A busy stretch of festivals, exhibitions and heritage announcements across Việt Nam shows how the country is leaning on culture as an engine for both identity and development — and it hands travellers a ready-made list of reasons to visit beyond the usual highlights.
In Huế, the first Việt Nam Calligraphy Festival ran from October 22 to 26 at the Cơ Mật Viện historical site, themed 'The Vietnamese Spirit in Every Brushstroke'. Master calligraphers from around the country displayed works blending classical Hán-Nôm scripts with modern Vietnamese writing, timed to coincide with the 2026 Huế Festival. For anyone visiting the former imperial capital, it's a rare chance to see a living craft tradition presented as heritage rather than souvenir.
Nha Trang traded its beach-party image for photography, hosting the opening and awards of the 2026 Việt Nam Art Photography Contest and Exhibition on October 20 at a beachfront park. The biennial contest, running since 2000, drew more than 9,200 entries from over 1,260 photographers, with 200 selected works on show. Deputy Culture Minister Tạ Quang Đông praised the entries for promoting the image of Việt Nam and its people — useful inspiration if you're planning a photography-focused trip.
Meanwhile, HCM City's International Traditional Music Festival opened on October 21 under the theme Melodies of the Orient, bringing together more than 70 artists from Việt Nam, Thailand, the Philippines and South Korea. Organisers stressed that preservation now means keeping traditional music relevant to younger audiences, not just archiving it — expect performances that respect tradition while experimenting.
Heritage paperwork matters too: seminars in Đồng Nai province are building the case to upgrade the Phú Riềng historic site — where the Indochinese Communist Party cell was founded — to Special National Heritage status, alongside proposals to link Phước Long's historical sites into a national heritage complex. History-focused travellers may want to watch that space before the crowds arrive.
Finally, Đà Nẵng launched its Book and Technology Week and Reading Culture Festival at the Đà Nẵng Library on October 22, pairing reading promotion with digital skills and library modernisation under the banner 'Spreading Knowledge – Connecting Technology'.
Why care? These events signal a deliberate push — backed by Party Resolution 80 on cultural development — to turn heritage and the arts into drivers of local economies. Practically, that means more festivals worth timing a trip around, and cities like Huế, Nha Trang and Đà Nẵng offering cultural depth alongside their beaches. If your Vietnam itinerary usually stops at Hanoi and HCM City, this is your cue to look south and centre.
