Tet & Vietnam's Festivals: When They Are and How to Plan

Tet — Vietnam's Lunar New Year — is the single most important event on the country's calendar, and it can make or break a trip depending on how you plan around it. This guide explains when Tet and Vietnam's other major festivals fall, what stays open and what shuts down, whether you should travel during the holidays at all, and how to book ahead so a surprise closure or a sold-out train doesn't derail your itinerary.

Vietnam runs on two calendars at once: the Western (solar) calendar for most public life, and the lunar calendar for its biggest traditional celebrations. Because lunar dates drift against the Western calendar each year, festival dates shift annually, so always confirm the exact dates for your travel year before locking in flights. If you are still deciding when to come, pair this with our guide to the best time to visit Vietnam for the weather side of the equation.

Tet (Lunar New Year): Vietnam's Biggest Holiday

Tet Nguyen Dan, usually shortened to Tet, marks the first day of the lunar new year and typically falls between late January and mid-February. It is part Christmas, part New Year, and part everyone's birthday rolled into one — a time when the entire country effectively pauses so families can reunite, honour their ancestors, and welcome the new year together. The official public holiday runs for several days around the new-year date, but in practice the slowdown stretches longer, often a full week or more.

In the days before Tet, cities buzz with energy: flower markets overflow with kumquat trees and branches of pink peach blossom (in the north) or yellow apricot blossom (in the south), streets are scrubbed and decorated, and there is a genuine festive electricity in the air. Then, around new year's eve and the first days of the new year, the bustle suddenly empties out as people return to their hometowns.

What Closes During Tet

This is the part travelers most need to understand. Around the core Tet days, expect:

Family-run restaurants, street stalls and small shops to close, sometimes for several days. The famous street-food scene thins out noticeably right when many visitors hope to enjoy it.
Local markets and many independent businesses to shut or run reduced hours.
Banks and government offices to close for the public holiday (plan your cash beforehand — see our note below).
Domestic transport to be heavily booked and pricier, as millions of Vietnamese travel home at the same time.

What Stays Open

Tet is not a total shutdown, and tourism keeps moving. You can generally still count on:

Hotels and resorts, which stay open and are often at their busiest — book early.
Larger restaurants, hotel dining and many tourist-area eateries, especially in places used to international visitors like Hoi An, Da Nang and parts of central Ho Chi Minh City.
Major attractions, museums and temples — in fact, pagodas are wonderfully atmospheric at Tet as locals come to pray for the new year, though they can be crowded.
Convenience-store chains, malls and ride-hailing apps, which typically keep running (sometimes with holiday surcharges).

Because so much depends on real-time openings, it helps to have data on your phone to check maps and listings on the fly. An Vietnam eSIM plan means you can look up which restaurants are open near you, confirm a booking, or call a Grab the moment plans change — handy any time, but especially during a holiday when the usual rhythms are off.

Should You Travel to Vietnam During Tet?

There is no single right answer — it genuinely depends on what you want from the trip. Here is an honest weighing of both sides.

Reasons to Go During Tet

A once-in-a-lifetime cultural experience. Seeing flower markets in full swing, families in their best clothes, lion dances, and pagodas thick with incense is something you simply cannot witness at any other time of year.
Warm hospitality. Tet is generous and welcoming; you may be invited to share food or given lucky red envelopes, and the goodwill is infectious.
Beautiful decorations. Cities are at their most colourful, with elaborate floral displays and light installations along main boulevards.

Reasons to Avoid Tet

Closures. If your dream is a street-food crawl through a buzzing local market, the core Tet days can be a letdown.
Crowds and sold-out transport. Domestic flights, trains and buses fill up weeks ahead, and prices spike.
Higher costs. Hotels, tours and some services charge holiday premiums, and a few drivers and vendors add a Tet surcharge.

The middle path many travelers take: visit in the run-up to Tet (the festive build-up week) or a few days after the core holiday, when the celebratory atmosphere lingers but businesses have largely reopened. If you do travel right through Tet, base yourself in a tourism-focused town and book everything — accommodation, key tours and any internal flights — well in advance.

Mid-Autumn Festival and Hoi An's Full-Moon Lantern Nights

The Mid-Autumn Festival (Tet Trung Thu), held on the full moon of the eighth lunar month — usually around September — is Vietnam's second-most-loved celebration and a delight to stumble into. Traditionally a children's festival, it fills the streets with colourful lanterns, lion-dance troupes, and stalls selling mooncakes (banh trung thu). In the days beforehand, areas like Hanoi's Hang Ma street in the Old Quarter transform into a riot of lanterns and toys.

Year-round, the town most associated with lanterns is Hoi An, which holds a monthly full-moon lantern night on the 14th day of each lunar month. On these evenings, motorized traffic is restricted in the Ancient Town and electric lights are dimmed so the streets glow only with silk lanterns and candles floating on the Thu Bon River. It is one of the most photogenic experiences in the country, and it happens far more often than the once-a-year Mid-Autumn Festival — a great reason to time a central-Vietnam visit to a full moon. Our full Hoi An, Da Nang and Hue guide covers how to build your evening around it.

National Holidays and Cultural Festivals

Beyond the two lunar headliners, several fixed-date public holidays and traditional festivals can affect how busy places are and what is open. The most relevant for travelers:

Hung Kings' Commemoration Day — a public holiday on the 10th day of the third lunar month (usually April), honouring Vietnam's legendary founding kings. It is a one-day national holiday with major ceremonies at the Hung Temple complex in Phu Tho province north of Hanoi.
Reunification Day (30 April) and International Labour Day (1 May) — back-to-back public holidays that create one of the year's busiest domestic travel periods. Beaches, Ha Long Bay cruises and popular spots get packed, and prices rise, so book ahead if your dates overlap.
National Day (2 September) — marking Vietnam's 1945 declaration of independence, with parades and fireworks in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and another spike in domestic travel.
Perfume Pagoda Festival — a major Buddhist pilgrimage near Hanoi that runs over several weeks in the early part of the lunar year (roughly the first to third lunar months), drawing big crowds of local pilgrims.

There are also countless smaller regional and temple festivals throughout the year; if you happen upon one, it is usually a highlight rather than a hindrance. The thing to watch is the handful of nationwide holidays above, when domestic tourism surges.

Booking Ahead and Managing Holiday Price Surges

The golden rule for traveling around Vietnamese holidays is simple: book the things that sell out, early. During Tet and the late-April long weekend in particular, demand far outstrips supply on the busiest routes.

Internal flights and trains: these are the first to go and the most painful to miss. Lock in long hops (such as Hanoi to Da Nang or Ho Chi Minh City) well before the holiday. For the realities of moving between cities, see our guide to getting around Vietnam.
Accommodation: popular hotels in Hoi An, Ha Long, Sapa and beach towns book out and raise rates over holidays — reserve early and read the cancellation terms.
Key tours and cruises: overnight Ha Long Bay cruises and signature day tours fill up; secure them in advance rather than on arrival.
Cash: banks close over Tet and some ATMs run dry in smaller towns, so withdraw enough local currency before the holiday begins.

Build flexibility into your plans, too. Holiday traffic and weather can shift schedules, so it pays to be reachable for a tour operator's last-minute message or a changed pickup time. Keeping your phone online — whether to rebook a train, message a homestay, or pull up an alternate route — turns a holiday hiccup into a minor detour rather than a lost day. For the bigger picture on staying connected throughout your trip, our complete Vietnam eSIM guide walks through everything from coverage to setup.

Quick Planning Cheat Sheet

Want the spectacle, accept the closures: arrive in the festive week before Tet and stay through new year's eve in a major city or tourist town.
Want normal Vietnam, minus the chaos: avoid the core Tet days entirely — travel a couple of weeks before or after.
Love lanterns: target a Hoi An full-moon night (monthly) or the Mid-Autumn Festival (around September).
Travelling late April or early September: expect domestic-tourism crowds and book transport and hotels early.
Always: confirm exact lunar-festival dates for your travel year, since they shift annually.

Festivals are when Vietnam shows its most joyful, colourful self — and with a little forward planning, the closures and crowds become a small price for an unforgettable experience. Sort your bookings early, keep some flexibility in your schedule, and make sure you land with a working data plan so you can navigate the holiday rhythms, check what's open, and stay reachable for any changes along the way.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year)?

Tet follows the lunar calendar, so the date shifts each year, usually falling between late January and mid-February. The official public holiday runs for several days around lunar new year's day, but the nationwide slowdown often stretches to a week or more. Always check the exact date for your travel year before booking flights, since it changes annually.

Is it worth visiting Vietnam during Tet?

It depends on what you want. Tet offers an unforgettable cultural experience with flower markets, lion dances and atmospheric pagodas, but many family-run restaurants and shops close for several days, transport sells out, and prices rise. Many travelers compromise by visiting in the festive week just before Tet or a few days after the core holiday, when the atmosphere remains but businesses have reopened.

What stays open in Vietnam during Tet?

Hotels, larger restaurants and hotel dining, major attractions, temples, convenience-store chains, malls and ride-hailing apps like Grab generally keep running, sometimes with holiday surcharges. Pagodas are especially atmospheric as locals come to pray for the new year. The main closures are small family restaurants, street stalls, local markets, banks and government offices around the core Tet days.

When is the Hoi An lantern festival?

Hoi An holds a full-moon lantern night every month, on the 14th day of each lunar month, when motorized traffic is restricted in the Ancient Town and the streets glow with silk lanterns and candles on the river. This is separate from the annual Mid-Autumn Festival (around September). Because the lantern night is monthly, you can often time a central-Vietnam visit to coincide with a full moon.

Which Vietnamese holidays cause the biggest travel crowds?

The busiest periods are Tet (Lunar New Year), the back-to-back Reunification Day (30 April) and Labour Day (1 May) holidays, and National Day (2 September). During these times domestic flights, trains, popular hotels and tours book out and prices climb, so reserve transport and accommodation well in advance.