Tet while in Vietnam
 

We are planning to vist Burma and would then like to go to Vietnam. I have learned that in 2013, the 5 day holiday of Tet is from Feb.5 - 14. Is it difficult to travel in Vietnam during Tet, are many attactions closed and is finding space in hotels more of a problem? Tet festivals and celebrations that we might see?

We were in Vietnam for a month during Tet in 2008. We were travelling independently without a fixed itinerary and found it both difficult and expensive to book flights. We had to stay in Hue for a few days longer than planned as a result. Buses were ok but trains were difficult too. We had no problems finding places to stay but we were mostly in hostels and home stays. I imagine 4 and 5* places will be booked well in advance.

Lots of celebrations around. We saw ballet in Saigon and acrobats in Hanoi and a few parties here an there. Lots of paper burning for the ancestors in the streets which was quite atmospheric. Paticularly around the Old Quarter in Hanoi. The cities seemed a lot quieter than normal and a lot of restaurants were closed for the main Tet celebrations as will be some of teh main sites but only for the main tet celebrations. All in all we found it agood time to visit but you would be sensible to book well ahead .

Thanks crellston, I appreciate the first hand information.

Hi re. I've answered your post on the Burma "I need some help!" thread.

On Tet or Lunar New Year everything is as normal. Just only thing if you travel on these days you should prebook inadvance because train, plane, bus is very difficult to have seat available if is too close. Everything should be booked as soon as possible from now because most local people return home to have tet holiday so you can imagine in big cities how ticket is difficult. All visiting sites still open on these days to visitors internal as well as foreigner. Once more thing everything on these days are more expensive than normal days.

Have a good trip!

We will in Vietnam and Cambodia during Tet. We will be on a tour so no concern about travel however we have several open evenings.

Can anyone telle how to find out about concerts, ballet or special events. I have searched the Internet and can not find anything .

A link which may help a little with the Tet Celebrations

http://www.vietnamonline.com/tet/5-t...uring-tet.html

Probably the best way to find out what is going on is to ask your hotel of guest house. We happened across events purely by chance. In Hanoi there were acrobats, lion dancers etc performing at the top end of Hoan Kiem Lake (near the Old Quarter). In Saigon we saw a performance of Swan Lake on a stage erected outside of the Opera House right opposite the Caravelle. We saw this again one Xmas when we were staying at the Caravelle a couple of years later so I think it must be a fairly regular occurence. It is hard to find out what is going on as there are few websites which schedule events far in advance,

Thanks I love this community. Everyone helps as life should be

Bookmarking.