Golf in Vietnam during Tet 2027 is entirely possible — Tet falls on Saturday 6 February, the courses stay open, and the week has a character you will not get at any other time of year. Five things are worth knowing first. Here is what a Tet-week golf trip includes.
Quick Answer
Tet 2027 begins on Saturday 6 February, with the public holiday running roughly 5–11 February (dates are confirmed by the government late in the preceding year). Vietnam’s major golf courses stay open throughout Tet — it is one of the busiest weeks of the year for domestic golfers, so expect full tee sheets, a holiday surcharge at most clubs, and a booking made well in advance. Off the course, small family restaurants, markets and some shops close for the first two to four days of the new year, while hotel restaurants and larger chains keep trading.
When exactly is Tet 2027?
The first day of the Lunar New Year, mùng 1, falls on Saturday 6 February 2027. It is the Year of the Goat. The three most significant days run from Saturday 6 to Monday 8 February, and the official public holiday typically spans a longer block, provisionally around 5–11 February. Vietnam’s government confirms the exact dates late in the preceding year, so treat the outer edges as approximate until then.
For visitors unfamiliar with it: Tet is the single most important holiday in Vietnam, closer in feel to Christmas than to a Western New Year. People travel home to their families, often across the country. Businesses close, cities empty out, and the rhythm of daily life changes for about a week. That last part is what matters for a golf trip, and it works out better than most travellers expect.
Worth noting where Tet sits in the calendar: it lands immediately before February to April, which is the best stretch of the year for golf in Central Vietnam. Plenty of golfers book that window without realising the first week of it is a national holiday. Our guide to which months actually play best here covers the wider season.
Are golf courses open during Tet?
Yes. Vietnam’s major golf courses stay open through Tet, including the flagship courses around Da Nang and Hoi An. This is not a case of a few clubs making an exception — Tet is one of the busiest golf weeks of the Vietnamese year.
The reason is straightforward. Tet is when Vietnamese golfers actually have time off, and when overseas Vietnamese come home. Courses that spend most of the year serving international visitors and corporate groups fill up with domestic players instead. The tee sheet does not empty out over Tet; it fills differently.
Three practical consequences follow from that:
Tee times are scarce, not plentiful. Morning slots at the popular courses go first, and a walk-up round on mùng 1 is not a realistic plan. This is the week that needs the most lead time of the whole year. Our guide to how far ahead peak dates need locking covers the whole season month by month.
Most courses apply a holiday surcharge. This is standard across the industry during Tet, though the amount varies by course and by year. We confirm the exact rate for your dates at the time of booking rather than quoting a figure that will be out of date.
Caddie availability is usually fine, but thinner. Courses roster caddies through the holiday, and many work Tet because the tips are better. Still, this is the week where a group of twelve arriving without a confirmed booking would struggle.
What actually closes during Tet
This is where a Tet trip differs from any other week, and where a little planning saves a lot of frustration.
Small family-run restaurants close. The banh mi place you found on day one, the bun cha shop the caddie recommended, the corner coffee stand — many shut for two to four days from mùng 1 while the family celebrates. Some reopen on mùng 3, some not until after the week. There is rarely a sign explaining when.
Markets and small shops close. Local markets wind down before Tet and reopen gradually. Convenience chains stay open, usually on reduced hours.
Hotel restaurants and larger venues stay open. This is the practical fix. Hotels are fully staffed through Tet, and larger restaurants aimed at visitors keep trading. If your itinerary assumes you will wander out and find something, adjust it for the first two days and eat where you are staying.
Transport thins out. Grab and taxi availability drops on mùng 1 in particular, and drivers often charge a holiday premium. Pre-arranged transfers matter more this week than any other — a booked car turns up, an app-hailed one may not.
Golf courses, clubhouses and their restaurants are the exception to most of this. They are open, staffed and busy.
What a Tet golf trip actually feels like
Here is the part that does not come through in a checklist.
Da Nang on the morning of mùng 1 is unlike the city at any other time. Streets that carry constant motorbike traffic are close to silent. Shops are shuttered, families are indoors, and you can stand on a road that is normally chaos and hear birds. For visitors it is slightly eerie and genuinely memorable.
The decoration is everywhere in the week before. Yellow apricot blossom, mai vàng, appears outside houses and hotel lobbies across Central Vietnam, along with kumquat trees and marigolds. Clubhouses decorate too. On New Year’s Eve, Da Nang runs fireworks over the Han River.
And then you get to the course, and it is full of people. That contrast is the strange pleasure of a Tet golf trip: an empty city, a packed golf club. Our team has watched more than one international group arrive expecting a ghost town and find the busiest, most sociable round of their trip, with Vietnamese four-balls playing for stakes and celebrating on every green.
The food situation resolves itself too, in a way visitors do not anticipate. Vietnamese hospitality during Tet is generous to a fault. Groups who make friends on the tee frequently end up being offered banh chung and rice wine in the clubhouse.
Should you book over Tet, or avoid it?
An honest two-sided answer, because it genuinely suits some groups and not others.
Book it if you want the trip to have a story attached. The atmosphere is unrepeatable, the golf is good, the weather in early February in Central Vietnam is close to the best of the year, and the courses are lively rather than empty. Groups who enjoy meeting local players get more out of Tet week than any other.
Avoid it if your idea of a golf holiday involves eating your way through local street food, wandering into whatever restaurant looks good, or paying the lowest possible rate. The surcharge is real, the tee sheet is tight, and the food scene outside hotels contracts for a few days. If any of those matter, shift your dates a week or two later — mid-February onward gives you the same weather without the holiday.
Our team’s practical recommendation: if your dates are flexible and you have not travelled to Vietnam before, come the week after Tet. If you have been before, or you want something different from a standard golf week, Tet is worth doing deliberately rather than by accident.
Either way, book earlier than you think. Even the short itinerary most Tet groups book has to be locked well ahead over Tet week, because the tee times, hotel and transfers all tighten at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do golf courses close on the first day of Tet?
›
No. Vietnam’s major courses stay open through Tet, including mùng 1 itself. It is one of the busiest golf weeks of the year because Vietnamese golfers and overseas Vietnamese are all off work at the same time. What you should not expect is a walk-up tee time.
2. Do green fees go up during Tet?
›
Most courses apply a holiday surcharge over the Tet period. The amount varies by course and changes year to year, so we confirm the exact rate for your dates when we quote rather than publishing a number that goes stale. Budget for the round costing more than the same round in March.
3. Will caddies be working during Tet?
›
Yes. Courses roster caddies through the holiday and many are keen to work the week, since tipping is more generous. Staffing can be thinner than usual, which is another reason larger groups need to book early rather than turn up.
4. Should I give my caddie lì xì during Tet?
›
It is a lovely gesture and it will be understood immediately. Lì xì is the red envelope of lucky money given during Tet, and adding a modest amount to your usual tip in a red envelope is a small thing that lands very well. For the normal tipping range to build on, see what caddies normally expect.
5. What is there to see in Da Nang during Tet?
›
The city itself is the sight. Streets are extraordinarily quiet on the first two days, homes and hotels are decorated with yellow apricot blossom and kumquat trees, and Da Nang holds fireworks over the Han River on New Year’s Eve. Pagodas are busy with families in the first days of the year.
GoGolfVietnam is a golf tour operator based in Da Nang. We work through every Tet, and the week of 6 February 2027 is already on our calendar.
Get your free personalized itinerary & quote within 1 hour!
Last updated: August 2026. Course-by-course Tet schedules and holiday surcharges will be added here once the courses publish them, usually in January.
