The festivals worth planning a trip around. Lunar-calendar dates move year to year; confirm the exact days before booking travel.
Tet is Vietnam's defining festival: the lunar new year, a week of family reunions, ancestor altars, flower markets and fireworks. The whole country travels home, so transport and hotels book out.
The date moves with the moon: recent years fell on 17 February 2026 and 6 February 2027. Flower markets bloom in every city in the week before; the first days of the new year are quiet as families stay home.
Every full moon, Hoi An's old town switches off its electric lights and glows by lantern alone: candles on the Thu Bon River, traditional music on the streets, and the night market in full swing.
It happens twelve times a year, so it is the easiest of Vietnam's great festivals to catch: just match your Hoi An nights to the lunar calendar.
Hue Festival is Vietnam's great cultural showcase: royal court music (nha nhac, UNESCO-listed), ao dai shows, dragon boat races on the Perfume River and international troupes, staged in and around the Imperial City.
It now runs as a year-long, four-season festival series rather than a single week: in 2026 the main festival week ran March 25 to April 7. Confirm the current year's program before booking, since the calendar keeps evolving.
The Hung Kings Festival honours the legendary founders of the Vietnamese nation at the Hung Temple on Nghia Linh Mountain in Phu Tho. It is a national holiday and a genuine pilgrimage, not a tourist show.
Processions, bronze-drum performances and banh chung (square sticky-rice cakes) mark the day. Expect crowds and a deeply felt atmosphere.
The children's festival: lion dances, star-shaped lanterns and mooncakes, on the fullest moon of autumn. Hoi An and Hanoi's Old Quarter celebrate hardest, with lantern processions through the old streets.
Mooncakes, the dense lotus-paste pastries, appear in every bakery for weeks before. The festival night itself is joyful chaos in the old towns.
The Perfume Pagoda festival is the longest festival in Vietnam and the country's great Buddhist pilgrimage: millions travel to the Huong Tich cave shrine after Tet to pray for a peaceful new year.
The season runs from the 6th day of the first lunar month to the end of the third, with the main rites around the full moon of the second lunar month. Expect boat queues on Yen Stream and a carnival atmosphere on the pilgrimage trail.
Lim Festival is the home of quan ho, the UNESCO-listed love-duet folk singing of the Kinh Bac region: male and female singers in traditional dress trade verses from pagoda courtyards, communal houses and dragon boats on the village pond.
Held on Lim Hill in Tien Du district, it pairs the singing with wrestling, human chess and rice-cooking contests. It is a working village festival first and a spectacle second, which is exactly its charm.
Vietnam is the world's biggest robusta producer, and this is its coffee capital's party: a biennial festival of tastings, barista competitions, street parades and gong performances celebrating the Central Highlands' coffee culture.
The 9th edition ran March 9-13, 2025; the 10th is scheduled for March 2027 as a national-level event. Dak Lak's harvest season runs November to March, so the timing catches the region at its busiest.
Every two years Da Lat, the City of Flowers, turns its streets, lakesides and squares into open-air floral installations: giant flower sculptures around Xuan Huong Lake, parades, and a flower market that runs for weeks.
Held since 2005 in December, it coincides with the highland dry season and peak bloom. Book accommodation early: the festival draws hundreds of thousands of domestic visitors.
The Avalokitesvara Festival at the Marble Mountains is one of Vietnam's major Buddhist festivals: three days of solemn rites at Quan The Am Pagoda honouring the Bodhisattva of Compassion, plus cultural and sporting events around Ngu Hanh Son.
It has run annually since 1962 and was recognised as national intangible cultural heritage. The 19th of the second lunar month is the main ceremonial day.
DIFF is Vietnam's biggest summer event: international pyrotechnic teams compete over several themed nights above the Han River, with the city running concerts, street food festivals and river events alongside.
The 2026 edition ran May 30 to July 11 with ten teams from nine countries. Riverside grandstand tickets sell out for the opening and final nights, so book ahead.
Kate is the most important festival of the Cham people: days of ritual at the ancient towers of Po Klong Garai, Po Rome and Po Inư Nagar, with processions of ceremonial clothing, traditional music and dance.
Falling on the first day of the seventh Cham month (usually October), it continues in Cham villages with family rites. It is a genuine religious festival, observed respectfully.
The festival of the Lady of Sam Mountain is one of the Mekong Delta's largest pilgrimages: millions visit the Ba Chua Xu temple at the foot of Sam Mountain to pray for fortune, with statue-bathing rites, processions and folk performances.
Recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2024, it runs from the 23rd to the 27th of the fourth lunar month. Chau Doc fills up completely during festival days.
Ok Om Bok is the Khmer people's great harvest festival: moon-worship rites at pagodas and homes across Soc Trang and Tra Vinh, with offerings of green rice flakes, floating lanterns and long-boat races on the Maspero River.
Held on the full moon of the tenth lunar month, it marks the end of the harvest and the turn from rainy to dry season. Soc Trang's boat races are the headline event for visitors.