Vietnam Tet Holiday, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year, is the most significant celebration in Vietnam, marking the arrival of spring and a fresh start for families across the country. This cherished occasion is not just a time to welcome a new year but also a beautiful blend of cultural traditions, heartfelt reunions, and vibrant festivities that light up every corner of Vietnam.
Imagine streets adorned with colourful peach blossoms, kumquat trees, and the buzz of locals preparing for family feasts. Picture yourself joining in the excitement of lion dances, savouring traditional dishes like Banh Chung, and witnessing the spiritual rituals that honour ancestors. Whether you’re exploring bustling city streets or visiting serene countryside villages, Tet offers an unforgettable experience steeped in charm and warmth.
Ready to discover why Tet is more than just a holiday? Let Hoi An Travel guide you through the stories, traditions, and magical moments that make this time of year so special in Vietnam!
Vietnam Tet Holiday 2025 – Essential Dos and Don’ts for Tourists
Show table of content
- 1. What is the Tet Holiday in Vietnam?
- 2. Tet Vietnam 2025 Dates
- 3. How Long is Tet Holiday in Vietnam 2025?
- 4. What to See in Vietnam Tet Holiday?
- 4.1 The Preparations for Tet
- 4.2 Vibrant Colours of Spring
- 4.3 Bustling Streets and Markets
- 4.4 Traditional Folk Games
- 4.5 Spring Greetings and New Year Wishes
- 4.6 Warm Family Gatherings
- 5. What to Do in Vietnamese New Year Holiday?
- 5.1 Embrace the Festive Atmosphere
- 5.2 Join Traditional Folk Games with Locals
- 5.3 Share Smiles and Joy
- 5.4 Give “Lucky Money” – Lì Xì
- 5.5 Savour Traditional Tet Dishes
- 6. Tips for Travelling to Vietnam During Tet
- 6.1 Expect Higher Service Costs
- 6.2 Book Services in Advance
- 6.3 Limited Dining Options
- 7. Should You Travel to Vietnam During Tet?
- 8. Conclusion
1. What is the Tet Holiday in Vietnam?
Tet Vietnam Holiday is also known as the traditional Tet of the Vietnamese people. This is the most important holiday of the year for the people here. This holiday marks a new beginning of the next year, usually falling around the end of January to February, depending on the lunar calendar. On Tet, all over the country are decorated with bright red flags with bright yellow stars and the streets are bustling with Tet markets. Before Tet, Vietnamese people will clean their houses to remove the “bad luck” of the old year and redecorate their houses with the main color being red.
Tet is considered an extremely important holiday for Vietnamese people because it is not only an occasion for people to temporarily put aside all the old things to welcome new good things, but also an occasion for every Vietnamese person to remember their ancestors to express their remembrance and gratitude. In addition, Tet is also an occasion to gather and gather with important people such as family and friends and pray for good luck and good things to come to their lives.
The above characteristics are detailed explanations for “What is the Tet Holiday in Vietnam?” Tet Holiday in Vietnam 2025 is the most joyful and bustling time of the year for Vietnamese people. This is the time for people to perform vibrant cultural customs that show respect for tradition, family and hope for a prosperous future.
2. Tet Vietnam 2025 Dates
Tet Vietnam holiday is based on the lunar calendar. Tet falls on the first day of the lunar new year, which is the first day of the lunar month closest to the second new moon after the winter solstice. The new moon is important because it marks the beginning of a new lunar month. The lunar calendar follows the lunar cycle, so Lunar New Year falls later than the solar New Year. Due to the rule of 3 leap years and 1 month of the lunar calendar, Tet usually falls around the end of January to February according to the solar calendar. Tet holiday Vietnam 2025 dates on January 29,2025, which is the first day of the first lunar month. New Year’s Eve will fall on January 28 and December 29, respectively.
On Tet Vietnam 2025 dates the streets, especially the markets, will be extremely crowded because people are often busy preparing for the last day of the year. Therefore, you can go to the Tet markets to visit and shop to immerse yourself in the bustling and vibrant atmosphere in Vietnamese New Year 2025. In particular, you can also listen to the brilliant fireworks in the sky right at the moment of New Year’s Eve.
Tet holiday in Vietnam 2025 takes place with many attractive traditional entertainment activities and special cuisine.
3. How Long is Tet Holiday in Vietnam 2025?
Tet Holiday in Vietnam 2025, officially known as the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, will last from Januaryy 29th to February 2nd. These five days are public holidays, offering time for family reunions, traditional rituals, and joyous celebrations. However, the spirit of Tet often starts weeks before with bustling preparations and continues for several days after, making it a festive season filled with excitement, cultural traditions, and heartfelt moments.
Vietnam Tet Holiday offers tourists a unique opportunity to experience Vietnamese culture at its most vibrant. Visitors can watch traditional festivals, watch dragon dances, participate in temple visits and enjoy the festive atmosphere with street markets offering local foods, flowers and goods.
4. What to See in Vietnam Tet Holiday?
4.1 The Preparations for Tet
The Tet atmosphere in Vietnam begins with the streets decorated with flowers competing to show off their colors, everywhere hanging banners welcoming the Vietnamese New Year 2025 under the colorful festival lights. The bright red color brings splendor and warmth to the bustling atmosphere of people preparing for Tet for this important festival. On the streets, everywhere are local people shopping for Tet necessities at bustling markets displaying all kinds of things from clothes to food, all kinds of decorations,… You can come here to immerse yourself in the bustling and exciting atmosphere with the locals and buy some decorations sold here.
4.2 Vibrant Colours of Spring
Tet Vietnam holiday, just by walking around, visitors can come across many flower markets with many vibrant colours of spring from many flowers that you may have never seen before. Vietnamese people have a tradition of displaying flowers for Tet not only to beautify the house but also to pray for prosperity and well-being. The favored flowers include peach blossoms and apricot blossoms blooming in the bright spring sunshine. You can see many locals at the flower markets to buy peach blossoms, apricot blossoms and many other types of trees to display on Tet. With bright yellow and pink colors, they bring warmth and freshness to the homeowner. In addition, to make it more prominent, locals also buy colorful decorations symbolizing prosperity and luck to decorate the flower trees…
4.3 Bustling Streets and Markets
Tet holiday in Vietnam 2025 is an important day for Vietnamese people, which Vietnamese people carefully prepare many days in advance to welcome a brilliant and prosperous Tet. Before the days approaching Tet, all over the country there is a bustling atmosphere in cities, markets and public spaces. People go to the markets together to prepare to buy essential items for Tet such as flowers, cakes, clothes, decorations and other necessities. Tet markets are also decorated more brightly than usual with colorful parallel sentences and many other symbolic decorations, especially providing unique holiday items for customers in need. Bustling streets and markets will bring vibrant and new walking experiences to visitors.
4.4 Traditional Folk Games
Tet Vietnam holiday is also the time when many large traditional festivals are widely held. When visiting Vietnam at this time, visitors not only have the opportunity to admire the brilliant beauty of Vietnam in a bustling and exciting atmosphere, but also to see with their own eyes and even participate in many traditional folk games held during Tet such as tug of war, bamboo dance with the local people here. These activities are held to reflect Vietnamese heritage to commemorate ancestors, and at the same time create an even more joyful atmosphere for Tet Vietnam holiday. This will be an unforgettable experience for visitors who set foot in Vietnam for the first time. If you have the chance, you should definitely try it once.
4.5 Spring Greetings and New Year Wishes
The Vietnamese New Year 2025 is an occasion for people to practice traditional customs of spring greetings and New Year wishes to family and friends. This tradition has existed since ancient times and is still preserved today. The meaning of “chúc T?t” in Vietnamese culture has a great significance, which is to connect relationships after a year of not meeting or meeting less. Loved ones meet and chat to share stories that happened during the year with each other to understand each other and limit distance in relationships. “Chúc T?t” will help strengthen relationships and help people gather together to show their care and love for each other.
4.6 Warm Family Gatherings
Tet Vietnam holiday is the most anticipated holiday of the year for Vietnamese people because this is the occasion for everyone to reunite with their loved ones in the family with warm meals. Family reunions are the desire and wish of those who work far away and also the feelings of parents. This is the occasion for parents and children to gather and tell each other about what happened during the year to ease their nostalgia, celebrate their successes and encourage each other’s failures. Traditional meals with familiar dishes such as Banh Chung, Banh Tet, braised pork with duck eggs, bitter melon soup,… Bring warmth and connection to children who are far away and now return to the arms of their parents. Warm family gatherings are extremely sacred and precious moments.
5. What to Do in Vietnamese New Year Holiday?
5.1 Embrace the Festive Atmosphere
If you visit Vietnam at this time, you can participate in many activities held before Tet. First, you can embrace the festive atmosphere by participating in the parades, festivals and celebrations that are organized extremely grandly and invested in this place. Tet parades in Vietnam are not as popular as some other countries, but you can participate in many vibrant celebrations in big cities and tourist centers such as the spring flower festival in Ho Chi Minh, the Tet flower festival in Hanoi, fireworks displays in Da Nang and countdown festivals held in many provinces and cities across the country with performances by famous singers, lion dances, long dances and splendid fireworks displays. All of this will bring visitors extremely interesting and jubilant Tet holiday in Vietnam 2025 experiences.
5.2 Join Traditional Folk Games with Locals
Joining Traditional Folk Games with Locals during Tet holiday in Vietnam 2025 (Lunar New Year) in Vietnam is a great way to experience the local traditions, customs and festive atmosphere. This is a festival filled with cultural activities that highlight Vietnam’s rich heritage and values. Whether you are travelling alone, with your family or on a tour, there are a number of ways to immerse yourself in local customs and join in the celebrations. Some cultural activities you can take part in include
- Watching lion dances, wide dances.
- Enjoying musicals such as ca tru, puppetry with Vietnamese identity.
- Taking cooking classes to learn about Tet culinary culture.
- Street food experience is something not to be missed.
- Enjoy music festivals and dance with the locals.
- Join Tet craft workshops to learn more about traditional craft villages in Vietnam.
5.3 Share Smiles and Joy
Before Tet, everyone has a feeling of anticipation and excitement. Everywhere, people prepare a lot of things to prepare for a brilliant and prosperous Tet. Vietnamese people have a joyful spirit and welcome Tet very warmly because Vietnam Tet Holiday is an opportunity for them to forget the misfortunes of the past years, misunderstandings and arguments are also wrapped up with the old year and disappear, leaving only joy and smiles on their lips. Coming and sharing smiles and joy with Vietnamese people in this jubilant festive atmosphere will bring you a feeling you have never experienced before.
5.4 Give “Lucky Money” – Lì Xì
Giving lucky money is a long-standing custom during the traditional Vietnamese New Year. It is a wish for good luck with the hope that when entering the new age, there will be more luck, success and brilliance. Especially for children, “lucky money” is a small joy, the expectation for Tet. Red lucky money envelopes symbolize luck and prosperity, and are a symbol in spreading goodwill to the other person. You can see these envelopes sold in many stores during Tet or you can also go to spiritual places such as pagodas to pick the first luck of the year, which is also put in lucky money envelopes with many lovely colors.
5.5 Savour Traditional Tet Dishes
Vietnamese cuisine has entered the hearts of many diners from all over the world. However, not everyone has the opportunity to try savour traditional Tet dishes because of its inherent unique characteristics. Must-try Vietnamese Tet dishes include banh chung, banh tet and pickled vegetables. These dishes are a delicate combination of traditional cultural values and typical Vietnamese flavors to create dishes that not only meet the standard of flavor but also have profound meaning. When coming to Tet holiday Vietnam, these are dishes that tourists must try to truly enjoy Tet in Vietnam to the fullest.
6. Tips for Travelling to Vietnam During Tet
6.1 Expect Higher Service Costs
How prices may increase by 30%-50%: When tourists choose to visit during this season, service costs may increase by 30-50% compared to normal days. This may be due to many different factors such as increased demand for services, increasing the prices of sightseeing and travel services. In addition, market prices often fluctuate at the end of the year, so stores in Vietnam need to increase prices to avoid losses. In addition, service providers are also paid higher salaries than usual. With the above factors, this price increase is understandable in Vietnam Tet Holiday, but there are also some places that abuse Tet to inflate prices of goods, so you should be careful when buying goods at stores during this time. You can go on a tour with professional tour guides to avoid losing money.
6.2 Book Services in Advance
During this time, the number of tourists is more crowded than ever, so we encourage you to book services in advance to ensure accommodation and tours to choose convenient locations and reasonable prices. You can book directly on reputable websites such as Hoi An Travel, klook, or book on VM Travel – Vietnam DMC to get preferential prices and enthusiastic care staff will guide your trip in Vietnam Tet Holiday.
6.3 Limited Dining Options
When you visit Vietnam during this time, don’t be surprised if restaurants are closed. Most Vietnamese people are spending this time with their families or enjoying themselves after a hard year of work so business may be on hold at this time. Therefore, it can cause limiting dining options. But don’t worry, there are still many places open to serve you but you may have a hard time finding them especially during the first few days of Vietnam Tet Holiday. It is important to be aware of restaurants and shops that may be closed during Tet. You can buy some canned goods to get you through the first 3 days of Tet and then the shops will open again.
7. Should You Travel to Vietnam During Tet?
Visiting Vietnam during this time is also not a bad idea. It can be a very rewarding experience, but it comes with both pros and cons so you should consider before planning your trip. Here is an overview of the potential benefits and challenges of your trip
- Plan ahead: Book your tickets and accommodations early as this is when demand for travel increases
- Embrace the festival: Participate in local traditional festivals and parades, commemorations, visit Tet market, try local Tet dishes
- Explore Tet in the countryside for a new and intimate experience
- Expect price increases and plan accordingly
Vietnamese New Year 2025 will be an extremely interesting experience, giving you the opportunity to immerse yourself in the local culture, festivals and traditions. However, you should also be aware of closures, higher prices and potential challenges when traveling. By planning ahead, you can flexibly arrange your vacation to make the most of your trip and create memorable memories of this special time in Vietnam.
8. Conclusion
Tet Vietnam holiday will be a very unique and memorable experience for tourists. Tourists will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the brilliant natural beauty of Vietnam and learn about the attractive traditional festivals held during this time. Moreover, the culinary experience will also be a highlight of this journey because the dishes that tourists can try only on Tet holiday in Vietnam are extremely unique and different from usual. Experiencing Vietnamese New Year 2025 and enjoying the holidays with the local people is an experience to explore the rich Vietnamese culture, close and full of interesting things waiting for you to discover.
