Ho Chi Minh City Events - March 2026
Complete guide to events in Ho Chi Minh City for March 2026. Found 3 events with dates, venues and entry details. March 2026 was the city's post-Tet cultural season and the strongest month of the year for the ao dai, Vietnam's national garment.
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🎨 Cultural & Fashion Events
Ho Chi Minh City Ao Dai Festival 2026 (12th edition)
📅 Sunday, March 1 - Tuesday, March 31, 2026 (peak 6-8 March)
The city's flagship cultural festival and the best month of the year for the ao dai. The 12th edition ran the whole of March under the theme "Golden Threads - Weaving Aspirations", with 37 designers, around 400 ao dai creations, some 600 performers and models, and 37 ambassadors. The opening ceremony was held on the evening of 6 March and the peak programme ran 6-8 March.
Organizer: Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and Ho Chi Minh City Women's Union
Location: President Ho Chi Minh Monument Park and Nguyen Hue pedestrian street, with the 92-96 Nguyen Hue showroom, Metro Line 1 stations and cultural sites across the city
📍 Location: Nguyen Hue pedestrian street, District 1 and city-wide venues
🏷️ Categories: Cultural, Fashion, Heritage, Free
International Women's Day Ao Dai Parade
📅 Sunday, March 8, 2026 (morning)
The visual set-piece of the festival: a city-wide mass folk dance and ao dai parade marking International Women's Day and the Hai Ba Trung uprising. Around 50,000 women took part across the city, with roughly 3,000 of them on Nguyen Hue pedestrian street.
Organizer: Ho Chi Minh City Women's Union
Location: Nguyen Hue pedestrian street and sites across Ho Chi Minh City
📍 Location: Nguyen Hue pedestrian street (about 3,000 participants) and city-wide (about 50,000 in total)
🏷️ Categories: Civic, Cultural, Parade, Free
🎓 Workshops & Community
Children's Ao Dai Drawing Contest
📅 Saturday, March 7 - Sunday, March 15, 2026
The participatory half of the Ao Dai Festival: a drawing contest for school students, run across the city and tied to the festival's themes, with registration through schools and wards. Entry was free.
Organizer: Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and Ho Chi Minh City Women's Union
Location: Schools across Ho Chi Minh City
📍 Location: Schools across Ho Chi Minh City
🏷️ Categories: Workshop, Community, Cultural, Free
🕐 Market Hours & Seasonal Notes
Ben Thanh Market's standing hours, which do not change with the event calendar: the day market runs 06:00-18:00, and the night market - the street-food and souvenir side - runs from 18:00 to about 22:00-23:00.
March 2026 carried no Vietnamese public holiday.