Bundles of colorful dyed incense sticks fan out on display racks near a tomb site in Hue, Vietnam.

Travel guide

Tet and the holidays that move a Vietnam trip

Tet, the lunar new year, is the biggest event of the Vietnamese year and the single week most likely to upset a travel plan. It is also a remarkable time to be here, if you know which days to be where.

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Dates

When Tet is, and why the date moves

Last checked 22 September 2026

Checked every month from September to March against the official holiday schedule, which the government announces for each year, and against how early trains, flights and hotels are filling.

Tet follows the lunar calendar, so it lands on a different date every year, always between late January and mid-February. Tet 2027 falls on 6 February 2027. The official public holiday is set by the government each year and usually runs to about a week around the first day; businesses and families often take longer.

Dates beyond 2027 are easy to find in advance, but the length of the official break is not announced until the year before. We confirm it for your dates as soon as it is published.

Tet 2027: 6 February 2027
Tet 2028: Late January (to be confirmed)
Usual window: Late January to mid-February
Official break: About a week, set each year

The calendar

What happens around Tet, week by week

When	What it is like	What it means for travel
Two weeks before	Markets and flower stalls, cleaning, shopping, office parties	Good time to visit; hotels still normal
The week before	The great journey home: millions travel from the cities to their home provinces	Trains, buses and flights sold out; prices at their highest
Days 1 to 3	Family visits, temples, quiet streets in Saigon and Hanoi	Many restaurants, shops and some museums closed
Days 4 to 7	Businesses reopen gradually; domestic tourism peaks	Beaches, Da Lat and the bays full of Vietnamese holidaymakers
The week after	The return journey to the cities	Transport sold out again in the other direction

The week to avoid for a moving itinerary is the one leading into the first day of Tet, with the first three days just behind it. Inside that window, a trip that stays put — a week in Hoi An, a beach, a city — works far better than one that moves every other day.

Closures and prices

What closes, and what gets more expensive

Family-run restaurants, street kitchens, tailors and small shops close for several days, often longer in the provinces.
Hotels stay open, but many add a Tet surcharge, and drivers and guides are paid holiday rates. Expect quotes to be noticeably higher across the whole period.
Train tickets for the days before Tet go on sale weeks ahead and sell out within hours on popular routes. Domestic flights fill and fares rise.
Banks and government offices close for the official break, including those that process visa extensions.
Big sights — Ha Long Bay, the Hue citadel, Hoi An old town, the Cu Chi tunnels — generally stay open, and are busy with Vietnamese visitors.

Yellow lanterns glow in a tree above a 2025 New Year decoration on a quiet street in Hoi An's old town at night.

The cruise ship Silver Spirit docked at port with tour buses lined up for passengers in Vietnam.

Hoi An at Tet: decorated, open, and busy with domestic visitors. · Saigon station in the week before Tet: every train is full.

The case for it

Why come at Tet anyway

Because it is the one time of year Vietnam shows you its family life in public. Streets fill with kumquat trees and peach blossom, Nguyen Hue in Saigon becomes a flower street, and in the first days the cities go quiet enough to walk. Pagodas fill with families at midnight on new year’s eve and on the first morning. If a guide invites you to a relative’s house, go.

The trick is to be settled before the rush and stay put through the first days. We usually put travellers in one base — Hoi An, Saigon or a beach — from a couple of days before the first day to three or four days after, and move on once transport has calmed down.

A woman in a white ao dai and conical hat poses among colorful incense sticks in Hue. — Nguyen Hue at Tet: the Saigon flower street, usually open for about a week around the new year.

Other holidays

The other public holidays

Holiday	Date	What it does to travel
New Year’s Day	1 January	One day off; little effect
Hung Kings commemoration	10th day of the 3rd lunar month (usually April)	A day off; busy at the temple near Phu Tho, and roads out of Hanoi
Reunification Day and Labour Day	30 April and 1 May	Usually a break of four or five days: beaches, Da Lat, Phu Quoc and flights full
National Day	2 September, with an extra day alongside	A long weekend; coast and mountains busy, parades in Hanoi

None of these closes the country the way Tet does. What they do is fill domestic transport and seaside hotels, sometimes at short notice when the government moves a working day to create a longer break. Mid-autumn, in September or October, is not a public holiday but brings lanterns and mooncakes, and Hoi An is at its best for it.

Planning

How we plan a trip that touches Tet

01
Fix the dates of the break first
We confirm the official holiday for your year and mark the travel-heavy days on the draft itinerary.
02
Book transport early
Flights and trains for the week before Tet are the first things we book after your deposit, before hotels.
03
Stay put through the first days
One base, no long transfers, a day trip or two from it.
04
Show the surcharges
Holiday rates from hotels, drivers and guides appear as their own lines on the quote.

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

When is Tet 2027?

The first day of the lunar new year is 6 February 2027. The official holiday runs for about a week around it; the exact days are announced by the government in advance.

Is it a bad idea to visit Vietnam during Tet?

Not if you stay in one or two places. It is a bad idea to move around a lot in the week before the first day, when transport is sold out and prices peak.

Will I be able to find food during Tet?

Yes. Hotels, larger restaurants and convenience stores stay open. It is the small family places that close, some of them for a week.

Which other dates should I avoid?

Avoid booking late for 30 April to 1 May and the 2 September weekend, when the beaches and flights fill with domestic travellers.