Bay Mau Coconut Forest — Nipa Palms, Basket Boats and a Wartime Base
These are water coconuts, not the kind that bears drinking nuts. The canopy is dense enough that a whole resistance base once sat underneath it.
This page is translated from Vietnamese. Prices and opening hours are checked against Vietnamese sources — see the Vietnamese version for the most recent update.
Photo: Chester Ho · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons (cropped to 16:9 and resized)
The Bay Mau coconut forest is in Cẩm Thanh, about 5km east of Hoi An old town, where the Thu Bồn river meets salt water before reaching Cửa Đại.
Nipa palm, not the fruiting coconut
The most common misunderstanding: these are not the coconuts that give you a drink. The plant here is nipa palm — it grows in clumps at the waterline of brackish channels, its trunk almost buried in mud, with only the fronds rising several metres.
The leaves are used for roofing and the fruit clusters give edible seeds, but there is no trunk to speak of.
Because it grows thick and tall, nipa forms an almost closed roof over the channels. That is what makes the scenery here, and it is also what made the history underneath.
Why “seven mẫu”
Local tradition holds that migrants from the Mekong delta brought nipa here to plant about two hundred years ago, and that the first stand covered roughly seven mẫu — hence the name.
The area today is far larger; local sources give around 100 hectares. The old name stuck.
The seven-mẫu figure and the two-hundred-year mark are local tradition, not survey data. We record them as such rather than claiming more than the sources allow.
A resistance base
Few visitors know this part, and it is the reason the site is classified as a historical and cultural relic rather than just a boat ride.
During both wars against the French and the Americans, the dense nipa canopy and the maze of channels made Cẩm Thanh a base for local forces: boats moving inside the channels were invisible from the air, and strangers got lost immediately.
Riding a basket boat today means moving through exactly that. Knowing it beforehand makes the trip something other than a water activity.
The basket boats and the spinning show
The thúng chai — a round boat woven from bamboo strips and sealed with resin — is the only craft that fits down the narrow channels. Each carries two passengers and a rower.
Along the way the rower will usually weave palm leaves into rings, grasshoppers and hats, done while paddling without costing extra time.
Out on the open stretch of river comes the spinning show: a performer stands in a basket boat and uses their weight to spin it on the spot, throwing water everywhere. This is the busiest spot and also the wettest.
Things to know first
You will get wet, especially close to the spinning. Bring a change of clothes or accept a damp ride home.
Put your phone in a waterproof pouch. The boats rock and water flies; every season somebody loses a phone in the river.
Carry small notes. The rowers and the spinning crew live largely on tips. Not compulsory, but it is the custom here — 20,000–50,000₫ is the usual range.
Think twice if you get seasick. A round boat rocks considerably more than an ordinary one.
It is loud. The area is busy and many operators play music at volume. If you want quiet, come early, avoid weekends and avoid the hours when large groups arrive.
Tickets — the sources disagree
We are not giving one firm figure, because the sources contradict each other:
- Some give 150,000₫ per person.
- Others separate it: 30,000₫ entry, then a boat at 150,000₫ each, maximum 2 people.
Those two ways of counting produce very different totals for a couple. Ask at the counter before you get in the boat, and ask specifically whether the price is per person or per boat.
On an organised tour the boat is usually included — see the Bay Mau coconut forest tour.
When to come
February to August is dry and easiest.
September to December is the rain and storm season; Cẩm Thanh sits low beside the river and floods, and a basket boat in the rain is no fun.
Within the day, early morning or late afternoon is more comfortable. The nipa gives good shade, but the open river stretch is fierce.
Combining it with other places
Cẩm Thanh sits between the old town and the sea, so it slots in easily:
- Hoi An Ancient Town is about 5km away — the forest in the morning and the old town in the evening is the most common arrangement.
- The Marble Mountains are on the Da Nang – Hoi An road.
- Cu Lao Cham leaves from the nearby Cửa Đại pier, but deserves a day of its own.
What to eat nearby
Cẩm Thanh and Cửa Đại have lagoon seafood: clam salad, bánh xèo, rock crab, and the roadside places on the way to the beach. In the old town there is cao lầu and bánh mì Hội An.
Places
- Cu Lao Cham — the Island That Banned Plastic Bags FirstIn 2009 this island dropped plastic bags entirely — before anywhere else in the country. Carry one to the pier and you will be asked to leave it behind.
- Nam O Fishing Village — Where Da Nang's Fish Sauce Comes FromAt the foot of the Hai Van Pass is a village that ferments anchovies in wooden vats for twelve months to draw off the first few drops.
- Han Market — Where People in Da Nang Send You for SouvenirsAsk anyone in Da Nang where to buy food to take home and nine will say Han Market. The tenth will say Con Market.