If you're going to My Son, come here first. The museum has a whole room of carvings from My Son, and others for Tra Kieu, Dong Duong and Thap Mam, so you see the sculpture before you see the temples it came from. The museum holds 12 of Da Nang's 19 national treasures and a collection that runs from the 5th to the 15th century. It's also the obvious plan for a wet afternoon in the city: it costs VND 60,000, children under 16 go free, and it's a short walk from the Dragon Bridge.
What to look for
The building itself. The first wing went up in 1915 and opened to the public in 1919, designed by two French architects, Delaval and Auclair, who borrowed lines from Cham temples. The galleries off the courtyard still follow the 1930s layout, one room per site.
The My Son and Tra Kieu rooms. We'd start in these two. They're named after the temple sites the carvings came from, which turns the museum into a map: walk the rooms and you've seen the old kingdom's main sanctuaries.
Ganesha and the Hindu gods. The collection is religious sculpture of the Champa kingdom, and the Hindu imprint is everywhere: a Shiva lingam, Garuda, a seated Ganesha. The specialist rooms on inscriptions, pottery and music can wait if you're short of time.
Hours and fees
| Who | Ticket |
|---|---|
| Vietnamese and foreign visitors | VND 60,000 |
| Da Nang residents, college and university students | VND 20,000 |
| Children under 16, school pupils | Free |
| Vietnamese citizens aged 60 and over | Free |
The museum is open 07:00 to 17:00 every day, holidays included, under its notice of 1 July 2025. Entry is free for everyone on the first day of Tet, on 29 March, on the Hung Kings' day (10th day of the third lunar month) and on 2 September.
An audio guide in Vietnamese, English and French runs through your phone: join the museum wifi and open chamaudio.com. Guided tours are for groups of 15 or more.
What a visit costs, worked out. A couple pays VND 120,000. A family of two adults and two children under 16 pays the same VND 120,000. Two foreign seniors still pay VND 120,000, because the age exemption is for Vietnamese citizens only.
Getting there
The museum is at 02 2 Thang 9 Street, near the Han River. By the museum's own count it's about 3 km from the airport and about 4 km from the train station. In a straight line it's about 450 m from the Dragon Bridge and about 1 km from Han Market, so you can walk between all three.
A note on hours: Da Nang's city tourism portal still shows a lunch closure and a Monday closing day. The museum's own 2025 notice says every day, 07:00 to 17:00, and that's what we go by.
Nearby
- Dragon Bridge: about 450 m in a straight line.
- Marble Mountains: about 8 km in a straight line.
- Linh Ung Pagoda, Son Tra: about 7 km in a straight line.
Questions travelers ask
Is it worth it if you're not a museum person? A traveler posted photos from the museum on r/VietNam. The top reply:
"I thoroughly enjoyed this museum. Lots of well preserved statues and gives a good glimpse of the history of the Champa. Great layout too."
u/mcDerp69 on r/VietNam
How big is it? The poster, answering another commenter:
"Yes! It’s a small museum though"
u/East-Ad-9955 on r/VietNam
Our take
We'd give it an hour, longer if My Son is on your list. Skip it only if stone carving leaves you cold; then the Marble Mountains are the better use of the morning.
How we checked this: fees, free days and hours from the museum's notice 125/TB-BTĐKC of 1 July 2025 and its visitor page, history from the museum and Da Nang's tourism portal, the national-treasure count from the portal's 22 April 2026 news item. The visit totals are our arithmetic; straight-line distances are our calculation from Wikidata and OpenStreetMap coordinates. Checked 13 October 2026.
