HÀ NỘI In the early hours of the first day of Tết Bính Ngọ (Year of the Horse festival), Hà Nội seemed to drape itself in a pristine new cloak of quiet. As the sun slowly rose above the moss-covered tiled roofs of the Old Quarter, slender golden rays spilled across streets still glistening with overnight dew.

The avenues, usually choked with traffic, lay almost empty - save for the occasional passerby on the way to a pagoda or elderly residents taking an unhurried stroll to welcome the beginning of the Lunar New Year, which falls on February 17, 2026.

The noise and haste of the past year appeared to have been gently swept away, leaving only the soft twitter of birds in the trees and a cool breeze threading through rows of ancient flame trees.

The scent of incence from temples, communal houses, and pagodas drifted through the air, mingling with the delicate fragrance of peach and apricot blossoms carried in the baskets of late-morning street vendors - like a quiet New Year’s blessing.

In that spacious calm, one could feel more deeply the rare tranquility of Hà Nội at the dawn of a new year. After all the clamour and jostling, the capital suddenly felt pure and tender. In that moment, it was more than a city; it was the very breath of Vietnamese Tết - serene, familiar, and filled with hope for a peaceful year ahead.

Trần Nhật Duật Street is free of traffic in the early hours of the first morning of the Lunar New Year, February 17, 2026. VNS Photos Đoàn Tùng

The historic Long Biên Bridge stands empty in the early hours of the Lunar New Year.

A quiet street in the Old Quarter on the first morning of the Lunar New Year.

Deserted squares in downtown Hà Nội on the first morning of the Lunar New Year.

Deserted squares in downtown Hà Nội on the first morning of the Lunar New Year.

Few people ventured onto the roads in the early hours of the first morning of the New Year.

A vacant bus stop near the city’s centre in Hà Nội.