Vietnam During Tet 2027: Should You Go?

Yes, visit Vietnam during Tet if the holiday itself is part of what you want to experience. Arrive for the preparations, settle somewhere comfortable for New Year, and leave space for plans to change. If your ideal trip depends on a particular restaurant, a craft workshop and a different city every other night, choose another week.

Tet is a family occasion first. For visitors, that brings a lovely contrast: streets busy with flowers before the holiday, then neighbourhoods with their shutters down while people spend time together. Both belong to the experience.

For a travel agent, the useful question is what your clients would miss if a favourite stop were closed. Build the answer into the trip before you sell it.

Cover: Nguyen Hue Street during Tet in 2018. Photo: Rondano, CC BY-SA 4.0. Images throughout show earlier celebrations and destination settings, not the 2027 event programme.

Put the right dates in the diary

Tet day falls on 6 February 2027. The longer holiday break and individual businesses' opening dates need separate checks.

On 11 September 2026, the Vietnam Government Portal reported a proposed public-sector break from 4 to 10 February. Its wording is conditional on government approval. That is the status of the report reviewed for this article on 27 September; it is not a confirmed national reopening timetable.

A family restaurant, a hotel and a museum can each follow a different schedule. Ask about the actual day you intend to visit. “Open during Tet” is too broad to put into a client itinerary.

Before Tet: make time for the preparations

The lead-up is a good choice for clients who enjoy seeing a city get ready. Vietnam Tourism's Tet guide describes flower buying, decorations and shopping beginning well before New Year. This is when a market visit belongs in the programme.

Keep that visit unhurried. Ask your guide which market is operating on your dates and when it is best to arrive. Leave time to watch a purchase being negotiated or a plant being loaded for the journey home, without turning every encounter into a photography stop.

Chợ hoa tết, a Tet flower market in Vietnam. Photo: Nguyen Dung Tien, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Flowers are part of the holiday's visual language. Peach blossom, yellow mai flowers and kumquat trees appear in Vietnam Tourism's account of Tet traditions. Look closely. What is for sale, what is being carried home, and what has already taken its place by a doorway?

Yellow mai: Prenn, CC BY-SA 3.0. Nguyen Hue floral display: Timback, CC BY-SA 4.0.

During Tet: fewer appointments, better meals

For the holiday itself, we would favour a comfortable base with meals arranged and a lighter programme. A walk can be the morning's main activity. There is no need to replace every closed attraction with another long transfer.

Food deserves attention before arrival. Bánh chưng, the square wrapped rice cake, and the cylindrical bánh tét are closely associated with the occasion. Traditional recipes can include pork, so a festive tasting needs the same dietary checks as any other meal. Tell the ground team about allergies, vegetarian requirements or halal needs before choosing the venue.

Bánh chưng. Photo: Syced, CC0.

Family celebrations are private unless someone invites you. Vietnam Tourism advises against arriving at a home uninvited during Tet, when the first visitor carries particular significance. Ask before photographing people or an altar, and let your guide explain local etiquette.

Do not sell a family invitation as a standard inclusion. A confirmed hosted experience is a different promise, with a host who has agreed to it.

Choose a base you would enjoy without a checklist

Hanoi works as a planning idea for clients who enjoy a city walk, a lake and time to look. Put any essential museum or food stop on a date when its opening has been confirmed. If that stop is the reason the client chose Hanoi, make it a booking condition.

Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi. Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0.

Hoi An can suit a longer stay with time on foot and a hotel the client likes spending time in. Confirm any tailoring appointment, cooking session or countryside visit directly for the holiday dates. Our Hoi An guide is a useful starting point for choosing the rest of the stay.

Hoi An Ancient Town, photographed in January 2020. Photo: Steffen Schmitz, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ho Chi Minh City offers another approach: use the city's public festive displays as a possible outing, while keeping meals and transfers firmly arranged. Nguyen Hue is associated with Tet flower displays, but do not attach a 2027 opening time, fireworks show or event to a booking until its organiser has announced it.

An earlier Nguyen Hue festival. Photo: Timback, CC BY-SA 4.0.

A beach stay can also be considered, but it needs its own availability check. Moving to an island adds a transport booking. Choose the hotel and the way in and out together.

A quiet street does not mean an easy travel day

Holiday demand moves in different directions at different times. Vietnam Airlines' Tet 2027 peak-period table lists 28 January to 9 February for a group of outbound routes from Ho Chi Minh City, including Hanoi and Da Nang. It lists 8 to 21 February for the corresponding return direction. The table is route-specific; it is not a promise of fares or available seats.

That distinction matters when someone suggests simply reversing the itinerary. Price and check both directions for the actual dates before choosing one. A reversed route can still put the client onto a busy flight.

Once flights are held, confirm the transfer, driver and guide who will meet them. Keep a practical buffer before international departure. For the road portions, use our transfer-time guide as context and ask for a holiday-specific plan.

What to ask for before confirming

Send the ground team the dates, party size, rooming, guide language, dietary needs and the experiences your clients would be disappointed to miss. Then ask for a written reply covering:

• Each hotel night and transport sector, with availability and booking conditions.
• Opening confirmation for the named attractions and activities on their scheduled dates.
• Arranged meals, plus a workable alternative if a restaurant changes its hours.
• Any holiday supplements, compulsory meals or restrictions on changes.
• The contact who will handle a disruption while the group is travelling.

For clients with flexible dates, ask for two versions: one that includes Tet and one outside the main holiday period. Compare the experiences each version can deliver before comparing the price.

We would start a Vietnam itinerary by finding out which matters more to your clients: being there for the occasion or having the widest choice of everyday activities. Send us the brief, including the dates that cannot move, and we can check the route against it.

Photographs have been resized and may be cropped by the page layout. Each image and its displayed crop retain the licence linked in its credit.