Will all accommodation be full (or at inflated prices) if arriving in Vietnam right in the middle of Tết?
I arrived overland in Cambodia from Laos on the 19th of January and the Immigration guy put 19th of February on my visa (a bonus extra day!) so that's the day I'll cross the land border from Cambodia to Vietnam.
Last night for no particular reason I happened to look up "Tết" not thinking it was any time around now but it turns out the main day of Tết in 2015 is February 19! Celebrations last a while and this will be right in the middle. I believe this is the major family festival/holiday/celebration in Vietnam and that huge numbers of overseas Vietnamese from the diaspora come home. No doubt it's also a very popular time for tourists to visit and experience the festivities.
This makes me a bit concerned. Normally I don't book accommodation, especially since I'm hitchhiking so don't know which town I'll get to by nightfall or which date I'll arrive in a major destination.
Just how busy does accommodation get?
Will it be OK in small towns but hopeless in Ho Chi Minh City for instance?
(I know it can be near impossible to find a bed in Sydney for New Year's Eve, or in Tokyo during sakura season, for comparison.)
Best Answer
As Tom said, T?t is a family holiday, so most people would return to their hometown and stay in their houses, therefore hotels and guesthouses would be rather empty those days. In major cities like Ho Chi Minh city or Ha Noi it will be quite deserted and quiet unlike normal. However other touristy places like ?à L?t, Nha Trang, V?ng Tàu... would be very crowded because some people don't want to squeeze themselves on the overly packed vehicles going home and choose to go "backwards" instead and visit their hometown another time, and finding a bed in those cities would be a pain
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