Nguyễn Huệ Street, the Week Before Tết
You turn onto Nguyễn Huệ in District 1 and the street has stopped being a street. It has become a flower show — the largest in the country — running the length of the boulevard in the days before Lunar New Year. Yellow ochna blossoms, mai, are everywhere: the flower that stands for Tết in southern Vietnam, banked along the walkways and carried past you on shoulders and motorbikes. Families move through the crowds in their new clothes. Young women wear áo dài and stop to be photographed against the displays. Vendors sell foil and paper garlands, red and gold ornaments shaped like fish, coins and firecrackers, and zodiac figures for the incoming lunar year. You are not watching a performance; you are walking through the city's living room.
Shop the Tết Markets Before the Shops Shut
Preparation for Tết begins weeks in advance, and the markets are where you feel it. They are jam-packed in the days before the holiday, and the shopping is highly specific rather than general:
- Foil and paper garlands, and red and gold decorations shaped like fish, coins, firecrackers and blossoms.
- Zodiac stickers and paper lanterns keyed to the animal of the incoming lunar year.
- Kumquat trees, bought for the home and placed in a place of honour — the larger the tree, the more prosperity and health it is understood to bring.
- Peach blossoms in the north, yellow mai in the south.
- Red bao lì xì envelopes, for the lucky money elders give to younger family members.
Watch for kumquat trees being moved by motorbike. It is one of the reliable sights of the season, and it fills the streets with colour.
What Happens on the Holiday Itself
The public holiday runs about a week, though celebrations last longer in practice. Tết Nguyên Đán marks the first day of the Lunar New Year and the start of spring in the north, and the city's rhythm changes on those first days.
- Eat bánh chưng. The sticky rice cake is central to the holiday. Its folklore traces to the last Hùng King, who set his sons a competition for the best dish; the winning son presented two savoury rice cakes representing heaven and earth and was awarded the throne.
- Take the Tết dinner seriously. It is a key family gathering for discussing the past year, and the dishes change with region. In the south you will find caramelised pork, bitter melon soup and chicken salad; northern tables run to nem (fried spring rolls), bánh chưng and whole boiled chicken. Many dishes carry the sense of hardship passing and hope for the year ahead.
- Accept candied fruit. Families present boxes of it to guests.
- Greet people properly. "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới" — Happy New Year — is appreciated through the first days of the new year.
- Ride the empty streets. The first days of Tết give you big cities emptied of traffic. This is the window for exploring by bicycle, scooter or on foot.
Be aware that many businesses and restaurants close for at least the first few days. The quiet cuts both ways: you get the streets, and you lose much of the dining and shopping.
Timing, Tickets and the Rules of the House
- Book everything far in advance. Demand for bus, train and plane tickets and for hotel rooms spikes as people travel back to their hometowns.
- Expect closures early. Plan your first days around the holiday's own calendar, not around restaurant opening hours.
- Do not drop in on a Vietnamese home. Being invited for Tết is a great honour, and the first guests of the year are specially chosen to bring good luck. Wait for the invitation.
- Plan around the holiday, not to a fixed date. Tết falls on the Lunar New Year, and specific event schedules, official programmes and market timings are set closer to the date.
Plan Around the Lunar Calendar
Start with the lunar date for 2027, then work backwards: the markets and Nguyễn Huệ's flower show belong to the days before the first day, the closures and the empty streets to the days after. Book your transport and your room early, keep your first few days loose so the shutdown doesn't strand you, and leave space for the one invitation you can't schedule — a Tết meal in someone's home, which is the whole holiday in a single afternoon.