Tet in Southern Vietnam: What Actually Closes, and What Doesn't

The one holiday that changes how the whole country runs

Visitors sometimes arrive with the idea that Tet is Vietnam’s version of a Western public holiday: a day or two off, shops shut on the day itself, business as usual either side of it. That comparison undersells it badly. Tet, the lunar new year, is the single most important date on the Vietnamese calendar, closer in weight to Christmas, New Year’s Eve and a national family reunion happening all at once, stretched across more than one day.

For a visitor to Ho Chi Minh City and the south, it is worth understanding not because it will necessarily disrupt a trip, but because assuming it works like a normal holiday leads to real planning mistakes: a closed restaurant a traveler was counting on, a bus that sold out weeks earlier, a boat trip that quietly did not run that week.

This guide does not give a date for Tet, deliberately. Tet follows the lunar calendar, so it lands on a different day each year, generally falling somewhere between late January and mid-February. Any fixed date printed here would be wrong for most years a reader might be planning around, so the right approach is to check the current year’s date directly before booking anything close to it.

What this guide can do reliably is describe the pattern: what tends to close, what tends to stay open, how transport and prices behave, and how the atmosphere on the ground changes, in Ho Chi Minh City itself and across the wider southern territory this site covers, from Cu Chi to the Mekong Delta to the coast.

Why Tet matters more than a typical holiday

Tet marks the turn of the lunar year, and for most Vietnamese families it is the one guaranteed occasion in the calendar when scattered relatives return to their home province. Someone working in Ho Chi Minh City but originally from the Mekong Delta, from central Vietnam, or from a rural district hours away will very often travel home for it, sometimes for the better part of a week.

That single fact explains almost everything a traveler notices during the period: family-run businesses close because the family that runs them has left the city, transport gets booked solid because an enormous share of the population is moving at the same time, and the city itself feels different, quieter in some neighborhoods and far busier in transit hubs, because so many residents are elsewhere or preparing to be.

It is also, culturally, a period of ritual and symbolism that has no real equivalent in a Western calendar: ancestor worship, house cleaning and decorating in the days before, the giving of lucky money in red envelopes, specific foods prepared only for this occasion, and a general sense that the new year’s first days set the tone for the twelve months ahead.

None of that is included here in operational detail, since the point of this guide is travel logistics rather than cultural explanation, but it is worth knowing as context for why closures happen at all: a shopkeeper closing for the better part of a week is not treating Tet casually, and a taxi driver wishing a passenger a happy new year in the days before it is marking something genuinely significant to them.

What actually closes

The honest answer is: it depends heavily on the type of business, and generalizing too far in either direction causes problems. A useful way to think about it is a spectrum, from businesses that almost always close to ones that almost never do.

Type of business	Typical Tet behavior
Small family-run restaurants and street food stalls	Very likely to close for several days; the family running it often travels
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Neighborhood shops, tailors, local markets	Frequently close or run reduced hours for part of the period
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International hotels and larger tour operators	Generally stay open, though some services may be reduced
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Major sights and attractions (museums, palaces, temples)	Usually open, sometimes with adjusted hours; confirm close to the date
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Airlines, buses, trains	Operate, but seats sell out weeks in advance and fares rise
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Banks and government offices	Typically close for an extended stretch around the holiday
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Boat operators and small countryside guesthouses	Mixed; some pause for several days, especially owner-operated ones

This is a pattern, not a guarantee for any single business in any single year, which is exactly why this guide avoids naming specific dates, prices or closure lengths: those details shift year to year and business to business, and a number printed here would age badly and mislead more than it helped. The practical response is to confirm opening status directly with any specific restaurant, tour operator or guesthouse a traveler is relying on, in the days leading up to the holiday for that year, rather than assuming either that everything closes or that nothing does.

Ben Thanh Market, one of the most visited spots in District 1, is a good example of the nuance: the market building itself typically stays open, since it is a fixed structure with a management body, but individual stalls inside are run by individual families, and a meaningful share of them close in rotation as their owners travel. A visitor walking through during the holiday period may find the market open but noticeably quieter, with gaps where familiar stalls usually stand.

Transport: the part that genuinely gets difficult

If one part of Tet consistently affects travelers regardless of how they structure their trip, it is transport. This is the period when the largest share of the Vietnamese population is moving at once, heading home to family provinces from the cities where they live and work, then reversing that trip a week or so later. Domestic flights, long-distance buses and the Reunification Express railway all see extremely heavy demand in the days immediately before and after the holiday, and seats that would normally be available on short notice can sell out weeks ahead.

This matters directly for the day trips and multi-day routes covered elsewhere on this site. A visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels, a trip out to Can Tho and the Cai Rang floating market, or transport onward to Mui Ne all rely on coaches, minibuses or private cars that share the road with a country in motion.

It is not that these trips become impossible, but that booking close to the date becomes far less reliable, and prices on transport in particular can climb noticeably in the days surrounding the holiday. Anyone planning a trip that overlaps with Tet, even loosely, is better off booking transport and any structured tours well ahead rather than assuming something can be arranged on the ground, which is normally quite easy in this part of Vietnam outside the holiday period.

Air travel to Con Dao, which for the rest of the year is straightforward to book close to the date, is a good example of a route worth securing early if a Tet-adjacent trip includes it.

The atmosphere: why some travelers plan a trip around it

For all the logistics above, plenty of visitors deliberately time a trip to overlap with Tet, because the atmosphere it produces is genuinely unlike the rest of the year. In the weeks before the holiday, flower markets spring up across the city selling kumquat trees and blossom branches that are central to Tet decorating traditions, and streets in central districts are strung with lights and seasonal displays. Public spaces along the Saigon River and around Nguyen Hue walking street tend to draw large evening crowds in the run-up to the new year, with a festive, celebratory tone that is distinct from an ordinary weekend.

There is also a quieter side worth knowing about for those actually in the city on the days immediately around the new year itself: traffic, ordinarily one of the defining features of Ho Chi Minh City, can thin out noticeably as residents leave for their home provinces or stay in with family, giving parts of the city an unusually calm, almost empty feel for a day or two. That contrast, a city normally defined by its motorbike traffic suddenly going quiet, is part of what draws some travelers to experience Tet firsthand rather than avoid it.

Planning a trip that overlaps with Tet

None of the above is a reason to avoid traveling to southern Vietnam around Tet, but it does call for a different approach to planning than a normal week would need.

• Book long-distance transport, flights and any structured multi-day tours well in advance rather than expecting to arrange them close to the date, since this is the single area most affected by the holiday.

• Do not build a short trip entirely around small, family-run restaurants or street food stalls as the only food plan, since these are the businesses most likely to close; larger restaurants and hotel dining generally remain a reliable fallback.

• Confirm opening status directly with any specific tour operator, boat trip or countryside guesthouse close to the date for that year, rather than assuming based on a general pattern.

  • Expect higher prices on transport and possibly accommodation in the days immediately around the holiday, and budget with some flexibility.

• If visiting specifically to experience the holiday atmosphere, plan for the weeks before the new year itself for markets and decorations, since the days right around the holiday are when many small businesses are actually closed.

• Keep a day trip itinerary flexible rather than tightly scheduled, since a business or boat operator that is normally reliable may be closed without much public notice for exactly this period.

Travelers building a longer itinerary around this period, such as a multi-day loop through the delta and the coast, may find it easier to lean on a pre-booked, staffed tour rather than independent day-to-day arrangements, since larger operators are more likely to keep running through the holiday than small independent guides. A structured option like the week-long tour through the south of Vietnam removes a layer of the uncertainty that independent planning around Tet can introduce, since transport, guiding and accommodation are arranged as a package rather than assembled piece by piece.

For travelers who want the holiday atmosphere without gambling on which restaurants happen to be open, a guided food experience such as the guided food tour through Ho Chi Minh City’s food scene is worth booking for the earlier part of a Tet-adjacent trip, before the closures set in, and a hands-on Vietnamese cooking class with lunch in Can Tho offers a way to experience the region’s food even on days when neighborhood eateries elsewhere are shut for the holiday.

How this fits with the rest of the year

It is worth repeating that this guide covers only the Tet period itself and its closures, crowding and mood, not the broader question of climate or seasonal weather, which is a separate consideration covered in the site’s dry season and rainy season guides.

Tet can fall within the dry season most years, since the lunar calendar places it roughly between late January and mid-February, but the two topics are genuinely separate: one is about temperature and rainfall, the other about a cultural and commercial calendar that has nothing to do with weather. A traveler planning around the best time to visit Ho Chi Minh City should treat Tet as an overlay on top of the seasonal picture, not a substitute for it.

For anyone assembling a broader trip that might touch this period, the site’s general planning guide for a city, delta and coast itinerary and its notes on how many days to spend in southern Vietnam are useful starting points, alongside the festivals and public holidays overview for how Tet sits alongside the country’s other observances. Those planning a delta-focused visit around this period may also want to compare My Tho against Can Tho as departure points, since availability of boats and guides at each can differ during the holiday.

The bottom line

Tet is not a minor inconvenience tacked onto a trip, and it is not a trip-ending disruption either. It is the most significant date on the Vietnamese calendar, and it reshapes the practical experience of traveling through Ho Chi Minh City and the south for a period of roughly a week or so each year, through closures concentrated in small, family-run businesses, a genuine crunch on long-distance transport, and a shift in mood that many travelers find is part of the appeal rather than a drawback.

The specifics, which days close, how much fares rise, exactly how long the quiet lasts, vary from year to year and business to business, which is exactly why this guide avoids pinning them to numbers that would only be accurate for one particular year. The reliable approach is the same every year regardless of the exact date: check the current year’s Tet date early, book transport and any structured tours ahead of it, keep a backup plan for meals in case a favorite spot is closed, and go in expecting a city that looks, sounds and moves a little differently than it does the rest of the year.

Travelers wanting a calmer counterpoint to the holiday’s crowds and closures might also consider a short break outside the city entirely, such as the two-day meditation retreat outside Ho Chi Minh City, which sidesteps the question of which restaurants and shops happen to be open that week altogether.