Tet — Vietnamese Lunar New Year, falling between late January and mid-February — is the country’s everything-happens-at-once week: the biggest family migration of the year, when cities empty, villages fill, and an entire nation moves at the same time. Every Vietnam travel guide repeats the same warning: flights, buses and trains around Tet fill up weeks or even months in advance. For motorcyclists the holiday is a different experience entirely — partly the best week of the year to ride, partly a series of traps. Here is how it actually breaks down.

The Tet timeline for riders

The week before: the roads fill. Motorbikes leave the cities in staggering numbers — TVs, plants and children strapped to the back — and the QL arteries out of Hanoi and Saigon take on a pilgrimage character. Tourist advice is accurate: roads are ultra-busy in the days before the holiday. Ride short days, expect the population of entire provinces to be on the move, and finish well before dark.

Tet days themselves (roughly 3-5): the reversal. Cities hollow out — Hanoi’s Old Quarter becomes eerily quiet, half of all shops close — while hometowns burst into street parties. For riders this is the golden window: traffic in the cities drops to Sunday-morning levels, and the usual chaos becomes, for a few days, the easiest riding of the year. The catch is logistics: fuel stations mostly stay open but rural ones may run thin; repair shops close (a breakdown during Tet week can become a multi-day stop); hotels operate on skeleton staffing; and restaurants outside the big tourist streets are shut.

The week after: the reverse migration. Same busy roads, everyone returning, everyone tired.

Practical rules

  1. Service everything before Tet. This is the one holiday where a mid-trip mechanical problem has no fast solution — mechanics are home with their families. Our pre-trip servicing guide becomes non-optional.
  2. Book lodging ahead for the Tet days in smaller towns — the whole country is at its aunt’s house, but the guesthouses that are open are often staffed by the owner alone, and full.
  3. Carry cash. ATMs survive but card payment points go home with the staff.
  4. If you must move long-distance during Tet week, do it by motorbike — the trains and sleeper buses that are full weeks in advance (our transport comparisons explain the booking math) cannot be added to, but the road is always open, and during Tet days it is nearly empty.
  5. Expect fireworks, flower markets and invitations. Tet on a motorbike is the best possible access to the holiday — villages you ride through will wave you in for chung cake and rice wine.

Renting during Tet

Rental shops are small family businesses too: many close or run reduced service over the Tet days. Book a Tet-week rental in Hanoi early and confirm the shop’s actual opening days — our guide to renting in Hanoi over the Tet holidays covers this in detail, and our shop will tell you honestly what we can support. Contact us to confirm current availability before the holiday rush, and plan the pickup for the day before the shops close.

The bottom line: Tet is a terrible week for bus timetables and a wonderful week for motorcycles. Ride into it prepared — serviced bike, cash, booked rooms — and you will see a Vietnam that no other week shows.