Ho Chi Minh City Events - 2027

Every dated 2027 day Ben Thanh Market has confirmed for the year, month by month. January and February each carry three dated days and have a page of their own; the rest of the year carries its confirmed dates here in full.

Every date below is fixed by law, by the lunar calendar, by custom, or by the organiser. Where a month has only one or two confirmed so far, its section says so rather than stretching to fill one.

🕐 Market hours and entry, all year

These are standing terms, not dates: they hold in every month of 2027 and are not repeated in the month sections below.

The market's rulebook sets opening hours of 07:00 to 22:00, with fresh and cooked food stalls opening at 04:00; public holidays, Tet and other days off are by separate notice. (Nội quy chợ, Điều 1.)

On the ground the covered hall trades from about 06:00 and most traders wind down around 18:00 — that is what you will see, not what the rulebook sets.

Entry is free — the rulebook charges nothing to walk around the hall (Nội quy chợ, Điều 4.3). Our opening hours guide explains what each window measures and why the rulebook clock and the observed day are not the same thing.

🛍️ The four trading areas and the operator's numbering

The operator divides the hall into four numbered areas (Khu vực) and each area into blocks it calls Ô. Two areas run on odd stall numbers and two on even, so a stall number alone narrows the hall to two of the four areas. This is the operator's own zoning, not a visitor's sketch.

Area	Stall numbers	What it sells
Area I	odd, 1–741	Fabric, clothing, children's goods, bags, embroidered pictures, bedding, thread (1–627); leather goods, bags, raincoats, tablecloths (629–665); cosmetics and jewellery (667–741)
Area II	even, 2–794	Fabric, clothing, children's goods, embroidered pictures, bedding (2–520); footwear, beaded bags, general goods (522–794)
Area III	odd, 743–1,145	Coffee, tea, confectionery, spices, dried and processed foods, fish sauce (Ô 3A); plated jewellery, hats, worship goods, kitchenware (Ô 3B); fruit and vegetables, staples, fresh food (Ô 3C–3F)
Area IV	even, 796–1,392	Handicrafts, home appliances, porcelain and glass (Ô 4A), rattan, bamboo and plastics (Ô 4B); eating (Ô 4C); processed food (Ô 4D); fresh food and vegetables (Ô 4E–4F)

The Lê Thánh Tôn frontage along the north side is fruit, fresh flowers and artificial flowers. The operator counts nearly 1,400 trading households in the building, and stall numbers run as high as 1,392; every stall holder is required to display a number board, so the numbers above the stalls are the market's own numbering. The full block-by-block breakdown is in our area and stall-number guide.

January 2027

January 2027 has three dated days worth planning a market visit around: New Year's Day on Friday 1 January, the Eximbank HCMC Marathon on Sunday 17 January, and Ông Công Ông Táo on Saturday 30 January — the market's first true Tết day. One is a public holiday, one closes the streets around the building, and the third opens the market's own Tết season.

📋 January 2027 — New Year's Day, the HCMC Marathon and Ông Công Ông Táo

February 2027

February 2027 is the Tết month. The public holiday runs Thursday 4 to Wednesday 10 February, Tết Day itself is Saturday 6 February, and two lunar days follow it: Vía Thần Tài on 15 February and the year's first full moon, Tết Nguyên Tiêu, on 20 February.

📋 February 2027 — Tết, Vía Thần Tài and the year's first full moon

March 2027

March 2027 carries two confirmed dated days: the year's first big flower day at the market on Monday 8 March, and a market trading day on Friday 26 March. No further 2027 dates for the month are published yet, so both are recorded here in full.

International Women's Day — the year's first big flower day

📅 Mon 8 Mar 2027

📍 Where: Market-wide; the flower and gift stalls, with Hồ Thị Kỷ wholesale market (District 10) as the source end

Fixed to 8 March every year. Hồ Thị Kỷ, the city's wholesale flower market, names it as one of its four peaks, so the roses at Ben Thanh are at their most expensive and most plentiful in the days around it.

Vía Quan Âm — the offering and vegetarian trade (19th day of the 2nd lunar month)

📅 Fri 26 Mar 2027

📍 Where: Market-wide; the offering and vegetarian stalls

Fixed by the lunar calendar to the 19th day of the second lunar month, which falls on 26 March in 2027. At the market the day is the offering and vegetarian trade: the offering goods and the vegetarian food are what sells on it.

April 2027

Two dated days are confirmed for April 2027 so far: Vietnam Book Day on Wednesday 21 April, and Reunification Day on Friday 30 April, which opens the four-day public holiday running to Monday 3 May. No further 2027 dates for the month are published yet.

Vietnam Book Day — Ngày Sách và Văn hóa đọc Việt Nam

📅 Wed 21 Apr 2027

📍 Where: Nguyễn Văn Bình Book Street, about 1.1 km from the market

Fixed to 21 April every year by government decision (1862/QĐ-TTg, 4 November 2021). The 2027 city programme has not been published; Book Street is a 15-minute walk from the market's dry-goods aisles.

Reunification Day — Ngày Giải phóng miền Nam

📅 Fri 30 Apr 2027 (public holidays 30 Apr – 3 May)

📍 Where: Citywide; 30/4 Park and the Independence Palace about 1.1 km from the market

A fixed date and one of the three domestic-travel blocks that drive the year's prices and crowds. The market's own rulebook hours are 07:00–22:00 with holidays announced separately.

May 2027

May 2027 opens inside the 30 April – 3 May holiday block, with International Labour Day on Saturday 1 May, and carries Phật Đản, the Buddha's birthday, on Thursday 20 May. No further 2027 dates for the month are published yet.

International Labour Day

📅 Sat 1 May 2027 (public holidays 30 Apr – 3 May)

📍 Where: Citywide

The second day of the year's first four-day break. The market's rulebook hours are 07:00–22:00 with the fresh-food and eating lines from 04:00, subject to the separate holiday notice.

Phật Đản — the Buddha's birthday

📅 Thu 20 May 2027 (Vesak week, 13–20 May)

📍 Where: Market-wide; the vegetarian and offering stalls, and the city's pagodas

Two dates compete: the 8th day of the fourth lunar month (13 May) and the full moon of the fourth month (20 May), which is the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha's official day and governs the week. 2027's full-moon date is Thursday 20 May.

June 2027

June 2027 has two family-and-food days: International Children's Day on Tuesday 1 June and Tết Đoan Ngọ, the Double Fifth, on Wednesday 9 June. Neither date is one of Vietnam's twelve paid public holidays, so both fall inside an ordinary trading week. No further 2027 dates for the month are published yet.

International Children's Day — Ngày Quốc tế Thiếu nhi

📅 Tue 1 Jun 2027

📍 Where: Market-wide; the toy, candy and children's-clothes stalls

Fixed to 1 June every year. Not a public holiday, but a family day across the city. The toy, candy and children's-clothes stalls restock for it, which is where the market's part of the day happens.

Tết Đoan Ngọ — the Double Fifth (5th day of the 5th lunar month)

📅 Wed 9 Jun 2027

📍 Where: Market-wide; the fruit, bánh tro and rượu nếp stalls

Vietnam's "insect-killing" festival: fermented glutinous rice, plums and fruit, and bánh tro are the traditional buys. Fixed by the lunar calendar to the fifth day of the fifth month, which falls on 9 June in 2027.

July 2027

July 2027 has no dated day a market visitor can attend: no public holiday and no announced programme. What the month does have is the market itself — the rulebook hours and the four trading areas above are July's answer, and this is the month they work hardest, because July is HCMC's deepest rainy-season month and everything listed above is under cover. The next dated day in the year is Lễ Vu Lan on Monday 16 August, in August below.

August 2027

August 2027 is the seventh lunar month — Ghost Month — which opens on Monday 2 August and peaks at Lễ Vu Lan, the festival of filial piety, on Monday 16 August. No further 2027 dates for the month are published yet.

Ghost Month opens — mùng 1 tháng Bảy

📅 Mon 2 Aug 2027

📍 Where: Market-wide; the votive-paper, incense and offering stalls

The whole seventh lunar month is offering season; from its first day the paper-goods stalls run full and prices hold until the full moon two weeks later.

Lễ Vu Lan — the festival of filial piety (rằm tháng Bảy)

📅 Mon 16 Aug 2027

📍 Where: Market-wide and the city's pagodas

The month's peak. Adults wear a rose at pagoda services — red if their mother is living, white if she has died — and vegetarian trays are bought by the dozen from the market's cooked-food rows. Not a public holiday.

September 2027

September 2027 has National Day on Thursday 2 September, inside a four-day break to Sunday 5 September, and Tết Trung Thu — Mid-Autumn — on Wednesday 15 September. No further 2027 dates for the month are published yet.

National Day — Quốc khánh

📅 Thu 2 Sep 2027 (public holidays 2–5 Sep)

📍 Where: Citywide; 23/9 Park is across Lê Lai from the market's south gate, beyond Quách Thị Trang Square

A fixed date and one of the year's three domestic-travel blocks. The 2027 city programme has not been announced.

Tết Trung Thu — Mid-Autumn Festival

📅 Wed 15 Sep 2027

📍 Where: Market-wide; the mooncake stalls

Mooncake selling runs for weeks before the full moon — lotus-seed paste and salted egg yolk by the box — and the festival night itself is a children's night of lanterns and lion dances.

October 2027

One dated day is confirmed for October 2027 so far: Vietnamese Women's Day on Wednesday 20 October, the year's second big flower day at the market. No further 2027 dates for the month are published yet.

Vietnamese Women's Day — the year's second big flower day

📅 Wed 20 Oct 2027

📍 Where: Market-wide; the flower and gift stalls, with Hồ Thị Kỷ as the wholesale end

Fixed to 20 October every year. Hồ Thị Kỷ names it as one of its flower peaks alongside 8 March, so expect the market's rose and gift stalls to be busiest around it.

November 2027

November 2027 has Vietnamese Teachers' Day on Saturday 20 November and Vietnam Culture Day on Wednesday 24 November, a one-day public holiday. No further 2027 dates for the month are published yet.

Vietnamese Teachers' Day — Ngày Nhà giáo Việt Nam

📅 Sat 20 Nov 2027

📍 Where: Market-wide; the flower and gift stalls

Fixed to 20 November every year by government decision (167-HĐBT, 28 September 1982). Flowers and small gifts are the traditional purchase, and the trade is at the schools as much as at the market.

Vietnam Culture Day — Ngày Văn hóa Việt Nam

📅 Wed 24 Nov 2027

📍 Where: Citywide; city cultural programme at District 1 venues

A one-day public holiday among Vietnam's twelve paid public holidays. The 2027 programme has not been published, so the date is what to plan around, not a stage.

December 2027

December 2027 ends the year with Christmas on Saturday 25 December — with Mass and celebration on the evening of Friday 24 December — and New Year's Eve on Friday 31 December. Neither date is a public holiday in Vietnam, and neither changes the market's rulebook clock. No further 2027 dates for the month are published yet.

Christmas — Giáng Sinh

📅 Sat 25 Dec 2027 (Mass and celebration on the evening of Fri 24 Dec)