The first day of the Lunar New Year 2027, the Year of the Goat, falls on Saturday 6 February 2027. Public holidays usually cover several days around it.

Is it a good idea to travel in Vietnam during Tết?

It can be magical, with decorations, flower markets and family rituals, but transport books up weeks ahead and many shops and restaurants close for several days. Big cities empty out as people return to their hometowns. Book early and expect a slower pace.

What is the difference between bánh chưng and bánh tét?

Both are sticky rice cakes filled with mung bean and pork and wrapped in leaves. Bánh chưng, the Northern version, is square and wrapped in dong leaves. Bánh tét, the Central and Southern version, is a long cylinder usually wrapped in banana leaves.

Tết in North, Central and South Vietnam: How It Differs

Peach blossom or yellow apricot, bánh chưng or bánh tét: how Vietnamese Lunar New Year customs, food and decorations differ across the three regions.

Tết Nguyên Đán, the Lunar New Year, is the moment when all of Vietnam goes home. Families clean their houses, honour their ancestors and share food for days. The meaning is the same everywhere, but the flowers, cakes and table settings change noticeably from North to South.

Flowers: pink in the North, yellow in the South

The clearest regional marker is the blossom in the living room.

North: hoa đào (peach blossom). Pink branches symbolise vitality and are believed to ward off bad luck. Hanoi’s flower markets fill with peach branches and kumquat trees (cây quất) heavy with orange fruit.
South: hoa mai (yellow apricot blossom). The warm climate suits the yellow mai, whose colour stands for wealth and good fortune.
Centre: mostly mai, though peach branches appear in northern parts of Central Vietnam, reflecting the region’s position between the two.

The sticky rice cake: square or round

Bánh chưng (North) is square and wrapped in green dong leaves. Legend says its square shape represents the earth.
Bánh tét (Central and South) is a long cylinder wrapped in banana leaves. It is sliced into rounds, and Southern versions are sometimes filled with banana or made with coloured rice.

Families still gather to wrap and boil these cakes overnight before Tết, one of the holiday’s most treasured rituals.

The five-fruit tray (mâm ngũ quả)

Every family places a tray of five fruits on the ancestral altar, but the selection varies:

North: often bananas, pomelo, finger citron (phật thủ), persimmon and kumquat, chosen for colour and harmony.
South: a famous word game: mãng cầu (custard apple), dừa (coconut), đu đủ (papaya) and xoài (mango) sound like “cầu vừa đủ xài”, “pray for just enough to spend”. Bananas are often avoided because chuối sounds like slipping.

Regional Tết dishes

Region	Signature dishes
North	Bánh chưng, thịt đông (jellied pork), giò lụa (pork roll), dưa hành (pickled shallots)
Central	Bánh tét, thịt heo ngâm mắm (pork in fish sauce), dưa món (pickled vegetables)
South	Bánh tét, thịt kho trứng (caramelised pork and eggs), canh khổ qua (bitter melon soup), củ kiệu (pickled scallion bulbs)

Southerners eat bitter melon soup at Tết because khổ qua sounds like “hardship passes”.

Shared traditions

Across all three regions, people visit family on the first day, give lì xì (lucky money in red envelopes) to children and elders, and care about who first steps into the house after midnight (xông đất), since that person is believed to set the luck for the year.