The Tet Lunar New Year holiday in Vietnam is like our American Thanksgiving, Christmas/ Hanukkah, and New Year holidays all wrapped into one—a perfect collision of tradition, culture, and celebration. There’s an explosion of pre-holiday activity and preparations, followed by week-long festivities that involve lots of close family gatherings, food and gifts, visits to the pagoda, and an outpouring of numerous, long-held traditions.
Almost as soon as we arrived in Vietnam in late December with our 90-day visas in hand, we were warned by locals and expats alike to find a place to park ourselves for Tet. Rumors had it that prices for everything, from trains and airlines to hotels and taxis would go up around the holiday, as all of Vietnam would be on the move to return home to celebrate with close family. We were told that during the week of Tet, everything would be closed: museums, monuments, stores, restaurants. Whole cities would shut down.
After much deliberation, we decided (last minute!) to visit the capital city of Hanoi during the Tet holiday, betting that as a large city, they would still have options open and available for visitors. This turned out to be more than true. In fact, Hanoi is the perfect place to hang during this period, and let yourself get swept into the spirit of the festivities.
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Our Arrival

We arrived the week before Tet by air from Phu Quoc, and even last minute, tickets were cheap with Vietnam Airlines. We lucked out as our gorgeous, modern two-bedroom apartment, an Airbnb rental, was in a great location: down an alley right behind the buzzing Quang An flower market in the upscale, relatively serene neighborhood of West Lake (Tay Ho district).  We loved it!  (Here is more about this district.)

The Tradition of Flowers on Tet
​So let me explain why flowers are so important to the Vietnamese during Tet. People adorn their homes with them and give them as gifts. Most important, however, are the branches with the unopened pink buds of the peach tree (in the north) and the yellow ones of the apricot tree (in the south). People buy these for their homes and businesses, letting the buds open and blossom, along with new leaves, during and after Tet for good luck. Another good luck tradition, especially in north Vietnam, is the placement of bountiful kumquat trees.

​Another Tet Tradition: Food!
Almost every market sold huge tins of Danish butter cookies, coffees,  teas, candies, and nuts as well as pre-assembled, cellophane-wrapped baskets of such items. People bought loads of these to give to various members of their communities. I watched one woman and her daughter stash over 20 huge round tins of Danish butter cookies into their carts at the grocery store. They have a lot of people to be grateful for, I thought.
Our intimate, six-story, eight unit apartment complex welcomed us with such a gift, and soon after, we created two simple bags with Swiss chocolate and butter cookies to give to the two families who live here and rented our place to us. They are two sisters, plus husbands and kids, and along with a brother who lives with his family elsewhere, they designed, built, and own our building, along with two other buildings in the neighborhood. (Their kids come play with ours all the time, saying they need to practice their English. Our kids are thrilled!)

​Tet Arrives!
The day before Tet, a Sunday this year, things started to slow down in the late afternoon. Stores closed early and the roads miraculously cleared, as promised.
Hanoi advertised 31 locations for fireworks set for the eve of Tet, six of which were “high” ones. We had our kids take a nap so that they could stay up long enough to see the midnight fireworks. Counting on less traffic during Tet week, Pierre rented a motorbike (yes, for the four of us) and planned to take us to one of the many cafes along the West Lake shore that opened just for the occasion.

One bedroom apartment of 60 sqm on the Lake side and locates in the ground floor is available for rent now ! Please contact us for more information.

Apartment 201 in Sweethome 3 locate in To Ngoc Van street, 3 minutes to the West Lake, is available for rent from the 1st of next December, please contact to us for more information!

WISHING YOU ALL HAVING GOOD HEALTH AND HAPPINESS IN LIFE !!!