Walking around Ho Chi Minh City during Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tet) 2026! A local experience

Hello! I'm Yuki, a Japanese husband living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and this is Gock, my Vietnamese wife. On this blog, we share information about moving to and living in Vietnam as well as travel information from across the country. If you find an article that interests you, please follow us first! ♪ It's been a while since our last update m(__)m During February 14-22, Vietnam celebrated Tết, the traditional Lunar New Year period. As many of you probably know, Japan is likely the only country that celebrates New Year on January 1st according to the new (solar) calendar. Korea, China, Malaysia, and other Asian countries all celebrate the Lunar New Year according to the old calendar. Also, right before the Lunar New Year holidays, I went to Dalat, which is one of my favorite places (haha). With all that going on, quite a while has passed since my last update, but starting this week I'm getting back into full swing. Thank you for your continued support this year as well ♪      For Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tet), I went back to my hometown in the countryside.

I went back to my hometown for New Year's. My family home is in a rural town about an hour by motorbike from Ho Chi Minh City. I forgot to take a photo, but the whole area is nothing but rice paddies and countryside scenery (haha). At my parents' house, my mother sells goods at the market while my father raises chickens and ducks at home — it's such a picture-perfect Vietnamese family ☆ Vietnam also has New Year dishes similar to Japan's osechi. That's what's in the photo here. Well, many of these are dishes we eat regularly anyway, but once they all show up on the table together, I really feel like, "Ah, Tet has come again this year" (^^♪ During Lunar New Year, I took a walk along Flower Street in Ho Chi Minh City ♪

Every year, the Flower Road event is held in major metropolitan areas like Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang. This year, I joined in from the evening. As usual, it was incredibly crowded. Many of Vietnam's leading companies had set up booths and were displaying flower monuments.

This is clay craft. It's the kind of thing kids want, right~ I've been buying this every year too, but this year it was a bit pricier at around 300 yen, so I passed on it (-_-;) Book Street, which has somehow become a Lunar New Year staple

Book Street" has become a fixture over the past few years, held right alongside the Flower Road during Vietnamese Lunar New Year. This year it was held again as well. It sells comics, novels, and business books not only from Vietnam but from countries all over the world. By the way, it's organized by FAHASA, Vietnam's largest bookstore chain. They're also partnered with Japan's Kinokuniya Bookstore, and the main store on Nguyen Hue Street carries a great many Japanese-language books, making it a go-to bookstore for Japanese residents living in Ho Chi Minh City.

This year, Flower Road was held on Nguyen Hue Street, and Book Street took place on Le Loi Street, which runs from Nguyen Hue all the way to Ben Thanh Market. And here's how things looked around Ben Thanh Market. As expected, it was decorated with colorful flowers, giving it a really festive feel. In Japan, New Year's is generally spent in a rather solemn, quiet way, but as you can see, Vietnam stands out for its vibrant, flashy atmosphere. A classic Lunar New Year spot — for hatsumode (the first shrine visit of the year) in Ho Chi Minh City, it's Vinh Nghiem Temple.

Vietnamese people also have the concept of visiting a temple for the first prayer of the New Year. "Vinh Nghiem Temple," which is even featured in guidebooks like Rurubu, is one of the most prestigious temples in Ho Chi Minh City, so it becomes crowded with many visitors during the Lunar New Year period.

This is the bell tower beside the main hall. Even ordinary visitors are allowed to ring the bell. By the way, I heard that this bell tower was donated by a temple in Japan.

That's what it looks like inside the main hall. A monk was reading sutras into a microphone, and behind him a large crowd of Vietnamese people sat listening to the chanting. Still, maybe it's just a sign of the times, but a lot of people were looking down and playing games on their phones (lol) Wrap-up and next time's preview... Lunar New Year really is fun, but I wonder how it is for travelers?   During the Lunar New Year period, many of the spas and souvenir shops popular with travelers are closed, and restaurants charge special rates that run about 20-50% higher. It seems some travel agencies don't recommend traveling to Vietnam during the Lunar New Year, but I'm curious whether travelers actually still enjoy their trips. If you have experience traveling to Vietnam during the Lunar New Year period, please do let us know in the comments! ♪   Coming up next... Our Da Lat trip begins! As I mentioned earlier, before Tet started, my family and I went on a trip to Da Lat for a few days. Starting next time, over the course of several posts, I'll be sharing what our trip to Da Lat was actually like ♪ If you're wondering "Where even is Da Lat?", please come take a look ♪ Hẹn gặp lại! ※This means "See you again!" in Vietnamese (^^)/