards from Klook and it was super cheap. Not only that, we got our SIM cards delivered to our hotel right on the day of our arrival for free! Check out more of their offers from this link – https://www.klook.com 

Here is how our route looked like. It was approximately 43.2 Kms from the resort.

From An-Bang > Lac Long Quan > Hai Ba Trung > Nguyen Tat Thanh > crossed the Vinahouse Craft Village > crossed a river > then took a turn towards Phan Thuc Duyen where we stopped for several minutes to take amazing rice paddy videos > then took the Tran Quy Cap street > crossed the Da Nang connector highway >  then through Hung Vurong street > then again pretty much straight through Cai Giao Thuy > crossed another big river > then followed the same road that slowly entered into local villages, beautiful greenery, with a sight of distant misty mountains and a lush forest. The same amazing road took us to the My-Son sanctuary entrance. 

Entrance gate, My-Son Sanctuary

Since My-Son is a protected site, they do not allow any vehicles inside so we had to park our motorbike in the paid parking zone outside. We bought our tickets from the counter, filled our water bottles from the cafe and waited for our turn to hop into the battery car ride. The authority arrange battery car rides for all the visitors for free from the entrance. Of course you can hike as well, but it’s a pretty long walk, and if it is sunny and humid then you’d be totally drenched in sweat before you actually get to see the temples. We didn’t walk but took the battery-car ride which took us through a beautiful tropical jungle.

All The Other Things You Need to Know

It would take about an hour to walk through and see the ruins of My-Son. Make sure that you carry a hat, sunglasses and use a lot of sunscreens when you are here. In March, the sun was out with occasional cloudy intervals but it was very hot! So, your clothing should be light and you should carry enough water bottles all the time.

There is a small site museum with informative references and displays about the My-Son ruins right at the entrance of the sanctuary, beside the parking zone. Visiting it briefly before entering the site can enlighten you about the history and facts about the temples.

The site museum, My-Son Sanctuary

There are big boards marking the path to follow as you visit My-Son. It is advisable to not to wander around, leaving the track. It is said that there might still be a lot many hidden, unexploded land mines around the nearby mountains from the time of the Vietnam War.

Marked path to follow, My-Son