Vietnam's 2027 public holidays, in money (and the pot maths behind it)

Cross-posted from the 6pm blog. We make 6pm, an iPhone budgeting app built in Saigon, and this is the guide we wrote for our Vietnamese users' 2027 holidays. If you build anything that turns a date into a monthly amount, there's a short section near the end on how the app does that maths in TypeScript, integer đồng and all.

Between now and the end of 2027, Vietnam has six public holiday breaks besides Tết: 24 November 2026, 1 January, Hùng Kings' Day on 16 April, 30 April–1 May, 2 September and 24 November 2027. For Tết 2027, civil servants are off for seven days, Thursday 4 to Wednesday 10 February. With the example budgets below, the five breaks of 2027 outside Tết cost 9,900,000₫, or 825,000₫ a month on average. But 30 April comes early: start from the 10 November payday and the first six months need 1,100,000₫ each.

Vietnam's 2027 holiday calendar (plus 24 November this year)

Official means there is a document. In letter 10065/VPCP-KGVX of 2 October 2026, the Government Office approved seven days off for Tết and four for National Day in 2027, and one day for Vietnamese Culture Day in 2026. The dates are in the Ministry of Home Affairs' notice 11483/TB-BNV of 9 October 2026, as quoted by Hà Tĩnh's provincial portal.

Set by law means the day off is already in Article 112 of the 2019 Labour Code (1 January, Hùng Kings' Day, 30 April, 1 May) or in Resolution 28/2026/QH16 (24 November every year). A holiday that lands on your weekly day off moves to the next working day under Article 111. No document yet swaps working days or adds days around these dates, so every longer break here is expected, not official. The original page on at6pm.app will be updated when a notice comes out.

The calendar above is the civil service one. Private employers choose their Tết days and the extra National Day, and announce them ahead. Shift and service workers may work on the holiday itself. Ask HR for your schedule before you book.

What each break costs (example numbers)

These are example numbers for one person working in Vietnam, travelling alone or with costs already split with whoever comes along. Swap in your own prices; what matters is having a number for each break.

24 November 2026: a day in the city, 300,000₫

Cinema ticket 100,000₫, dinner 150,000₫, coffee 50,000₫: 300,000₫. It's three weeks away, so this one comes out of this month's money, no pot needed.

1 January 2027: three days at a nearby beach, 1,500,000₫

Tết 2027: its own plan

Tết is the year's biggest line and has its own maths: tickets home, gifts, lucky money, divided by the paychecks left. The Vietnamese guide Tết 2027, thưởng và lì xì walks through it, and the holiday spending plan does the same for any big season. The rest of this page leaves Tết out.

Hùng Kings' Day, 16 April: three days back home, 1,500,000₫

30 April – 3 May (four days, expected): the big trip, 3,600,000₫

The busiest break of the year. Book the ticket and the room early and the first two lines stop being guesses.

2 September: two or four days, 3,000,000₫

Civil servants are off Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 September. If your employer picks 2 and 3 September, you get four days too, as long as your weekend is Saturday and Sunday; if it picks 1 and 2 September, Friday is a work day and the trip gets shorter.

24 November 2027: a Wednesday, 300,000₫

One day mid-week is hard to travel on. Repeat this year's: cinema, dinner, coffee, 300,000₫.

The whole of 2027, in money

Divided by 12: 825,000₫ a month. That is what "every break, every year" costs on average with the examples above.

825,000₫ is the average. 30 April sets the pace

The holidays don't wait for an even split. If you're paid on the 10th and start with the 10 November 2026 paycheck, there are only six paydays before 30 April (10 Nov, 10 Dec, 10 Jan, 10 Feb, 10 Mar, 10 Apr), and 1 January, Hùng Kings' Day and 30 April already need 6,600,000₫ between them. At 825,000₫ a month you'd have 4,950,000₫ by 30 April, 1,650,000₫ short.

Split by stretch, it works out on time:

Check each stop: by 1 January you've put away 2,200,000₫; the beach takes 1,500,000₫, leaving 700,000₫. By Hùng Kings' Day all six paydays are in, so 5,100,000₫ is there; the trip home takes 1,500,000₫, leaving exactly 3,600,000₫ for 30 April.

The first six months are the heavy stretch, and they overlap with saving for Tết. If 1,100,000₫ a month is too tight, each fix has a number:

• Shrink 30 April: a 2,400,000₫ trip instead of 3,600,000₫ makes the first stretch (1.5 + 1.5 + 2.4 million) ÷ 6 = 900,000₫ a month.
• Pay for 1 January from December's money, like 24 November: the first stretch drops to (1.5 + 3.6 million) ÷ 6 = 850,000₫ a month, and December gets tighter instead.
• Take fewer trips: drop one break and share its money among the rest.

Not paid on the 10th? Count your own paydays before each break; the division is the same.

Start a pot this payday

In 6pm, money set aside for something is a pot, with a goal and the month you need it. A pot takes its share before your daily number is worked out: (goal − what you already have) ÷ months left until that month, rounded up to the nearest 50,000₫. 6pm wants the money ready before the trip's month begins, so it plans a little tighter than the table above. Made before the 10 November payday:

• A "Beach, 1 Jan" pot, 1,500,000₫, January 2027: 1,500,000 ÷ 2 = 750,000₫ a month.
• A "30 April" pot, 3,600,000₫, April 2027: 3,600,000 ÷ 5 = 720,000₫, rounded up to 750,000₫ a month.

On a 30-day pay cycle, the 30 April pot takes 25,000₫ a day off what's safe to spend today. Seeing that 25,000₫ now is easier than putting the trip on a card in April and paying it off in May.

The free plan includes one pot of your own: enough for the biggest trip, with the small breaks coming out of your daily number. 6pm Max makes pots unlimited, one per break and one for Tết. For how the daily number is worked out, see how much can I spend per day. 6pm never moves money: the amounts in a pot are what you say you've set aside. It just counts.

For builders: the pot maths in code

The numbers above come from a few small pure functions in our open-source repo (Apache 2.0, in packages/domain/src/plan/ and money/). Money is stored as integer đồng, so there's no float drift to round away. An occasion pot spreads what's left over the months to its date, rounds up to a 50,000₫ step, and never asks for more than is left:

export function potMonthlyNeed( goal: Vnd, saved: Vnd, monthsLeft: number | null, currency: Currency = VND, ): Vnd { const left = Math.max(0, goal - saved); if (left === 0 || monthsLeft === null || monthsLeft <= 0) return 0; return Math.min(left, ceilToSetAside(left / monthsLeft, currency)); } /** Ceils to fifty steps, as pot set-asides do (50.000₫ in Vietnam, $50 in the US). */ export function ceilToSetAside(amount: Money, currency: Currency): Money { const unit = 50 * currency.step; return Math.ceil(amount / unit) * unit; } 

Two choices did most of the work:

• Months are counted from the pay cycle, not from today. A cycle is named after the month that holds the day before its next payday, so the cycle that ends on the 10 November payday is November's. That's why a pot made before 10 November counts January as 2 months away, and the set-aside doesn't jump around between paydays.
• Round up, then cap. Rounding 720,000₫ up to 750,000₫ means the pot fills a little early instead of a little late, and the Math.min(left, ...) keeps the last month from overshooting the goal.

On the trip, just travel

A good plan doesn't make you type receipts while looking at the sea.

• Restaurants and entry tickets with a VietQR code: scan it with 6pm, then pay in your bank app.
• Cash at the market: say "bánh mì thirty thousand", or Quick add, three taps.
• The hotel bill: take a photo and 6pm reads the amount.

Didn't open the app all trip? Nothing breaks. Missed days wait for you, and what you spent already counts. Back home, close them in one go.

FAQ

How many days off is Tết 2027 in Vietnam?

Civil servants are off seven days, Thursday 4 to Wednesday 10 February 2027 (the first day of Tết is Saturday 6 February). Private-sector workers get at least five paid Tết days; the employer picks one of three options and announces it ahead.

How many days off are 30 April and 1 May 2027?

By law, two holidays: Friday 30 April and Saturday 1 May. If Saturday is your day off, 1 May's day moves to Monday 3 May, so the expected break is four days, 30 April to 3 May. No notice covers this break yet.

How many days off is National Day 2027?

Civil servants are off four days, Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 September 2027. Businesses give two: 2 September plus 1 or 3 September, at the employer's choice.

Is 24 November a public holiday every year?

Yes. Resolution 28/2026/QH16 makes 24 November Vietnamese Culture Day every year, a paid day off. The first is Tuesday 24 November 2026; in 2027 it falls on a Wednesday.

Can I make a trip pot on 6pm's free plan?

Yes. Free includes one pot of your own; 6pm Max makes them unlimited.

Try 6pm

6pm is on the App Store for iPhone, and the code is on GitHub. More at at6pm.app.

If you've built savings goals or sinking funds into an app: did you round the monthly amount up, down, or to the nearest step, and did your users notice?