Travel in Vietnam during Tet

Vietnamese New Year: For the Vietnamese people, the Lunar New Year (Tết Nguyên Đán in Lunar Calendar vs falls on the same day as the Chinese New Year) is like a combination of Western Saint Sylvester, New Year's Day, Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. It is the festival of purity and renewal, and is celebrated according to the Lunar calendar. Let 's learn about how Vietnamese celebrate TET Traditions and What you should know if Traveling to Vietnam during TET Holiday.

1. Vietnamese New Year Fun Facts:

- TET Festival or Lunar New Year is the Biggest National Holiday in Vietnam - noticed all those police stop points and fields full of lucky trees recently? If you're heading to Vietnam over Tet National Holiday consider what this will mean for your trip. The whole country will be on a go-slow or no-go for at least a week either side; Vietnam becomes gridlocked, garish and glorious and contrary to most traveller stories it is in fact an amazing time to be here. That is, so long as you're armed with a little knowledge on customs, protocol and a calm smile.

Vietnamese Tet

- How Long Does TET Traditions Last in Vietnam? TET Festival is the Lunar New Year for Vietnamese and falls on the same day as the Chinese New Year. For the Vietnamese Traditions, Tet is like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve all rolled up in one. It is a time to return home to families and celebrate the upcoming new year.

TET usually lasts for a total of seven to nine days and the first day of Tet is the most important. Good fortune on the first day of Tet is very auspicious for the remainder of the whole year. Vietnamese people believe that the first person to enter a household can determine that family's fortune for the entire year.

Tet Food in Vietnam

- When is Tradtional TET National Holiday in Vietnam? Tet celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese lunar calendar, usually falling in January or February, like New Year: 2023 (on Jan 22^nd), 2024 (on Feb 10^th), 2025 (on Jan 29^th). The holiday officially lasts for a week, with weekends padding on extra days. But whatever the dates, the serious mass migration and holiday begins one week before and lingers one week after, effectively creating three weeks of chaos for travellers.

- Vietnamese Traditional Tet Holiday Foods: When the weather is colder, the whole country is covered by peach flower and ochna intergerrima; it is for Lunar New Year. Tet foods are the most unique and diverse Vietnamese foods that best represent and reflect the traditional cuisine. Here are the 7 traditional Vietnamese food that you definitely should try during Tet:

Bánh Chưng (Vietnamese Square Sticky Rice Cake)
Bánh Tét (Vietnamese Sticky Rice & Mung Bean Cake)
Giò Chả (Vietnamese Pork Sausage)
Thit kho trung (Vietnamese Braised Pork with Eggs)
Mứt (Candied Fruits), Seeds of Melon, Sunflower,...
Vegetables soup with pork skin (Canh Bong)
Five kinds of tropical fruit tray (Mam Ngu Qua)
Pickled onion, pickled cabbage and pickled small leeks
Chả Giò (Spring Rolls), Nem Chua (Fermented Pork Roll)

2. Travel in Vietnam during Vietnamese Lunar New Year - TET?

One word covers it all here: DON’T! With every bus, train and plane packed with Vietnamese heading home, prices skyrocket and travel time at least doubles from heavy traffic. The 16-seater air-con minibuses become 40 seaters and hard-seat third class on the train is like playing sardines, with livestock and end of the world provisions taking up every inch of floor space. Even pre-booked flights generally work on the delayed system and fellow local travellers can quite often be first-time flyers, so expect the possibilities of projectile vomiting, constant texting and even motorbike helmets worn during the flight.

- Road Rules in Vietnam during TET Festival: You really shouldn’t be attempting to hit the roads on your motorbike over the Tet holidays without at least five passengers, a handful of live ducks in carrier bags hanging from your handlebars and a four-foot Tet tree in a concrete pot balanced between your thighs if you want to blend in. For the rest of us, abide by the laws of the road, which we think means don’t go through a red light, wear a helmet and make sure your bike has a working horn (obviously), at least one wing mirror and working lights, or be prepared to hand over a fortune in on-the-spot fines.

- Accommodations during TET National Holiday: While Tet has traditionally been about reuniting with family by returning home, modern times mean it is increasingly popular to go on a family vacation. After all, this is the longest chunk of time everyone will have off at the same time. And don't forget, the world's most populous country shares the same New Year dates; China also happens to be Vietnam's top source of foreign tourists. Hotels and resorts are packed.

Booking ahead is the way to go here. Generally in big cities and tourist spots high on hotels you'll find booking sites still have last-minute deals and hotels don’t tend to close. In smaller destinations, especially ones that only have small family-run guesthouses out in the sticks, be prepared for some difficulties. As most of these places are not available to book online, you’d be wise to go through a local booking office before you arrive at your destination and get them to secure your room in advance.

- Tours & Sightseeing during TET National Holiday: Most tour companies run throughout the Tet holidays with a skeleton staff but be aware that most sights will be mobbed by local families picnicking and taking photos. It’s a great time to take off for a daytrip into the smaller villages on a motorbike, when celebrations are in full flow and hospitality is at an all-time high. Just take a reliable bike.

- Customs & Social Etiquette of Vietnamese TET: This is where the fun and confusion starts. On the first day of Tet it's customary to be lovely whatever is going on around you, as local belief is that your behaviour on these first few days of Tet will bring goodwill, prosperity and luck for the oncoming year. So even when you get a cab at five times the going rate you will be expected to turn that frown upside down.

- Vietnamese Tet National Holiday Attire: It's customary for the Vietnamese to work through a whole new wardrobe over the Tet holidays, with splashes of high octane colour and questionable fashion logos ruling. Anything in the funeral colours of black or white are abandoned for lucky red and yellow. The new year's zodiac animal will become the theme. We're not quite sure how simian fashion will get for 2016's Year of the Monkey, but you can be sure it will be kitschy and cute. If you're invited to someone's home during the Tet holiday, NO black and white for good karma to all.

- Music during Vietnam TET National Festival: Happy New Year by Abba. You will hear this at least frequently enough to know all the words by the end of January. By Tet you will be self-medicating to stop the song from going round and round in your head even in the few minutes it is not being played.

- Shopping in Vietnam during Tet Holiday: Almost every Vietnamese business will close for Tet (even if just for a day), as the business owner will go to the pagoda and seek advice from a fortune-telling monk on a lucky day and time to reopen a brand new (the same) shop where they will hold a ceremony for their ancestors at an altar and offer gifts to the gods on an elaborate table in the shop's entrance, while burning incense. If you enter a shop over Tet the protocol is to buy something, no matter how small, as if you don’t this brings very bad luck to the shop. Remember to smile as you buy that fabulous lacquered pig at three times the non-Tet price.

- Best Places for Vietnamese TET Celebrations: Where to travel in Vietnam during TET? Hoi An! It’s a huge lantern festival of fun and frolics and one of the top destinations during the Tet holidays for the Vietnamese. It's crazy, fun and brilliantly confusing (if you don't like crowds though, forget it). Da Lat would be the next best, while cities Hanoi, Saigon and Da Nang are tops for parties; if you want an off the beaten path Tet travelling challenge, head for the provinces.

- Food in Vietnam during TET National Festival: There are simply too many Tet treats to mention. Markets close, restaurants work on limited menus or shut up shop altogether, but the real beauty of Tet is the street food: suddenly every square inch of pavement is crammed to overflowing with stalls and plastic stools rammed with raucous locals celebrating. If there ever was a time to mingle with the locals and go away with a warm feeling inside (that will of course be the rice wine), it's over Tet.

Adventure Journey

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