Trails of Vietnam--Traveling During the TET Holiday We were a group of 7 representing 5 nationalities. The size of the group bonded us quickly and kept it that way through out the trip. Couple with an excellent guide it was and will be remembered as a memorable trip.
Before booking a trip in January or February check to see when the TET holiday will occur and decide if potential deviations from the standard trip notes will have an impact on what you want to see and experience.
TET is not a festival, rather a holiday period for the Vietnamese people to leave the cities and return to the country to spend time with their families. Millions of people are on the move which starts with the Vietnamese New Years Eve. All told we experienced the impact from Day 5 through Day 13 of our trip. Some guide books will advise you not to visit during TET as you will experience closed businesses and the businesses that remain open often hike their prices. While the hotels are operating restaurants options are limited and may only offer a set course meal to serve to tourists. Our guide was constantly adjusting our schedule to accommodate for TET--substituting a cycle day for a kayak trip, locating someone to do our laundry while in Hoi An and of course picking our restaurants. On the plus side there was less traffic to deal with.
Highly recommended: Cycling Vietnam As mentioned in the previous reviews..."Fantastic tour well organized from beginning to end
Wonderful way to see the country and sample the culture"
The group leader and his support team were terrific, always happy, helpful and having fun making the experience more enjoyable.
Having vehicle support along the rides meant, if any problems arise no-one gets left behind.
Just finished the cycle and can only say positive things, the teams on every leg of the journey is amazing, we had a mixed group of ability and no one was every left behind. The team have a safety first policy and if there is one thing about this trip, you will never leave feeling hungry thirsty or not knowing the answer to every question you have.