Riding into Tet: Ha Giang, Dien Bien and Lai Chau at Lunar New Year
Tet is the one time of year when Vietnam genuinely stops. The cities empty, the workshops close, and the mountain roads go back to being what they are the rest of the time without anyone noticing: paths between houses. Riding the north during those few days is nothing like an ordinary trip.
The road first
Switchback passes cut into the hillside, terraces empty at this season, waterfalls, rivers winding along the valley floors. In January and February the air is dry and cold, mornings are often exceptionally clear, and the mist comes down early in the afternoon. It is a demanding season for a rider — you need real cold-weather gear — but it also brings the best light of the year.
Staying with families, at the right moment
At Tet, Hmong, Dao and Thai families receive guests. A pig is killed, sticky rice is prepared, red paper goes up on the doorposts, and nobody sweeps the house on the first day. A traveller who spends the night in a village at that moment is not visiting a culture: they are sitting in a room where something important is happening. That is the difference between watching and being invited.
One honest note: the Hmong new year does not always fall at the same time as the Vietnamese one — in several areas it is celebrated a month earlier. We will tell you before departure what is actually happening where you are going, rather than promising you a festival that will already be over.
A journey for the senses
Cold mountain air, shan tuyet tea, the maize spirit you will be served whether you want it or not, the sound of a khen in a neighbouring yard. Take photographs, but ask first: during Tet a house is a private space before it is a backdrop.
What to know before you book
- Duration: 7 days / 6 nights, itinerary adaptable.
- Start and finish: Ha Giang, or Dien Bien Phu for the northwestern loop.
- Highlights:
- The karst plateau of Ha Giang, or the Dien Bien Phu battlefield and the mountains of Lai Chau.
- Tet experienced in villages where nobody is working for tourism that day.
- Festival food: smoked meats, coloured sticky rice, rice cakes boiled through the night.
- Empty roads, because everyone has gone home.
What we do not promise: during Tet a number of restaurants, workshops and fuel stations close for several days. We plan fuel, spare parts and meals accordingly, and we would rather tell you in advance than let you discover it on the road.
Write to info@hagiangexperts.com for the dates of the next Tet and what will be open that year.