What's on in Hanoi, Vietnam through the year

Busy — school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

• Nature

  Peach blossom for Tết

  10 Jan – 25 Feb · usuallyLunar New Year

  Branches of pink đào are sold off the back of bicycles and motorbikes across the old quarter in the fortnight before the lunar new year, and families carry whole trees home on a scooter.

• Holiday

  Tết

  14–22 FebLunar New YearClosures

  Nearly everything shuts for a week as the city travels home, restaurants and shops included. Trains and buses out are booked weeks ahead and the streets are the emptiest they get all year. Source ↗

Quiet — the editor's quiet month, Tết

• Season

  Mưa phùn drizzle season

  1 Feb – 5 Apr · usuallyFog seasonRisk

  Weeks of cool grey damp that never quite becomes rain. Walls and floors sweat, washing does not dry, and the light stays flat from morning to night — none of which shows up in a rainfall figure.

Still on: Peach blossom for Tết (10 Jan – 25 Feb (usually)), Tết (14–22 Feb)

Quiet — the editor's quiet month, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Mưa phùn drizzle season (1 Feb – 5 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — between the peaks, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Mưa phùn drizzle season (1 Feb – 5 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Quiet — the editor's quiet month, Summer break in Vietnam

• Nature

  Lotus on West Lake

  1 Jun – 15 Jul · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  The ponds off West Lake open at first light and are picked out by mid-morning, and the tea scented with them is sold for the rest of the year. Photographers get there before six.

• Hazard

  Typhoon season

  1 Jun – 15 Oct · usually

  The Vietnamese season runs June to November and the north takes its share mostly between July and September, when remnants sit over the delta and leave water standing in the streets for days. Source ↗

Busy — Summer break in Vietnam, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Lotus on West Lake (1 Jun – 15 Jul (usually)), Typhoon season (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Busy — Summer break in Vietnam, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Typhoon season (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Busy — between the peaks, National Day

• Holiday

  National Day

  2 SepNational holidayCrowdedClosures

  The 2 September holiday fills Ba Đình square and the old quarter, closes roads around the mausoleum and gives the whole country a long weekend of domestic travel. Source ↗

• Season

  Hanoi autumn

  25 Sep – 30 Nov · usuallyDry season

  The season the city is written about for: dry, clear and cool, with cốm, young green rice pounded flat and wrapped in lotus leaf, sold on the pavement for a few weeks in the middle of it.

Still on: Typhoon season (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Typhoon season (1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), Hanoi autumn (25 Sep – 30 Nov (usually))

Peak crowds — the editor's peak month

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Hanoi autumn (25 Sep – 30 Nov (usually))

Shoulder season — between the peaks, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.