What is the Mid-Autumn Festival?
The Mid-Autumn Festival, known in Vietnamese as Tet Trung Thu, is a traditional harvest and children’s festival celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest. It is one of the most important dates in the Vietnamese year, a time for family reunions, moon-gazing, and above all for children, who are given lanterns and mooncakes and taken out into the streets to celebrate. Some visitors call it the Lantern Festival, after the lanterns that are its most visible symbol.
In Ho Chi Minh City the festival has a particular energy. This is often thought of as a Chinese celebration, and the Chinese-Vietnamese community of Cho Lon does mark it beautifully, but the Mid-Autumn Festival is as Vietnamese as it is Chinese, and it is celebrated right across the city rather than in one neighbourhood. For weeks beforehand, lantern stalls appear, mooncakes fill the bakeries, and the sound of lion dance drums echoes through the neighbourhoods. It is the biggest event of the year for children in Saigon, and the whole city takes part.
For the full story behind the festival, including its legends and traditions across the country, see our guide to the Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam.
When is the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated?
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, which usually lands in September or October. Because it follows the lunar calendar, the date changes every year, so it is always worth checking the exact day for the year you are travelling.
Here are the dates for the next few years:
- 2026: Saturday 26 September
- 2027: Wednesday 15 September
- 2028: Tuesday 3 October
- 2029: Sunday 23 September
Here is the important part: while the festival itself is a single night, the Mid-Autumn Festival in Ho Chi Minh City is not really a one-day event. The build-up runs for weeks. The lantern streets are decorated and busy from around two to three weeks beforehand, mooncakes appear in the shops a month ahead, and the lion dances and neighbourhood celebrations start days before the full moon itself. So you do not need to be in Saigon on the exact night to experience it. Any time in the couple of weeks leading up to the date, the city is already deep in the festival.
One practical note: the Mid-Autumn Festival is not a public holiday in Vietnam. Shops, offices, banks and tours all run as normal, transport is unaffected, and nothing closes down. That makes it one of the easiest festivals to experience as a visitor, because you can enjoy it without any disruption to the rest of your trip.
Things to do during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Ho Chi Minh City
The Mid-Autumn Festival in Ho Chi Minh City is spread across the whole city, and how you experience it depends a little on luck and a little on knowing where to go. Some of it you can plan for, like a visit to the lantern street, and some of it you simply stumble across, like a lion dance troupe drumming its way down a side street. Here is what to look out for and where to find it.
1. Visit Luong Nhu Hoc lantern street
If you do one thing for the Mid-Autumn Festival in Saigon, make it this. Luong Nhu Hoc street in District 5, known simply as the lantern street, is the single most famous spot in the city for the festival, and for good reason. In the weeks before the full moon, the narrow street fills with stalls selling lanterns of every shape and colour, from traditional star and carp designs to modern LED creations, and the shops spill out onto the pavements in a glowing tunnel of light.
It is busiest and most beautiful in the evening, when everything is lit up, and it draws crowds of families and young people shopping, posing for photos, and soaking up the atmosphere. It is genuinely photogenic and a lot of fun, though be ready for it to be packed, especially on weekends between about 7 and 10pm. To see it a little calmer, go on a weekday, or earlier in the season before the peak.
There is a lot more to know about visiting, from the best times to the photo etiquette, in our full guide to Luong Nhu Hoc lantern street.
2. Explore Chinatown
The lantern street is the star, but it sits within the wider Chinatown, Cho Lon, which is worth exploring properly during the festival. The surrounding streets, including Nguyen Trai and Tran Hung Dao, are decorated too, the shops are full of lanterns, toys and mooncakes, and the temples take on a special atmosphere. Stop into Thien Hau Pagoda, one of the oldest and most beautiful temples in the city, and wander the alleys off the main street, where you are most likely to come across a lion dance troupe practising or performing.
Cho Lon is the traditional heart of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Ho Chi Minh City, but remember it is the heart, not the whole. The festival is happening all over the city at the same time.
3. Watch the lion dances
The lion dance, mua lan, is one of the essential sights and sounds of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and you will very likely hear one before you see it. A team of acrobatic dancers moves the lion to a fast, loud drumbeat, often led by a grinning masked figure representing the Earth God, and it is believed to bring luck and drive away bad spirits.
Here is the thing worth understanding: the lion dances are everywhere, not just in Chinatown, and they are as Vietnamese as they are Chinese. They pop up in ordinary neighbourhoods all over the city, at schools, outside shops, and door to door, often organised by the local ward as its biggest children’s event of the year. The catch is that they are scattered across different places and dates, frequently start days before the main night, and follow no fixed public schedule. The best way to catch one is simply to follow the drums when you hear them, or to base yourself somewhere local, which we come back to in the tips below.
4. Understanding the lantern parades
You may read about lantern parades and go looking for a big organised procession. It is worth setting expectations here, because that is not quite how it works in Ho Chi Minh City.
The famous large-scale lantern parades, with giant floats and thousands of participants, happen up north in Tuyen Quang, not in Saigon. Here, the parade is a smaller, more informal, neighbourhood affair: groups of children carry their lit lanterns around their own streets in the evening, singing festival songs and following the lion dancers. It is charming and genuine, but it is a community activity rather than a scheduled event you can turn up to, so the best way to see it is, again, to be in a residential area rather than in the middle of District 1 on the night.
5. Buy and eat mooncakes
Mooncakes, banh trung thu, are the edible heart of the festival, and you cannot miss them. For weeks beforehand, mooncake stalls and elaborate pop-up stands appear on street corners and outside bakeries all over the city, selling beautifully boxed sets that Vietnamese people buy to share with family and give as gifts.
They come in two main styles: baked mooncakes, with a rich pastry shell, and the softer, chewier sticky mooncakes. Fillings range from sweet lotus seed, mung bean and taro to savoury versions packed with salted egg yolk, seeds and shredded meat, and they are traditionally eaten in small slices with tea. Try one even if the dense, sweet texture is not what you are used to, because they are central to the whole occasion.
6. Enjoy the decorated cafes and malls
Like Christmas and Tet, the Mid-Autumn Festival has a modern side that is more about atmosphere than tradition, and it is where a lot of adults enjoy it. Cafes across the city put up festive decorations and serve mooncakes with tea, making a nice, low-key way to mark the occasion.
The shopping malls go much bigger. Places like Crescent Mall, Vincom and Aeon build large lantern displays and themed installations, sometimes with giant dragon or carp lanterns metres long, and run free family events with lion dances, games and performances. They are air-conditioned, easy, and genuinely popular with local families, and a good option if you are travelling with children or want the festival without the crowds of Cho Lon.
7. Go moon-gazing on the river
At its core, the Mid-Autumn Festival is about admiring the full moon, and one of the nicest ways to do that in Ho Chi Minh City is from the water. On the evening of the festival, taking the Saigon Waterbus along the river gives you the full moon rising over the city skyline, away from the crowds and the noise.
It is calm, breezy, and a little romantic, the opposite of the packed lantern street, and it connects you back to the quiet heart of the festival that the busy streets can make you forget. A riverside spot or rooftop works just as well if you would rather stay on land.
8. See the lanterns at Crescent Lake
Over in District 7, the promenade around Crescent Lake is turned into a walk of lights and lanterns for the festival, and it is the modern, spacious alternative to Cho Lon. It is cleaner, calmer and far less crowded than the lantern street, with room for children to run around, and the reflections of the lanterns on the water are lovely in the evening. If you are staying on that side of the city, or you want a gentler version of the festival with young children, this is a good place to head.
Practical tips for the Mid-Autumn Festival in Ho Chi Minh City
A few things are worth knowing to get the most out of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Ho Chi Minh City, especially since so much of it happens away from the obvious tourist spots.
Stay somewhere local to find the real thing
This is the single best tip. The most memorable parts of the festival, the neighbourhood lion dances and the children’s lantern parades, are community events that are not advertised anywhere, so they are hard to find if you are staying in a District 1 hotel. Staying at a family-run homestay a little outside the centre changes that completely. Your hosts will know exactly where and when the local lion dances are happening, and you will be right in the middle of a real neighbourhood celebration rather than looking for one from the outside.
Go in the evening, and go early
The Mid-Autumn Festival comes alive after dark, when the lanterns are lit and the lion dances begin, with the peak energy roughly between 6 and 9pm. If you are heading to the lantern street or another popular spot, get there early in the evening to enjoy it and take photos before the biggest crowds arrive, particularly on weekends. After about 9:30pm the crowds thin out and it becomes a nicer time to wander.
Buy something before you take photos
A small but important piece of etiquette at the lantern stalls. The shops make their living selling lanterns, and they have grown tired of people using their stock as a photo backdrop and then leaving without buying anything, sometimes returning damaged lanterns. If you want photos with the lanterns, buy one first. It is inexpensive, it keeps the vendors happy, and you get a souvenir out of it.
Bring cash
The stalls, the lanterns, the mooncakes and the street food are all cash. Card payment is rare among the small vendors who make the festival what it is, so carry enough Vietnamese dong for the evening.
Take home a lantern or mooncakes
The festival makes for great Vietnam souvenirs. Many of the traditional lanterns fold flat, so they pack easily into a suitcase and make a genuinely unusual thing to bring home. Boxed mooncakes are the other option: they often come in beautiful gift boxes, which is exactly how Vietnamese people give them, and that makes them a more meaningful souvenir than the usual fridge magnet.
Great for families with children
Remember that this is first and foremost a children’s festival, so if you are travelling with kids in Ho Chi Minh City, this is one of the best times of year to be in the city. They can carry a lantern, watch the lion dances, and join in with local children, and it is the kind of warm, welcoming occasion where families are made to feel at home.
Watch your belongings and the weather
Two quick practical points. The first is about being safe with your belongings. The popular spots get very crowded in the evening, so keep your phone and wallet secure and in front of you, as busy festival crowds are where pickpockets work. The second is the weather: because the festival falls in the rainy season, keep a poncho or small raincoat handy for the sudden downpours that can arrive in the afternoon or evening.
