Po Nagar Cham Towers

Tháp Bà Ponagar

Thousand-year-old Cham brick towers, still full of incense

⚠ Cover shoulders and knees

Hours

Roughly 7:30am–5pm (sources differ; check on site)

Tickets

About 20,000–30,000 VND (sources differ); pay at the gate

Address

Hai Thang Tu (2/4) Street, on the hill at the north end of Xom Bong Bridge, about 3 km north of the centre

Climb the steps and a cluster of sun-baked red-brick towers faces out to sea. The Cham kingdom built them between the 8th and 13th centuries for the goddess Po Nagar, and it is still a working shrine: Vietnamese families come up with incense and fruit to pray. Inside the main north tower it's dark and smoky, and only once your eyes adjust do you make out the black goddess statue and the hands of people praying. From the back railing you look down on blue fishing boats at the Cai River mouth and Xom Bong Bridge. A Cham dance troupe sometimes performs in the lower courtyard.