What to do in Vietnam in April?

April – when the weather changing from Spring to Summer, leaves change color to welcome the sun in this  beautiful tropical country, is good time to visit Vietnam. It is so much warmer but not too hot yet. You could feel the festive mood in the air and see the nice changing of weather and plan so much different in 3 major parts of this S shaped country ( North, Central and South Vietnam).

In the Northern, April is really the best time of the year with green trees, green rice fields, folowers in the temperature of average 20- 25 C degrees. It is warm enough for visitors to deep in the jaded color water in Ha Long Bay and exploring tour in the far northern mountains up in Sapa, Ha Giang or Mu Cang Chai.

In the Central of Vietnam, explorers can choose Phong Nha Ke Bang or even Son Doong cave next to the  famous attractions Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An. The further down South, the warmer it is. South of Vietnam is good  choice for visitors from Scandinavian countries.

Down the South, it is typical weather of tropical country that hot all years around. You could feel great with sun tan when relax on nice sunny beach in Qui Nhon, Nha Trang, Mui Ne,  famous Phu Quoc island or newly visited Con Dao island or discover the canals by boat in productive orchard in Mekong Delta. Vietnam has so much to offer.
It is not only about food, or sites or beautiful scenery, this article, I will recommend you to attend the festival in Vietnam in April, feel and touch the spiritual life and culture of local people.

Elephant racing festival

This festival open in the middle of Spring ( Elephants finish their works and have more time to relax), They choose the date in the 3rd month of the lunar year.  The location is Don Village. Actually it is the muddy Lak Lake near the Serepok River (Dac Lak province). The race track is on even ground where there are only has a few big trees. The width of the track is large enough for 10 elephants racing in the racing platform of  1-2 km.

The elephant race is the biggest festival in the central highland. It bears the martial spirit of the M’Nong ethnic group, who have talents of training elephants.

Buffalo Sacrifice Festival

This festival of  people in Central highland of Vietnam.  April is time when farm works finished. People sacrifice buffalo as the gift to Heaven who blessed them the good harvest and looking for even better harvest in the coming years. They have a spiritual tree where the shaman could communicate to Genies who believed has magic power to control weather and keep diseases away from community. After the the rites is party with lots of “Can” drinks lots of activities to keep people united and create lots of opportunities for young boy and girls to meet and get to know each other.

Hue Festival 2019

The festival is organized every two years in April, May or June in the former imperial capital of Hue, the Hue Festival condenses the best of Hue’s culture into a single week-long festival.

A series of activities of puppetry, dance, royal music, and acrobatics will be performed in different sites  int eh big compound of the city, although most of them are conducted inside Hue Citadel.

Thay Pagoda Festival

The Thay Pagoda is located about 18 miles Southwest from Hanoi, or an hour drive. This is home of Vietnam water puppetry.
The Festival takes place on the 5th to the 7th day of the Third month of the Lunar Year (9/4/2019 – 11/4/2019) to celebrate master monk Tu Dao Hanh’s life with a procession of the monk’s worshiping tablet, borne by representatives from four villages.

Thay Pagoda festival is celebrated by laymen with many water puppetry performances, particularly at the Thuy Dinh House in front of Tu Dao Hanh’s pagoda.

Hung King Festival – 14/4/2019

The main festival lasts for 3 days from the 9th to the 11th of the 3rd lunar month
All the spiritual rites performing on the 10th day (it falls on 14 April 2019) and commences with a flower ceremony, held in Thuong Temple, where the Hung Kings used to worship deities with full rituals, the ceremony consists of a lavish five-fruit feast.

The Hung Temple Festival not only attracts visitors from all over and allows visitors to participate in special traditional cultural activities. It is also a sacred journey to respect the ancestors of Vietnamese- a nice culture of local people.

Chu Dong Tu Festival

This festival last for three days from the 10th – 12th of the third lunar month (in middle of April) in Chu Dong Tu Temple in Du Hoa Village, Chau Giang District, Hung Yen province (~30 km from Hanoi).

Chu Dong Tu was consider as Saint in Vietnam culture. He was 1 of 4 top respected Saints of this community. Chu Dong Tu was a cultural hero and the founder of wet-rice civilization because he conquered all  major challenges of Arming works and developed agriculture and trade. After the ceremony, there is a procession to remind people of the legend, life, and work of Saint Chu Dong Tu and his spouses.

Whale Festival ” Nghing Ong”

The Whale Festival has been annually and continuously organized for centuries. This is the biggest water festival of the fishermen in Quang Nam, Danang province.

The worshiping of the whale tog respect to their God of sea and praying prosperity & productive fishing trip for the villagers.

This festival last for two days in the middle of the 3rd lunar month ( April), is held to respect the Whale God and to pray for the safety and prosperity of the village. All the fishing boats and villagers in all of of Vietnam sea and territory.

Reunification Day – April 30th

Reunification Day – April 30^th marks ending the Vietnam War ( local called American Wars) that make unification of North & South Vietnam. All Vietnamese have a off to celebrate an important national events

If you’re in town during this holiday, you’ll find the Vietnamese flag on every house; the patriotism extends into the streets, with lights and flags decorating the entire Vietnam. Major cities all have massive celebrations and lots of parties and drinks. Come to Vietnam in April and you will love it.