What is the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival?
Vietnam is the second largest coffee exporter in the world, and the heart of that industry is Buon Ma Thuot. The city sits in Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands, surrounded by roughly 210,000 hectares of coffee farmland that produce more than 30 percent of Vietnam’s total annual output. Coffee here is not a niche crop — it defines the regional economy and shapes the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, including many from the area’s ethnic minority communities.
The festival exists to celebrate exactly that. It honours the farmers, processors, and traders behind the industry, while promoting Buon Ma Thuot’s coffee on the international stage. Alongside the commercial programme, it functions as a major cultural event for the Central Highlands — showcasing gong music, traditional performances, and the heritage of the region’s ethnic minorities, including traditions that UNESCO has recognised as intangible cultural heritage.
First held in 2005, the festival has grown steadily in scale and international reach. What started as a regional showcase has become a platform where Vietnam’s coffee industry engages with global buyers, attracts investment, and positions Buon Ma Thuot as a serious destination for coffee professionals and enthusiasts alike. The 2025 edition drew around 250,000 visitors over five days, including roughly 1,800 international guests.
When is the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival?
The festival takes place every two years in March, typically running for five days. It always opens on or around March 10 — a date that holds significance in Dak Lak as the anniversary of the Buon Ma Thuot Victory of 1975. The opening and closing ceremonies are the anchor events, with the bulk of the programme spread across the days in between.
Below is an overview of recent and upcoming editions:
| Edition | Year | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| 7th | 2019 | — |
| 8th | 2023 | Dak Lak – Destination of the Coffee World |
| 9th | 2025 | Buon Ma Thuot – Destination of World Coffee |
| 10th | 2027 | TBC |
The next edition is expected in March 2027. No dates or theme have been announced yet. If you are planning a trip specifically around the festival, check official announcements from the Dak Lak provincial government or the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association closer to the time, as exact dates are typically confirmed a few months in advance.
Where does the festival take place?
The festival is centred on Buon Ma Thuot city, with most of the main events within easy reach of the city centre. A handful of satellite events take place elsewhere in Dak Lak, worth knowing about if you plan to stay for the full duration.
Main venues in Buon Ma Thuot
10/3 Square is the heart of the festival. The opening and closing ceremonies both take place here, drawing the largest crowds of the entire event. It is also where the light festival and drone shows are staged in the evenings.
The Provincial Cultural Center hosts the coffee industry trade fair and OCOP products exhibition — the main indoor exhibition space where hundreds of booths from Vietnamese and international organisations are set up across the festival days.
Ko Tam Community Tourism Site, on the outskirts of the city, is where the specialty coffee roasting competitions are held. It doubles as a pleasant spot to visit independently, with a community ecotourism setup surrounded by coffee gardens.
The Victory Monument area is the starting point for the street festival and parade, one of the more visually impressive parts of the programme.
Satellite events outside the city
Buon Don, around 50 kilometres northwest of Buon Ma Thuot, hosts the Elephant Festival — a separate but connected event that runs alongside the coffee festival. Lak District, roughly 50 kilometres southeast, hosts a traditional boat race on Lak Lake. Both are worth considering if you have extra days to spare.
Highlights of the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival
The festival runs a packed programme across five days, with a mix of trade events, cultural performances, competitions, and community activities. The specific lineup changes with each edition, but certain highlights have become recurring features of the event.
Opening and closing ceremonies
Both ceremonies take place at 10/3 Square and are free to attend. The opening night is the centrepiece of the entire festival — a large-scale performance combining music, dance, lighting, and fireworks that draws the biggest crowds of the week. If you are in Buon Ma Thuot for only part of the festival, this is the one event to plan around. The closing ceremony follows a similar format but on a smaller scale.
Free coffee day
On the first day of the festival, hundreds of cafes and businesses across the city offer complimentary coffee to visitors. It is one of the most enjoyable parts of the entire event — a genuine celebration of local coffee culture rather than a staged attraction. Expect queues at the more popular spots, but the atmosphere across the city makes it worthwhile.
Street festival and parade
A recurring highlight of the festival, the street festival brings together performers, artisans, and art troupes in a parade format. Evening drone shows and light installations have featured in recent editions. It is lively, photogenic, and gives a better sense of Central Highlands culture than most of the indoor programme.
Coffee exhibition and trade fair
Open to the public, the trade fair is worth a visit even if the commercial side does not interest you. With hundreds of booths — including international exhibitors from coffee-producing countries — it is a practical place to taste different coffees, learn about processing and roasting, and buy quality beans or local products. Recent editions have featured around 400 booths across Vietnamese and foreign participants.
Specialty coffee competitions
Roasting and brewing competitions for Vietnamese coffee professionals have featured at recent editions, typically held at Ko Tam Community Tourism Site on the outskirts of the city. They are open to spectators and offer a more focused, craft-oriented coffee experience than the trade fair.
Satellite events in Dak Lak
Past editions have included events in other parts of Dak Lak running alongside the main city programme — most notably a boat race on Lak Lake in Lak District, around 50 kilometres southeast of Buon Ma Thuot. The lake is one of the more scenic spots in the region and worth combining with a day trip regardless of the festival calendar.
Buon Don Elephant Festival
Past editions of the coffee festival have included a separate Elephant Festival running simultaneously in Buon Don, around 50 kilometres northwest of Buon Ma Thuot. The Mnong people of the Central Highlands have a long history with elephants — traditionally capturing and training wild elephants for use in logging, transport, and trade. That history is genuinely significant to the region’s culture and identity.
What is worth knowing is that making a wild elephant safe around humans requires a breaking process that is cruel by nature. Every domesticated elephant in the area has been through it. Many show lasting signs of the experience. The shift toward tourism has not changed that reality, and riding and performing activities — where they still exist — add to it.
If elephant-related events are part of the programme when you visit, it is worth looking carefully at what is actually on offer before participating. Observing from a distance is always an option. Riding and performance-based activities are best avoided.
Practical tips for attending the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival
Getting to Buon Ma Thuot
Flying is the most practical option for most visitors. Buon Ma Thuot’s Phung Duc Airport (BMV) has direct connections from Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang. The flight from Ho Chi Minh City takes around an hour and is the most frequent route. The airport sits close to the city centre, so getting to your accommodation from there is straightforward by Grab or taxi.
There is no train to Buon Ma Thuot. Buses run from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, but the journey times are long — around 8 hours from Ho Chi Minh City on a good day — and the festival period is not the most comfortable time to be on an overnight bus given how busy the city gets. Flying is worth the extra cost.
Book accommodation early
The city fills up quickly during the festival. Hotels and guesthouses at all price points get booked out weeks in advance, sometimes months. If you are planning to attend, locking in accommodation as early as possible is not optional advice — it is genuinely necessary. Prices also rise during the festival period, so early booking helps on both counts.
Getting around during the festival
Grab works reliably in Buon Ma Thuot for getting between venues. Motorbike rental is a practical option if you are comfortable riding and want more flexibility, particularly for day trips to satellite events like Lak Lake or Buon Don. The main festival venues in the city centre are close enough to each other that walking between them is often the easiest option.
Crowds and timing
The opening night ceremony at 10/3 Square draws the largest crowds of the entire festival. Arriving early is advisable — the square fills up well before the performances begin. The free coffee day on the opening morning is similarly busy at the most popular cafes. Outside of these peak moments, the festival is large enough that the crowds spread across venues without becoming unmanageable.
How many days do you need?
Two to three days covers the main city programme comfortably. Add a day or two if you want to visit Lak Lake, explore coffee plantations outside the city, or make the trip to Buon Don. The festival is also a good anchor for a broader Dak Lak trip — the region has enough to fill a week, with waterfalls, national parks, and ethnic minority villages all within reach of Buon Ma Thuot.
Is the festival worth attending if you are not a coffee enthusiast?
Yes, with realistic expectations. The cultural programme — street festival, gong music performances, ethnic minority showcases — stands on its own merits. The trade fair and competitions are coffee-focused, but the opening ceremony, free coffee day, and street festival are enjoyable regardless of how much you care about coffee. That said, the city of Buon Ma Thuot itself is not a major tourist destination outside of the festival period, so most visitors combine attendance with broader exploration of Dak Lak rather than treating it as a standalone city trip.
