When exactly is Tet 2027?

The first day of Tet Đinh Mùi is Saturday, 6 February 2027. The official public-holiday schedule around it is decided separately each year — as of August 2026 the Ministry of Home Affairs had proposed two options, seven days from 4 to 10 February or ten days from 5 to 14 February, and neither had been approved.

How many days is the official Tet holiday?

Article 112 of the 2019 Labour Code guarantees five paid days for Lunar New Year, and the government sets the exact dates annually. The real break is usually longer once weekends are folded in: the 2026 holiday ran nine consecutive days, 14 to 22 February. Private employers may set their own dates with 30 days' notice.

Is everything really closed for two weeks?

There is no source for a fixed nationwide shutdown of that length. The statutory holiday is five days; the announced calendar has recently run seven to ten. Beyond that, individual businesses choose. Residents' accounts from the same holiday flatly contradict each other, which is the honest answer: ask the specific places you rely on.

Can I move in or collect keys during Tet?

Sometimes, but only after the person holding the keys confirms it directly and in writing. Get a name, a phone number and a backup contact, ask for a reconfirmation a day or two before arrival, and keep a hotel booked for the first night so a silent chat window cannot strand you.

Will banks, ATMs and card payments work?

Branches follow the public-holiday calendar and close for the statutory days. Cards, ATMs and electronic transfers are expected to keep running — the State Bank issues an annual instruction requiring banks to plan ATM cash replenishment, mobile ATMs and staffing for the Tet period. Still, pay rent before the holiday and carry more cash than usual.

Should I avoid arriving in Vietnam during Tet?

It is a poor week to improvise and a good week to watch the country celebrate. If your domestic transport is confirmed, your key handover is agreed with a named person and you are not moving between cities every two days, Tet is an experience rather than a problem. A tightly timed multi-stop itinerary is the case to move.

Tet 2027 in Vietnam: What Actually Closes, and What a Renter Has to Settle First

Vietnam does not close for Tet — the specific people you depend on do, and none of them publish a schedule. The lunar date is fixed and public: the first day of Tet Đinh Mùi is Saturday, 6 February 2027. The official leave calendar around it is not: in August 2026 it was still two competing proposals waiting for a government decision. That gap — a hard date, a soft calendar, and a landlord who answers to neither — is where a tenant's plans break.

The date is fixed. The calendar around it is not.

Mùng 1, the first day of Tet Đinh Mùi, is Saturday, 6 February 2027. Do not reuse last year's date: Tet 2026 fell on 17 February, so any advice written around it is off by eleven days. What the law fixes is the entitlement, not the dates. Article 112 of the 2019 Labour Code grants five paid days for Lunar New Year and leaves the exact days to an annual government decision. On 5 August 2026 the Ministry of Home Affairs published two options for Tet 2027: seven consecutive days from 4 to 10 February, which the Ministry itself prefers, or ten days from 5 to 14 February. Neither was approved when this was written. The precedent tells you how late this lands — the 2026 schedule, nine days from 14 to 22 February, was only announced in mid-October 2025, under four months ahead. And private companies may set their own Tet dates as long as they give staff 30 days' notice. Your building's management company, your agent and your internet provider are under no obligation to share one calendar.

What closes is a decision, not a rule

No law closes a noodle shop. Small businesses close because the owner goes home, which is precisely why no dependable closure table exists — and why residents describing the same holiday contradict each other. On a Russian-language travel forum, a poster living in Ho Chi Minh City wrote on 22 January 2011 that the city would be dead for several days and that even having lunch in town becomes a problem, with the few open cafés multiplying their prices (thread). In a Nha Trang thread, a poster using the name Вьетнамец argued the opposite on 31 December 2011: the horror stories are, in his words, greatly exaggerated, and food is not a problem, because even if most eateries shut, thousands still trade (thread). Both accounts can be accurate — different districts, different years. The most useful line in either thread is the explanation offered by VietNamKa on 28 December 2011: shops, markets, tours and restaurants close at the discretion of their Vietnamese owners, because this is the one stretch of rest the whole country gets. A poster in the same thread on 8 October 2011 added the detail that markets tend to rest longest, up to five days. These are personal accounts from fifteen years ago; they forecast nothing about 2027. What they explain is the mechanism, and it has not changed: closures are individual decisions, so they have to be asked about individually.

A live listing is not a live human being

The Đại Nam rent-price data covered 2,228 long-term listings when this guide was written in August 2026. Every one of them is a card in a database, not a person standing at a door with a key, and around Tet those two things come apart. Viewings stop first, then cleaning and small repairs, then handovers themselves. An owner reachable in January can be unreachable from the last working week and back only after mùng 5. If your move-in falls anywhere near the holiday window, put it in writing before you fly: the date and hour of the handover, the name and phone number of the person who will physically meet you, the exact balance due, and a second contact who is not that person. Ask for a reconfirmation 24 to 48 hours before arrival, and hold a night or two in a working hotel: an arrival with luggage should never hang on a single unanswered message. Do the inventory and meter readings properly even when everyone is rushing to leave. And close any deposit question before the holiday rather than during it: a dispute you open on mùng 2 will not be answered until the country comes back to work.

Money: the squeeze is cash and timing, not folklore

Bank branches run on the public-holiday calendar above, so counter service simply stops for the statutory days. The regulator treats cash access as the pressure point: before each Tet the State Bank instructs banks to draw up concrete plans for ATM cash replenishment, mobile ATMs, staffing and maintenance across the period, and to keep interbank payment systems running. A regulator does not issue that instruction for a quiet week. For a tenant the consequences are dull and practical. If rent falls due inside the holiday window, transfer it early and keep the written confirmation; if your landlord collects cash in person, agree the handover for a day before the branches close. Carry more physical cash than usual. On prices, be careful what you inherit from old forums: a 2013 post called Tet a Vietnamese week-long apocalypse, with crowds of visiting city dwellers and prices tripled (thread). That is one traveller's impression of one year, not a measurement, and it is not a budget. Holiday surcharges on rides and services are common and legitimate — agree the number before the service, not after. Transfer mechanics are in the banking and rent guide.

Transport is the one thing you cannot improvise

Everything else on this list can be patched locally. A missing seat cannot. The bluntest line in the forum record comes from the same poster who dismissed most Tet panic: writing on 31 December 2011, Вьетнамец still warned that transfers inside the country get much harder and that tickets have to be bought well in advance (thread). A concrete illustration from the same era: in a post dated 25 January 2011, Polyna described having a Nha Trang hotel booked from 6 February, finding no domestic flights at all, rebooking to Da Lat, and still being unable to move her dates earlier; in a follow-up the same night she noted that seats only reappeared from 7 February onward (thread). Official reasoning points the same way — in weighing the 2027 options the Ministry of Home Affairs argued about travel time home and the transport load a longer break would create. Book in risk order: the scarce domestic leg first, then accommodation, then the airport transfer. Leave slack between dependent segments instead of relying on the last bus of the day, and read the transport guide before you assume a ride will simply appear.

The week before: what to close out

Treat the last ordinary week as a checklist rather than a mood. Settle electricity, water and internet early instead of assuming the usual collection or meter reading will happen on schedule. Report anything genuinely broken — air conditioning, water heater, a leaking pipe — while technicians are still working, because a fault logged on the eve waits for the return. Top up your phone and data plan, refill regular medication, withdraw enough cash, and keep a few days of drinking water and food you actually eat. Save the numbers you would need in a hurry: building security, the management desk, your landlord, your insurer. Then ask every business you genuinely depend on two questions, a few days ahead: what is your last working day, and when do you reopen. That is the whole method. This is preparation for several inconvenient days, not a siege: big cities do not empty of every service, and the quiet streets and flower markets are a fair trade if your schedule has any give. And respect what the holiday is — the first days are family time, and a slow reply on mùng 1 is not evasion.

Frequently asked questions

When exactly is Tet 2027?: The first day of Tet Đinh Mùi is Saturday, 6 February 2027. The official public-holiday schedule around it is decided separately each year — as of August 2026 the Ministry of Home Affairs had proposed two options, seven days from 4 to 10 February or ten days from 5 to 14 February, and neither had been approved.
How many days is the official Tet holiday?: Article 112 of the 2019 Labour Code guarantees five paid days for Lunar New Year, and the government sets the exact dates annually. The real break is usually longer once weekends are folded in: the 2026 holiday ran nine consecutive days, 14 to 22 February. Private employers may set their own dates with 30 days' notice.
Is everything really closed for two weeks?: There is no source for a fixed nationwide shutdown of that length. The statutory holiday is five days; the announced calendar has recently run seven to ten. Beyond that, individual businesses choose. Residents' accounts from the same holiday flatly contradict each other, which is the honest answer: ask the specific places you rely on.
Can I move in or collect keys during Tet?: Sometimes, but only after the person holding the keys confirms it directly and in writing. Get a name, a phone number and a backup contact, ask for a reconfirmation a day or two before arrival, and keep a hotel booked for the first night so a silent chat window cannot strand you.
Will banks, ATMs and card payments work?: Branches follow the public-holiday calendar and close for the statutory days. Cards, ATMs and electronic transfers are expected to keep running — the State Bank issues an annual instruction requiring banks to plan ATM cash replenishment, mobile ATMs and staffing for the Tet period. Still, pay rent before the holiday and carry more cash than usual.
Should I avoid arriving in Vietnam during Tet?: It is a poor week to improvise and a good week to watch the country celebrate. If your domestic transport is confirmed, your key handover is agreed with a named person and you are not moving between cities every two days, Tet is an experience rather than a problem. A tightly timed multi-stop itinerary is the case to move.

Updated: 2026-08-05