Following the Lunar New Year holiday of the Year of the Horse 2026, production activities at businesses across Hue have quickly resumed a new cycle. Production floors are once again bustling, and assembly lines are operating continuously to ensure export delivery schedules, laying the groundwork for the city’s 2026 growth targets.

I visited An Dinh Palace on a warm, sunny early spring day. Not counting the respectful foreign visitors pausing before each artifact, I figured that among the more than 20 young people bustling about in ao-dai, with flowers, striking various poses for photos, few knew that they were standing very close to the remnants of a famous theater from the end of the Nguyen Dynasty that has now completely disappeared: Cuu Tu Dai.

In the days leading up to the Tet holiday, as the breath of spring gently weaves through every street, Dong Ba market becomes bustling and radiant. Beyond its role as the city’s largest commercial hub, this century-old market has become a familiar destination for residents and visitors to pose for commemorative photos, capturing spring moments imbued with the distinctive character of Hue.

While the morning mist still lingers over the streets, Hue’s flower market is already awake before dawn. At the market along Ngo Kha Street in Phu Xuan Ward, near the wholesale market, warm yellow lights spill over bundles of flowers still in bud. The sharp revving of motorbikes, vendors calling out to one another, and brisk bargaining create a unique rhythm of the final days of the lunar year.

In the days leading up to the Tet, the schoolyard of Tran Hung Dao Secondary School (A Luoi 3 Commune, Hue City) became vibrant and warm as teachers and students joined hands to organize a Traditional Tet Experience Day.

While not as large-scale or bustling as many famous flower villages in the North and the South such as Sa Dec (Dong Thap), Cai Mon (Vinh Long), Nhat Tan, Tay Tuu (Hanoi), or Thai Phien (Lam Dong)…, the flower villages supplying Tet flowers in Hue remain vibrant and deeply imbued with local cultural identity.

On the first day of 2026, sunny weather set a serene and poetic tone in Hue. Both visitors and residents took time to savor the city’s unhurried, gentle pace. Beyond its famed heritage sites, spiritual and cultural spaces, parks, and public recreation areas were bustling with visitors.

When people think of Hue, many envision a serene land “steeped” in Buddhism with hundreds of temples and pagodas. Amid the bustling rhythm of a modern Hue, life behind each pagoda gate is far from dull, but it is a refined embodiment of spiritual beauty that deeply enriches the inner world of many residents of the Ancient Capital. Here, every scene, every space, every presence expressed a quiet, profound stillness, like a sutra in motion.

Bustling energy, vibrant Zèng patterns, the echo of gongs blending with joyful laughter – together, they paint a vivid picture of the highlands in springtime, full of life and colors.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Snake, heritage sites in Hue opened their doors for free, welcoming thousands of visitors to experience the festive atmosphere of the traditional Tet holiday.

The street festival themed “Cultural Colors”, within the framework of Hue International Art Festival Week 2024, attracted the participation of hundreds of artists from over 15 domestic and international art troupes and groups.