Why to avoid travelling in Vietnam during Tết

What is Tết?

Tết is the celebration of the lunar New Year and the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar. It is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture and is celebrated all across the country.

During Tết Vietnamese families come together to honour their ancestors, and to pray for luck and health in the New Year. It is very important to be surrounded by loved ones during Tết so Vietnamese people will travel back to their home town to be with their family.

How long does Tết last?

The actual public holiday lasts for a week, however from my experience of being in Vietnam during Tết it goes on longer than this.

There is a period of preparation which can begin weeks in advance of Tết. This involves cleaning, decorating, shopping for new clothes, and buying flowers. The decorations are red and gold, and each lunar year is represented by a different zodiac animal which can be found on the decorations.

The official date of Tết in 2024 was 10th February and then for a week after this. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on 1st February and the Tết preparations were already underway.

Difficulties we experienced travelling in Vietnam during Tết

Transport– as I mentioned the Vietnamese people travel back to their home towns to be with their family and loved ones for Tết. This means there is extra demand for transport and accommodation.

We had a bit of a nightmare with transport. Our bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Mui Ne was cancelled the night before so we quickly had to find an alternative bus.

We also struggled getting from Da Lat to Da Nang. Our bus booking was never confirmed (usually they are confirmed instantly) so we had to plan an alternative method of transport. This involved a very long journey of a bus to Nha Trang and then a sleeper train to Da Nang. We got there eventually but the disruptions in transport were due to Tết.

Restaurants– a lot of the restaurants were closed because people had travelled back to their home towns to be with their families. Some restaurants were closed for weeks. It happened many times where we walked to a restaurant we had found on Google Maps which said it was open but on arrival it was shut with just a sign on the door. This really limited where we could eat and meant we wasted a lot of time turning up at closed restaurants.

Tax- a lot of the restaurants that were open had implemented a Tết tax. This was essentially an extra service charge of maybe 5-10%. I can understand why they did this because the staff were working during a public holiday. We weren’t aware of this beforehand though so if you’re travelling on a budget this will have an effect.

Would I recommend travelling in Vietnam during Tết?

The short answer is no. Travelling in Vietnam during Tết added a lot of stress to our trip that we wouldn’t have experienced if we visited at a different time of year.

We were also disappointed because we didn’t actually see any sort of celebrations going on. I expected there to be things going on in the towns and festivities but we saw no such thing. We saw a few decorations dotted around but nowhere near as much as I expected.

If you’re planning a trip to Vietnam then I would recommend that you research the dates of Tết and avoid the weeks around the official date.