Tet tour options abound

Local and foreign visitors have a variety of domestic tour options during the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet.
Foreign visitors check out Tet customs and learn how to wrap banh tet (glutinous rice cake) at a local home.
Tours designed for foreigners wishing to look into Tet culture and celebrations will start from the 23rd of the 12th lunar month to the fourth of the first lunar month, or from January 23 to February 3.
Vietravel has put on pre-Tet tour programs including those taking in Hanoi and the central region where international visitors can find out the culture of welcoming Tet in the country’s northern and central regions.
Tourists can opt for one of the tour programs that are on offer at Vietravel. The four-day Danang-Hue-Phong Nha-Ba Na-Hoi An tour brings visitors to the former imperial capital of Hue to visit jam and flower villages and the ancient town of Hoi An to see local people preparing for Tet festival. The other four-day tour takes in tourist destinations Hanoi, Yen Tu, Sapa, and Bai Dinh.
At Lua Viet Travel Company, the “Southern journey” tour going through HCMC, Soc Trang and Ca Mau is also one of the programs associated with other activities allowing visitors to discover the southern region through flower villages and Tet specialty production facilities.
Saigontourist Travel Service Company has tours “Enjoy southern spring, take Tet home” including visiting Tet flower villages and fairs in southern provinces, staying at a local home to inspect how people make traditional glutinous rice cakes and purchasing specialties as Tet gifts.
For foreign travelers, “Foreigners enjoy Tet 2014” tours offered by Saigontourist allow visitors to tour HCMC before visiting the Mekong Delta.
In HCMC, “Tet with Saigonese” tours lasting a half day take in Tao Dan Park where they can pray for peace and luck and the Chinese Vietnamese community area in District 5 where they can dine with residents and get lucky money. Meanwhile, the one-day program to the Mekong Delta will show visitors the Tet animated ambience in My Tho.
Ben Thanh Tourist has rolled out a special Tet program for foreign tourists in HCMC, with traditional Tet markets, Nguyen Hue Flower Street and flower fairs among the places of interest. The firm will arrange traditional Tet welcoming programs such as joining a party, offering a Tet wish and giving lucky money on the first day of the Lunar New Year.