Last updated: October 2026
Tet 2027 falls on Saturday 6 February. The official public holiday runs from Thursday 4 to Wednesday 10 February, and the days that change your trip most are Tet Eve (Friday 5 February) through the third day of the new year (Monday 8 February). That’s when Vietnam is at its quietest: families are at home, a lot of small restaurants and shops are shut, and long-distance trains and buses are full.
Tet is Vietnamese Lunar New Year, and nothing else in the Vietnamese calendar comes close to it. You can travel through it, and plenty of visitors love it, but it isn’t a normal week here. Below are the 2027 dates, what closes and for how long, how to book transport, and where I’d spend it.
For us Vietnamese, Tet feels a lot like Christmas does in the UK. Homes and streets are decorated in red, the lucky colour, everyone is in a good mood, and the last weeks of the year are a rush to get ready for Tet with family. Some people head back to their hometowns. Others stay in the city over Tet and pick up extra work.
Tet 2027 in short
- Tet 2027 is Saturday 6 February, the start of the Year of the Goat. The official holiday is 4 to 10 February.
- The real shutdown is Tet Eve to day 3, 5 to 8 February. Plan easy days in one place for those dates.
- The week before Tet is the best part for visitors: flower markets, decorated streets and the whole country out shopping.
- Train tickets for the Tet period went on sale on 5 September 2026. If you haven’t booked, do it now.
- Big cities and tourist towns keep working. Small family-run places close for several days.
- If your itinerary has a lot of overland legs, don’t schedule any of them between 4 and 10 February.
When is Tet 2027?
| What | Lunar date | 2027 date |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen Gods day (Ông Công Ông Táo) | 23rd day of the 12th month | Saturday 30 January |
| Official holiday starts | Thursday 4 February | |
| Tet Eve (Giao thừa) | Last day of the year | Friday 5 February |
| Tet day 1 (Mùng 1) | 1st day of the 1st month | Saturday 6 February |
| Days 2 and 3 | Sunday 7 and Monday 8 February | |
| Official holiday ends | Wednesday 10 February | |
| Lantern Festival (Tết Nguyên tiêu) | 15th day of the 1st month | Saturday 20 February |
One quirk this year: the last lunar month of the Year of the Horse has only 29 days, so there is no “30 Tết” in 2027. Tet Eve falls on the 29th day of that month, which is Friday 5 February.
Tet moves every year because it follows the lunar calendar. Tet 2026 was on 17 February. Tet 2028 jumps back to Wednesday 26 January, the start of the Year of the Monkey. The government sets the official days off each autumn, and the 2027 schedule was approved on 2 October 2026.
What closes during Tet, and when?
The week before (about 30 January to 4 February). Everything is open and busier than usual. Markets and malls stay open late, flower markets go up, and the streets fill with peach blossom and kumquat trees strapped to the backs of motorbikes. Offices wind down towards the end of the week. This is a great time to be in a city.
Tet Eve to day 3 (5 to 8 February). This is the shutdown. Most street food stalls, small restaurants, local shops and markets close. Family guesthouses either close or run with one person on the desk. Banks and offices are shut for the whole official holiday. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City empty out, because a large share of their residents come from the provinces and go home.
What stays open: larger hotels and their restaurants, chain cafés, convenience stores, and pagodas and temples, which are busier than at any other time of year. In tourist areas, places that cater to visitors usually keep going. Museums normally keep their usual opening hours over Tet.
Day 4 to the end of the holiday (9 to 10 February). Things reopen gradually. In the big cities most restaurants are back by the end of the official holiday. Provincial towns are slower: in Quy Nhon, for example, many local restaurants stay closed for three to five days.
After 10 February. Life is back to normal, but the return rush on trains, buses and flights carries on for about another week, and pagodas stay busy with families making their first visit of the year.
Getting around during Tet
Trains. Vietnam Railways runs its Tet timetable from 23 January to 25 February 2027 and put about 300,000 tickets on sale on 5 September 2026. Its peak period is 29 January to 17 February. If you change or return a ticket in that window you lose 30% of the fare, and you must do it at least 24 hours before departure. Extra trains are planned for 5 to 8 February from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang, Tam Ky, Dieu Tri (the station for Quy Nhon) and Nha Trang, and between Hanoi and Vinh.
Direction matters. Before Tet, everything leaving the big cities for the provinces fills first. After Tet, it’s the reverse. A trip against the flow, such as heading into Hanoi a few days before Tet, is much easier to book.
Flights. Vietnam Airlines and its sister airlines put nearly 3.7 million seats on sale for 22 January to 20 February 2027, and Vietjet about 3.1 million. Even so, the busiest days sell out, and fares on routes like Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City climb the closer you get.
Buses. Sleeper buses on main routes sell out in the days before Tet and can cost more over the holiday, so book through the bus company or an app rather than turning up at the station. City buses keep their normal fares.
Grab and taxis. They keep running, but there are fewer drivers on Tet Eve and the first days, and prices surge. Book your airport transfer in advance if you land between 4 and 8 February.
Hotels and prices over Tet
Book early, and book with free cancellation. Beach towns and hill towns fill with Vietnamese families on holiday, so the good places go first. Before you book a small guesthouse, message them to ask if they’ll be open and serving breakfast between 5 and 8 February. Some close.
To give you a sense of the swing: right after Tet in February 2026, I paid about $70 a night for a sea-view balcony room at Grand Hyams in Quy Nhon. In October, standard rooms at the same hotel were listed from about $26 to $31. See our Vietnam hotel guide for where to stay in each city.
Should you travel to Vietnam during Tet?
Our honest take: Yes, if you want to see Vietnam at its most Vietnamese and you’re happy to slow down for a few days. No, if you have two weeks, a long list of places and a plan that depends on buses and trains every other day.
The way I’d do it: arrive about a week before Tet, enjoy the markets and the build-up, then spend Tet Eve to day 3 in one place with a hotel that has its own restaurant. Start moving again from 9 or 10 February, once trains and buses have seats.
Tet is a good fit for photographers, people interested in culture and anyone who likes empty city streets. It’s a poor fit for budget trips, food-focused trips and first-timers who want everything to work as it normally does.
Where to spend Tet
Hanoi
Hanoi does the build-up best. The Hàng Lược flower market in the Old Quarter is a one-off market that has run every year for over a century, from the 23rd day of the last lunar month to Tet Eve, so roughly 30 January to 5 February 2027. It spills out onto Hàng Mã and the streets around it. For the bigger picture, go to Quảng Bá flower market on Âu Cơ road by West Lake, the city’s main wholesale flower market, which runs day and night in the last days before Tet.
At midnight on Tet Eve there are fireworks. In 2026 Hanoi set them off at 33 sites for 15 minutes, and the high-altitude displays included two by Hoan Kiem Lake, in front of Hanoi Post Office and the Hanoi Moi newspaper office. Most cities hold their fireworks in the city centre, and the exact 2027 sites are announced in the days before Tet. Roads near the lake close, so walk in and get there by 11pm.
After midnight, families go to pagodas to pray for the new year. Tran Quoc Pagoda, on a small island in West Lake, dates from the 6th century and is free to enter, but it’s packed on Tet Eve and day 1. Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake is just as busy.
Then, early on the morning of day 1, Hanoi goes quiet. Around 6am the streets that are normally full of motorbikes are close to empty, which is the best time all year to photograph them.
Our honest take: Hanoi gets extremely crowded two or three days before Tet Eve (around 2 and 3 February in 2027), then goes extremely quiet on day 1, once everyone has gone back to their hometowns. Food options are limited for the first two days of Tet, so be prepared: know which restaurants near your hotel are staying open, and keep some snacks in your room.
Hoi An and Da Nang
In 2026 Da Nang held fireworks at six sites, including along Bach Dang street on the Han River, and Hoi An had high-altitude fireworks for the first time, set off from the Con Bap area on the river. Hoi An’s Old Town stays lively over Tet, with lanterns up and families out walking, and the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the new year (20 February 2027) is a good reason to stay a little longer.
Hue
Hue is the place for traditional Tet. In 2026 the city fired 1,000 high-altitude fireworks over the Flag Tower and Ngọ Môn gate of the Citadel at midnight.
Ho Chi Minh City
Nguyen Hue flower street is the big draw. In 2026 the walking street was closed to traffic and covered in flower displays from 15 to 22 February, the 28th day of the old year to the 6th day of the new one, and for the first time it had food stalls and a night edition. It usually opens about a week before Tet, so expect it from around the end of January in 2027. The city announces the exact dates beforehand.
In 2026 Ho Chi Minh City held fireworks at 17 sites. The main central show was at the Saigon River tunnel entrance on the Thu Thiem side, in An Khanh ward. Since the 2025 merger, the city also takes in Binh Duong and Vung Tau, which had their own shows.
Notre Dame Cathedral has been under restoration since 2017, and its two gold-plated crosses went back on the towers on 19 March 2026. Check whether the inside is open to visitors before you go.
Quy Nhon, Nha Trang and the beaches
February is dry and mild on this stretch of coast, which is why the beach towns fill up with Vietnamese families over Tet. In Quy Nhon you’ll see family visits, flower markets and pagodas full of people, but many local restaurants close for three to five days, so stay somewhere with its own restaurant or arrive a few days after Tet. February evenings can feel cool, even cold, while the sea stays warm enough to swim.
I went to Quy Nhon right after Tet in 2026, and that’s the timing I’d suggest for the beach towns: you miss the days when local restaurants are shut, and February weather is at its best.
Tet etiquette for visitors
The greeting you’ll hear everywhere is “Chúc mừng năm mới”, Happy New Year.
If you’re invited to a Vietnamese home, bring a small gift, and red envelopes (lì xì) with a little money in new notes for the children. The amount matters less than the gesture.
Don’t drop in on anyone uninvited on the morning of day 1. The first person to step into a home in the new year (xông đất) is believed to set the family’s luck, and families choose that person carefully.
Shop owners care about their first sale of the year (mở hàng). Buy or don’t, but don’t haggle hard and then walk away.
Some families avoid sweeping the floor in the first days of the year, so they don’t sweep their luck out with it. You don’t need to follow this, but it explains why some places look untidy on day 2.
Dress tidily for pagodas, with shoulders and knees covered.
Good to know before you go
- Cash: withdraw what you need before 4 February. Banks close for the whole official holiday, and ATMs in quieter areas can run empty.
- Food: on Tet Eve and day 1, eat at your hotel or a big chain. Convenience stores stay open for snacks and water.
- Fireworks: all the city shows are free. Crowds are huge and roads close, so go on foot and keep your phone and wallet in a front pocket.
- Weather: Hanoi is cool and often drizzly in early February, while the south is hot and dry. See weather in Vietnam.
Frequently asked questions
When is Tet 2027?
Saturday 6 February 2027, the start of the Year of the Goat. The official public holiday runs from 4 to 10 February, and Tet Eve is Friday 5 February.
How long does Tet last in Vietnam?
Officially five working days, which in 2027 makes a seven-day break with the weekend (4 to 10 February). The season itself starts with Kitchen Gods day on 30 January and winds down around the Lantern Festival on 20 February.
Is everything closed in Vietnam during Tet?
No. Big hotels, chain cafés, convenience stores and most sights stay open. Small restaurants, street food stalls, markets and family businesses close, mostly from Tet Eve to day 3, and longer in small towns.
Is Tet a good time to visit Vietnam?
Yes, if you’re happy to stay put for a few days and want to see the celebrations. It’s a bad time for a fast-moving trip with lots of overland travel, because trains and buses sell out and prices rise.
Can you travel by train or bus during Tet?
Yes, but book early. Train tickets for Tet 2027 went on sale on 5 September 2026, and the busiest dates sell out. Sleeper buses on main routes fill up in the days before Tet and can cost more.
Is Tet the same as Chinese New Year?
They use the same lunar calendar and usually fall on the same day, but the food, flowers and customs are different. Very occasionally the dates differ, because Vietnam calculates the calendar on its own time zone.
Read more
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- Vietnam in December
- Vietnam hotel guide
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- Vietnam e-visa guide
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