Tet Nguyen Dan — the Vietnamese Lunar New Year — is Vietnam's most important celebration: the moment the whole country pauses, families reunite, and cities transform. Weeks before Tet, the streets fill with peach blossom trees in the north and yellow apricot blossoms in the south, with chrysanthemums and kumquat trees everywhere. On New Year's Eve, fireworks explode over Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi and the Saigon River in Ho Chi Minh City. The days following bring family gatherings, ancestral offerings, lucky money in red envelopes, and festive foods. It's intimate and enormous simultaneously.
Much of Vietnam shuts down during Tet itself — some visitors find this beautiful (empty temples, quiet streets) others find it frustrating (closed restaurants). The lead-up week is more accessible. Hoi An during Tet, lit by lanterns with minimal traffic, is extraordinarily beautiful.