Hanoi Autumn Festival returns with performances and creative experiences

Hanoi travel - After adjusting the schedule, the Hanoi Autumn Festival will return in October, featuring 9 experiential spaces that recreate the distinctive colors of Hanoi's culture, tourism, and autumn.

The Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has announced an adjustment to the schedule for the 2026 Hanoi Autumn Festival. Accordingly, the event will take place over three days, from October 16th to 18th, 2026. Other activities will continue as planned.

Previously, the Hanoi Autumn Festival 2026 was scheduled to take place from September 25th to 27th at Thong Nhat Park, Hai Ba Trung ward, and several other locations throughout the city.

With the theme "Hanoi Autumn - A Journey of Emotions,", the Festival is organized to showcase the unique characteristics of Hanoi in autumn, while exploring the cultural and historical values of the thousand-year-old capital through activities related to heritage, art, cuisine, and cultural experiences.

The event is expected to contribute to promoting the image and tourist destinations of Hanoi, stimulating tourism demand, and boosting the growth of the tourism industry. Through the development of additional experiential products, the program aims to increase the number of visitors, extend their length of stay, and raise their spending.

The festival is expected to be held on an area of approximately 5,000m2, including a system of stalls, festival spaces, experiential areas, decorative displays, and supporting facilities. Alongside the main activities, communes and wards throughout the city will also implement supporting programs.

The highlight of the Festival is the 9 experiential spaces, built around themes of heritage, tourism, traditional crafts, culture, cuisine, art, and international exchange.

At the Hanoi Heritage Space, the image of Hanoi in autumn is recreated through familiar symbols such as the Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, and rows of trees with golden leaves. Miniature scenes of tiled roofs, yellow walls, and wooden doors, characteristic of traditional architecture, are combined with an area displaying documents and images about the cultural heritage, historical relics, and typical landmarks of the capital city.

The Tourism and Experience Space focuses on showcasing Hanoi's unique tourism products, tours, and routes, including autumn exploration itineraries associated with Hoan Kiem - the Old Quarter, West Lake, Ba Vi, Huong Son, and Soc Son. Digital technology is applied through smart tourism maps, QR codes, LED screens, and VR/AR virtual reality experiences. This space also aims to connect travel agencies, accommodation establishments, airlines, and tourists.

Meanwhile, the Traditional Craft Village and Community Culture Space showcases typical craft villages of Hanoi such as Bat Trang, Van Phuc, and Duong Lam. Visitors can directly observe artisans demonstrating their skills and participate in hands-on experiences such as pottery making, silk weaving, clay figurine making, fan making, and hat making.

The cultural, sporting, and tourism values of the Capital City are showcased at the Cultural, Sports, and Tourism Space through a system of publications, documents, images, and media products. 

The exhibition focuses on promoting Hanoi's cultural heritage, historical sites, destinations, traditional crafts, and typical events.

The art exhibition space showcases paintings and photographs with the theme "Autumn in Hanoi", combined with coloring workshops and creative activities for children and visitors. Meanwhile, the Art and Creativity Space features a central stage for the opening and closing ceremonies and other artistic performances within the framework of the Festival.

Besides activities at the main venue, the Festival also includes an experiential program at the Vietnam Ethnic Culture and Tourism Village and the Hanoi Autumn Run. The organizers also plan to launch a waste collection campaign, thereby connecting the running community with environmental protection activities.

Over the three days of the Festival, numerous traditional and modern art programs, mini-shows, street art, folk games, cultural workshops, check-in activities, and creative experiences will be organized, creating more space for locals and tourists to explore Hanoi's culture and tourism through various forms.

Source: https://hanoitraveltour.com/news/hanoi-autumn-festival-to-showcase-seasonal-charm.htm

Bac Me’s historic sites, pristine landscapes, and living traditions

Ha Giang Tours - Bac Me is a remote district in Ha Giang province, located 56 km east of Ha Giang City. Home to 15 ethnic groups living along the Gam River, it boasts historical relics from the resistance against French colonialism, archaeological sites proving the existence of prehistoric people and the Stone Age, and is blessed with both majestic and poetic natural beauty - vast green forests and the romantic Gam River. This has made Bac Me a newly attractive tourist destination.

Notable destinations in Bac Me are the ancient Bac Me Prison historical site, Gam River; Dan Cum Cave, Na Chao...

Cang Bac Me

Cang Bac Me or Bac Me Prison historical site, located in Yen Cuong commune, was built by the French to control the entire transportation route connecting the three provinces of Ha Giang, Cao Bang, and Tuyen Quang. Previously, it was a military outpost of the French colonialists. In 1938, when the revolutionary movement in Vietnam developed, the French colonialists transformed this place into a detention center for revolutionary cadres.

Beyond its historical significance, Bac Me Prison is now a popular tourist destination, boasting a serene, moss-covered landscape steeped in history, completely free from commercialization and unregulated business activities that would detract from its ancient charm and natural atmosphere. It's an ideal location for artistic photography, wedding photos, and outdoor shots that are anything but boring or clichéd.

Gam River - the green arc of the mountains and forests

Nestled between towering mountains, the Gam River flows like a long arc, over 200km long, through Cao Bang, Ha Giang, and Tuyen Quang provinces, before merging with the Ca River to form the majestic Lo River.

With its characteristic green color typical of the mountain rivers of Ha Giang, the Gam River is not as treacherous as the Nho Que River, but rather gentle and peaceful amidst the towering mountains and forests on both banks.

Every year, during the calm, high water season (usually from September to April of the following year), the authorities and people of Bac Me district often organize raft racing festivals, rain-praying festivals, river god worship festivals, etc., creating unique cultural features that attract tourists to visit and experience.

Gam River tourism is ideal for sightseeing groups, water-based team-building activities, and organizing experiential and adventurous games such as zipline, kayaking, and raft racing, creating new discoveries alongside admiring the majestic yet poetic and peaceful natural scenery of the emerald green Gam River.

Visitors to Bac Me not only get to see scenic spots and historical relics, but can also experience and explore the culture of the local ethnic groups with many activities that have been preserved intact, such as the Red Dao wedding ceremony, the coming-of-age ceremony, the rain-praying ceremony... or live with the locals in homestays amidst pristine villages that still meet the standards for tourists.

Source: https://hagiangtraveltour.com/blog/experience-the-traditions-and-untamed-beauty-of-bac-me.asp