Festivals in Vietnam: a month-by-month calendar for travellers

Vietnam's festival calendar has one unmissable date, Tet, and then a scatter of smaller, very different events the rest of the year: a monthly lantern night in a UNESCO old town, an international fireworks contest over a city river, and a heritage arts festival inside an imperial citadel. Here's what's on each month, what it's actually like, and how to plan a trip around it.

How Vietnam's festival dates are set

Most of the festivals below follow the Vietnamese lunar calendar, the same lunisolar system behind Tet, so their dates shift by anywhere from a few days to a few weeks each year rather than falling on a fixed date. Tet itself, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Hoi An lantern festival and two lesser-known pilgrimage events, the Perfume Pagoda Festival and the Hung Kings Temple Festival, are all counted this way, each tied to a specific day of a specific lunar month. Hue Festival and the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival are the exceptions: both are modern events with dates set annually by their own organisers on the solar calendar, so they don't drift with the moon. Whenever a date matters for your booking, check it against the year you're actually travelling.

January

The Hoi An lantern festival runs every month regardless of the season, on the 14th day of the lunar calendar, so January is as good a month as any to catch one if your dates line up with the moon.

• Hoi An lantern festival guide

February

Tet, the Lunar New Year, is Vietnam's biggest holiday by far: a week of family reunions, ancestor worship, flower markets and firework-lit streets, with 2027's New Year falling on Saturday 6 February. Most of the country effectively stops for it, which makes it a wonderful time to see Vietnamese family life up close and a hard time to travel through, since transport sells out and small businesses close for several days. The government hasn't yet decided how long the 2027 public holiday will be: proposals run from 4 to 10 February or 5 to 14 February.

The same lunar window brings the Perfume Pagoda Festival, Vietnam's largest Buddhist pilgrimage, a scenic boat ride and hike up to cave shrines near Hanoi. In 2026 the official season ran from 18 February to 11 May, with the opening ceremony on the sixth day of the new year. The 2027 season is estimated to follow the same pattern after Tet, with the opening about 11 February.

• Tet in Vietnam

April

The Hung Kings Temple Festival brings a mass domestic pilgrimage to the Hung Temple complex in Phu Tho province, a national day of remembrance for Vietnam's legendary founding kings and a public holiday. In 2026 the main day was Sunday 26 April, with Monday 27 April as the day off. For 2027 it's estimated to fall on Friday 16 April. It's a deeply local event rather than a visitor spectacle, so go to observe respectfully rather than expecting a tourist-facing programme.

June

Hue's imperial citadel hosts the Hue Festival's International Arts Festival Week, the centrepiece of a programme that now runs across four seasons through the year rather than a single date, with royal court music, craft fairs and light shows against the citadel walls. In 2026 the arts week ran from 13 to 18 June. Hue usually announces the next year's calendar in November or December.

Da Nang's Han River hosts the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival, an international pyrotechnics competition held across several nights each summer. The 2026 edition ran from 30 May to 11 July, with ten teams on six competition nights, and Portugal won the final. The organisers usually announce the next dates between January and March.

• Hue Festival
• Da Nang International Fireworks Festival

September

Hanoi's Old Quarter fills with mooncakes, paper lanterns and lion dances for the Mid-Autumn Festival, a harvest-season celebration centred on children that falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. In 2026 that was Friday 25 September, and in 2027 it's expected on Wednesday 15 September. Tuyen Quang's giant lantern parade is the country's most elaborate version of it, though Hanoi and Hoi An are easier bases for a visitor.

• Mid-Autumn Festival

Planning a trip around a festival

Book transport and hotels early for Tet. Domestic flights, sleeper trains and hotel rooms sell out and rise in price in the days before and after the holiday, so book well ahead if your trip falls anywhere near it, and don't expect every restaurant and shop to be open.

Time a Hoi An visit for the 14th lunar day if the lantern festival matters to you. It runs every month, so check the current date against your trip rather than assuming it falls on a fixed day. Avoid the mid-October to mid-December flood season if you can, since heavy rain can cancel the river boats and scale back the riverside celebrations.

Much of Hue Festival and the Da Nang fireworks festival can be watched without a ticket. Hue's street events and community stages are mostly free, though the Imperial City itself charges entry. In Da Nang, grandstand seats along Tran Hung Dao Street were ticketed in 2026, and you can also watch from the riverbank, the bridges or a rooftop cafe, so claim a viewpoint early on a competition night.

The Perfume Pagoda and Hung Kings festivals are pilgrimage events, not tourist shows. Expect large local crowds, especially at weekends, and dress and behave as you would at any working religious site.

Dress and behave with the occasion in mind. Cover shoulders and knees at pagodas, ask before photographing rituals up close, and remember that a family's Tet or Mid-Autumn celebration is their home life, not a show for visitors.

Which festival suits you

Keep planning

• Vietnam travel guide
• Best time to visit Vietnam
• Vietnam itinerary hub
• Vietnam visa and entry rules