Nearly 700,000 visitors came to Coconut Village Hoi An, the Bay Mau coconut forest (rừng dừa Bảy Mẫu) in Cam Thanh (Cẩm Thanh), between January 1 and May 20, 2026, and four in five of them came from abroad. The draw is a ride through the palms in a round bamboo basket boat (thúng chai), and what visitors pay for that ride varies far more than the ride itself.
In May 2026, after complaints about prices, Da Nang's tourism rapid-response team went to check the boats. Before you go, it helps to know what the team found, what the listed price covers and who you should be paying.
What a basket boat ride costs at the Coconut Village
Know the listed price before you reach the water, because it is the yardstick for every offer you will hear. Da Nang's tourism portal lists a basket boat ride at the Bay Mau coconut forest at 150,000 VND (about US$6) per boat for two people for 45 minutes, or 180,000 VND (about US$7) for 60 minutes, and an entry ticket of 30,000 VND (about US$1) per person.
When the team checked on May 13, 2026, the going rate was around 150,000 VND (about US$6) for two people per boat for about 40 minutes, in line with the portal's list. Spinning cost extra, at around 100,000 VND (about US$4) per person per spin. Visitors describe moving to a separate boat for the paid spin, where a rower whirls it around on the water.
The portal says the boat price covers, among other things, a loop around the area, the ride itself, and watching the spinning show and folk singing on the river. Its Vietnamese page lists the entry ticket on a separate line and does not say whether the boat price includes it, while its English page says "the ticket includes access to the site." In 2026 reviews, visitors describe paying for the two separately, though one visitor's 150,000 VND (about US$6) boat price included the ticket. The portal lists no boat fare for a child or a third passenger, so if there are more than two of you, agree on the price and check that everyone fits before you board.
The entry ticket is sold by the public service center of Hoi An Dong ward (phường Hội An Đông), which in May 2026 managed the site with a 51-person team that directed visitors and sold tickets; the ward opened two more ticket counters on June 1, 2026. The ticket covers the historical site, the area where bamboo and coconut crafts are made and displayed, net-casting shows and the toilets. The table sets the portal's prices and the spinning rate the city's team found side by side.
| What you pay | Price | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Entry ticket, per person | 30,000 VND (about US$1) | Site, craft area, net casting, toilets |
| Boat for two, 45 minutes | 150,000 VND (about US$6) | Ride, spinning show, folk singing |
| Boat for two, 60 minutes | 180,000 VND (about US$7) | Same, longer |
| Spinning ride, per person | Around 100,000 VND (about US$4) | One spin (rate found in May 2026) |
Use the portal's boat prices as your reference when you agree on a price. For the entry fee, a 2023 resolution of the former Quang Nam province's People's Council sets 30,000 VND (about US$1) per person per visit, with free entry for children, among other groups. In May 2026, Da Nang's finance department asked for comments on a draft city resolution that would replace that rule and keep the same fee and exemptions.
How to pay the listed price and avoid touts
Decide who you will pay before anyone approaches you. When the city's team checked on May 13, 2026, many basket boat and motorboat businesses around Hoi An had not posted their prices as required, touting and pushy selling were still happening regularly, and some visitors who booked through a hotel had paid more than the price charged directly at the boats.
What visitors paid in 2026 varied widely. Some paid 450,000–500,000 VND (about US$17.5–19.5) for a boat for two, about three times the portal's price, while others paid close to it. One visitor was quoted 500,000 VND (about US$19.5) for two at a boat station and around 120,000 VND (about US$4.5) a few minutes later, after haggling. Visitors have also written about taxi drivers trying to steer them away from the place they asked for.
Some operators that take bookings online or on WhatsApp price per person; in 2026 reviews, visitors paid them 80,000–100,000 VND (about US$3–4) each, and some operators include a spin in the price. This guide suggests a few habits that make it easier to pay the listed price:
- Buying at the village: the portal says you can buy tickets and hire a basket boat directly at the reception area and ticket counters in the village. Before you step in, agree on the total for the boat, how long the ride lasts and whether a spin is included.
- Booking through a hotel or agency: ask what the price covers and compare it with the portal's prices, since the May 2026 check found that hotel bookings could cost more.
- Carrying small notes: visitors often mention that the singers and net casters expect tips. Photographers on the water also sell prints and digital copies, and visitors in 2026 reviews mention 70,000–100,000 VND (about US$2.5–4) for a print or for digital copies.
The same check covered motorboat prices on the Hoai River in the old town; for those, see the Hoi An night market guide.
Crowds, loud music and quieter routes
Choose your time and route with the crowds in mind. In September 2026 the forest was receiving 4,000–5,000 visitors a day on average, and over the late April and early May holidays in 2026 it sold up to 8,000 tickets a day, at times more than Hoi An's old town.
Expect music on the water. By October 2025, visitors and residents had long complained about basket boats carrying loud portable speakers into the forest, and on October 4 that year the chairman of Hoi An Dong ward called the complaints valid. He also said many visitors wanted a lively ride with a speaker to dance to Gangnam Style, that the spots where speakers could be used had been set, and that the speakers would be moved farther away. In May 2026, the official in charge of the site said the authorities had ordered less noise and placed each spot away from homes.
If you want quiet, ask for it. Under a plan approved in early 2025 by the former Hoi An city government, the forest has 17 visitor routes: 7 in the busy center for visitors who like it lively, 6 for those who prefer quiet, 2 on the biosphere reserve buffer zone and the bamboo and coconut craft village, and 2 more quiet routes elsewhere. Before you pay, this guide suggests asking the operator which route the boat will take and whether it is one of the quiet ones.
Is it worth it? Visitors often describe the ride as touristy but worth doing once, and the reviews that praise it tend to mention a friendly rower, crab fishing with a line and the rings or flowers rowers make from palm leaves. For a calmer time on the water, a tourism portal article on Lonely Planet's picks also mentions kayaking or paddleboarding on Hoi An's rivers.
Getting there from Hoi An's old town and Da Nang
Arrange your ride before you set out: as of October 3, 2026, the city's bus information site, Danabus, lists no route with a stop at the coconut forest. The Bay Mau coconut forest is about 3 km (2 miles) from Hoi An's old town, in the former Cam Thanh commune, which became part of Hoi An Dong ward on July 1, 2025, and the tourism portal gives the address as Vong Nhi hamlet (thôn Võng Nhi), Hoi An Dong ward, Da Nang city. Hoi An has been part of Da Nang city since July 1, 2025, so pages that still list Cam Thanh commune, Hoi An city, Quang Nam province mean the same place.
- By bicycle: the portal suggests combining the visit with a ride through the rice fields on the edge of Hoi An before heading into Cam Thanh. Cycling routes also link the forest with Tra Que vegetable village (làng rau Trà Quế), about 3 km (2 miles) from the old town.
- By boat: the portal suggests a larger boat from the old town down the Thu Bon River (sông Thu Bồn) toward the river mouth, but gives no price or pier. The forest's first pier for tourist boats, Thanh Tam, opened on October 3, 2025 and takes boats carrying up to 26 passengers; if you book a larger boat from the old town, ask the seller where it docks.
- By Grab car: Grab's fare table lists the same 4-seat GrabCar rates for its Da Nang and Quang Nam areas: 27,000 VND (about US$1) for the first 2 km, then 12,175 VND (about US$0.47) per km, plus a charge for travel time. Grab says fares can change with supply and demand.
- From Da Nang: Hoi An's old town is about 30 km (19 miles) from Da Nang city. Grab lists a one-way Da Nang to Hoi An fare for a 4-seat car of 279,818 VND (about US$11) for the first 25 km, without saying where in Hoi An the route ends. Public bus route 02 runs from Da Nang Central Bus Station, past the city's administrative center, to Hoi An; the Da Nang to Hoi An guide covers where it ends.
For a beach near the old town, see the An Bang Beach guide.
Opening hours and the best time to go
Go early or late in the day, and check the forecast from September to December. The tourism portal lists opening hours of 7:30 am–6:30 pm and calls March to November the ideal time to visit, with early morning or late afternoon the most peaceful part of the day. Boat operators keep their own hours, and some close at 5:30 pm.
The portal's season runs into the flood months. The city government says the rainy season runs from October to December and floods usually come from September to November, while the same tourism portal's Hoi An page puts the rainy season from September to January, with flooding in the old town in October and November. Hoi An had a historic flood on October 30, 2025, so if rain is forecast, ask the boat operator whether rides are running before you set out. In October 2025, VnExpress reported that many businesses and tour operators at the forest stopped taking visitors on basket boats from October 21, although there was not yet a written order from local authorities, and that sightseeing there was expected to pause for two or three days until the rain stopped. For rain and storms by month, see the best time to visit Da Nang.
Safety note: Stay off the water in storms and floods. Ahead of a storm in August 2026, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said forest and waterway tours, and activities along rivers, lakes and the sea, are a high-risk group, and that destinations that cannot ensure safety must temporarily stop receiving visitors, depending on the weather. On the boat, ask for a life jacket if you are not given one, and wear it: in December 2023, Hoi An city leaders said visitors riding without one was a violation by the operators.
What you see on the ride: palms, nets and village crafts
Use the ride to see how Cam Thanh lives off the river, not just the spinning show. The tourism portal puts the nipa palm forest at about 106 hectares (262 acres) across Thanh Tam, Thanh Nhut and Van Lang hamlets, while press reports put it anywhere from more than 80 to almost 120 hectares. The name comes from the forest's original size of about seven mau, a traditional land unit.
Cam Thanh sits where the Thu Bon, Truong Giang and Lo Canh Giang rivers meet before the sea, so fresh and salt water mix here. The forest lies in the buffer zone of the Cu Lao Cham – Hoi An World Biosphere Reserve, which UNESCO recognized in 2009. In the wars against France and the US, the palms sheltered a revolutionary base, and the village remembers an uprising in September 1964 fought with "guns" made from palm stalks.
Rides often stop for crab fishing and a net-casting show, and as of June 2026 the site had added Quang Nam folk songs (dân ca xứ Quảng), call-and-response songs (hò khoan), bài chòi singing and more net-casting on the river. Cam Thanh's craft of building houses with bamboo frames and palm-leaf roofs and walls is national intangible cultural heritage, honored at a ceremony on September 27, 2024.
The portal says agencies in the old town and hotels also sell package trips to the forest, but it gives no prices for them. A new route called "Ve Cam Thanh – Nghe dua ke chuyen" (Back to Cam Thanh, where the palms tell their story), with three stops and 23 village households who mend nets or work with palm leaves invited to take part, is expected to launch in November 2026; neither of the two September 2026 news reports on it gave a price. In September 2025, Forbes put Cam Thanh 20th on its list of the world's 50 most beautiful villages, the only village from Vietnam on it.
If you are building a day in Hoi An around the boat ride, see the Hoi An Ancient Town guide for tickets and hours in the old town.
Sources and how we checked
We used the city's tourism portal, Danang Fantasticity, for the published prices, opening hours and ways to get there; the city government's report on the May 13, 2026 price check; and Vietnamese newspapers for visitor numbers, management, the noise complaints, the proposed fee and safety, all checked on October 3, 2026. What visitors paid, tips, photo sales, spinning and taxi drivers steering visitors elsewhere come from 2026 Google Maps reviews of five basket boat operators in Cam Thanh, read on October 3, 2026; we report a point as fact only where at least two visitors said the same thing, and otherwise say it was one visitor. Boat operators' hours come from their Google Maps listings, read on the same day. In searches on October 3, 2026, we found no official rule setting basket boat prices for 2025 or 2026. The official sources we checked gave no children's boat fare or minimum age, and nothing on how many people fit in one boat. Neither the city government's portal nor a web search turned up an adopted city resolution on the entry fee. Nor did we find guidance on choosing a visitor route when you buy a ticket, or a scheduled boat service to the Thanh Tam pier. Where sources disagree, on the best months to visit, the forest's area and whether the boat price includes the entry ticket, we give both. US dollar amounts use Vietcombank's transfer rate of 25,800 VND per US$ on October 1, 2026, rounded to the nearest cent below US$1, US$0.5 up to US$100, US$1 up to US$10,000 and US$1,000 above that.
- Danang Fantasticity: Bay Mau Coconut Forest (in Vietnamese, April 21, 2026; English version); bamboo and coconut house-building in Cam Thanh (in Vietnamese, August 13, 2025); Tra Que Vegetable Village (June 16, 2026); Hoi An Ancient Town (September 26, 2025); seven Hoi An experiences suggested by Lonely Planet (in Vietnamese, June 23, 2026).
- Da Nang city government (in Vietnamese): draft resolution on the Bay Mau entry fee, compared with Quang Nam Resolution 24/2023 (Department of Finance, May 4, 2026); tourism department's reply on prices, with the May 13, 2026 check (May 29, 2026); proposed entry fee for Bay Mau (May 7, 2026); Da Nang's climate (May 4, 2026).
- Tuoi Tre (in Vietnamese): first tourist pier at the coconut forest (October 3, 2025); ward chairman on the loudspeakers (October 4, 2025); record ticket sales (May 20, 2026); more ticket counters (June 1, 2026); new route planned (September 3, 2026); plans for the new route (September 7, 2026).
- Nhan Dan (in Vietnamese): sightseeing fees at the coconut forest and museums (May 14, 2026).
- VietnamPlus (in Vietnamese): 17 visitor routes approved (February 26, 2025).
- Van Hoa newspaper (in Vietnamese): Thanh Tam pier and the forest's area (October 3, 2025); Cam Thanh, where the rivers meet the sea (October 13, 2025).
- Dan Tri (in Vietnamese): life jackets and noise at Bay Mau (December 4, 2023); Hoi An's historic flood (October 30, 2025); the ministry's storm guidance for tours (August 24, 2026).
- VnExpress (in Vietnamese): a storm's effect on tourism in Quang Tri and Da Nang (October 22, 2025, checked October 6, 2026).
- Vietnam Government News: Forbes names Cam Thanh among the world's 50 most beautiful villages (September 12, 2025).
- Grab: fare table (in Vietnamese, updated July 8, 2026). Danabus: routes and timetables (in Vietnamese, checked October 3, 2026) and route 02 changes (in Vietnamese, August 28, 2026).
- Google Maps reviews of five basket boat operators in Cam Thanh, posted in 2026 and read on October 3, 2026.
- Photos: Bay Mau Coconut Forest, About us (in Vietnamese, undated, checked October 16, 2026).
Updated: October 6, 2026
