Tết in Hanoi: What's Open and What to Expect

Tết, the Lunar New Year, is when Vietnamese families gather to welcome the new year, and spending Tet in Hanoi can be wonderful or frustrating depending on what you expect. The city gets quiet, families gather, pagodas fill with people and many businesses close for a few days. This guide explains what changes, what tends to stay open and where to check the details for the year you travel.

The short answer

In 2027, Lunar New Year’s Day falls on Saturday 6 February, and the official public-sector holiday covers about a week around it. Expect Hanoi to be busy in the run-up to Tết, very quiet on the first day of the new year and slowly returning to normal over the following days. Traditional markets and many small shops close at first, while a number of sights, including the Hoa Lo Prison Relic, stay open. The exact dates and past patterns are in the table above.

The details

Before Tết

The last weeks of the lunar year are the peak shopping season, and long-distance trains and flights are in heavy demand as people head home. Before Tết 2026, the railway reported that seats for the busiest days were almost sold out about a month after tickets went on sale.

New Year’s Eve

In recent years Hanoi has marked the moment of the new year with fireworks at many sites across the city, including by Hanoi Post Office in the Hoàn Kiếm area. The city announces each year’s plan shortly before Tết, so treat the 2026 details in the table as a guide to what to look out for, not a promise for 2027.

The first days of the new year

On the morning of the first day, reporters described the usually crowded avenues as almost empty, with people heading to pagodas and temples or taking family photos around Hoan Kiem Lake. Some cafés and breakfast spots in the Old Quarter stayed open, but traditional markets, small shops and most shopping centres closed. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, markets began to come back from the second day and large retail chains reopened on the fourth day in 2026.

What stays open

Some sights keep their doors open through the holiday. The Hoa Lo Prison Relic says it opens every day, including Tết. In 2026, the Temple of Literature closed only from midday on the last day of the old year and reopened on the first day of Tết. Its Spring Calligraphy Festival, where visitors ask calligraphers to write a character for the new year, ran for several weeks around the holiday.

In the first days, convenience stores and pharmacies are the easiest places to buy essentials.

What visitors often get wrong

• Assuming the whole week is closed. It is mainly the first few days that are quiet. Life picks up from the second and fourth days, as the official reports above show.
• Assuming everything is open. Small shops and restaurants reopen on their own schedules, so a place you planned to visit may be shut. Have a back-up plan for meals.
• Leaving transport to the last minute. Trains and flights fill up before the holiday, and the end of the holiday is busy too, as people return to work. In 2026, Noi Bai Airport’s busiest day of the Tết season was the last day of the holiday.
• Mixing up the calendars. Tết follows the lunar calendar, so its date on the Western calendar changes every year: it fell on 17 February in 2026 and falls on 6 February in 2027.

Do and don’t

• Do book transport and accommodation early if your trip overlaps Tết.
• Do dress modestly and keep your voice down if you visit a pagoda or temple during the holiday; these are busy places of worship at this time.
• Don’t expect usual opening hours anywhere in the first days. Check before you go.
• Don’t treat other people’s family moments around the lake as photo opportunities without asking.

Where to check official, current information

• Holiday dates: the Ministry of Home Affairs announces the public-sector holiday each year, and Vietnamese government news portals report it.
• Fireworks and city events: Hanoi’s city authorities announce the fireworks sites shortly before the holiday, and Vietnamese newspapers list them.
• Sights: check each site’s own website or social media page; the Temple of Literature and the Hoa Lo Prison Relic both publish notices.
• Weather: Tết falls in Hanoi’s cool season. See our guide to the best time to visit Hanoi for what to pack.