Christmas in Vietnam is nothing like the snowy celebrations you know — it’s warm, chaotic, beautiful, and surprisingly festive, with fairy-lit streets, midnight church crowds, and tropical flowers replacing pine trees. NOTE – The Scent Lab is a perfume workshop in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam (★4.9, 500+ reviews) where visitors create custom fragrances — and in December, it becomes one of the most meaningful ways to celebrate the season. This Christmas Vietnam guide covers everything you need to know.
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The heat hits you first. It’s December 24th, and the air is 30°C, thick with motorbike exhaust and the sweet char of grilled corn from a street vendor’s cart. Somewhere ahead, a cathedral bell rings — not the deep toll of European churches, but a thinner, more insistent sound that cuts through the honking. Fairy lights drape across Nguyen Hue Walking Street in District 1, casting the whole boulevard in gold. A group of Vietnamese teenagers in Santa hats take selfies in front of a ten-metre Christmas tree. No snow. No cold. No familiar carols drifting from shop speakers — instead, Vietnamese pop remixes of “Jingle Bells” blare from a cafe on the corner. You’re sweating. And somehow, it feels exactly right.
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This is Christmas in Vietnam. And for the 21 million international visitors who came to Vietnam in 2025, discovering what the holiday looks like in a tropical, predominantly Buddhist country is one of the trip’s unexpected highlights. If you’re also visiting for New Year’s Eve in Saigon, the energy only intensifies.
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What Does Christmas Look Like in Vietnam?
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Vietnam is not a Christian country — roughly 7% of the population is Catholic, a legacy of French colonialism — but Christmas has evolved into something uniquely Vietnamese. It’s less a religious occasion and more a cultural event, a reason to go out, eat, celebrate, and be together.
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In Ho Chi Minh City, the energy centres around a few key spots. Notre-Dame Cathedral in District 1 draws crowds — Catholic and non-Catholic alike — for midnight Mass. The streets around it transform into a walking festival: vendors sell cotton candy, couples pose for photos, and children chase each other through the lights. Nguyen Hue Walking Street becomes a river of people, its Christmas decorations competing with the year-round neon of the surrounding buildings.
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Hanoi celebrates differently. If you’re spending the holiday up north, see our Tet in Hanoi guide for the Lunar New Year version. The Old Quarter strings lights between its narrow buildings, creating intimate tunnels of colour. Hoan Kiem Lake glows. St. Joseph’s Cathedral holds services that spill out onto the street. The air is cooler — 15°C some December nights — and you can smell roasting chestnuts and cà phê trứng drifting from the packed cafes.
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“I wandered in — I was actually looking for a different store, but the ambiance was so nice I decided to just do the fragrance workshop. Vy and Sofia were very patient and helpful.”
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Christmas Eve in Saigon — Where the City Comes Alive
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If you’re spending Christmas Eve in Ho Chi Minh City, prepare for beautiful chaos. The city doesn’t do quiet contemplation — it does joyful, noisy, neon-lit celebration. Here’s what to expect, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
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District 1 — The Epicentre
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Nguyen Hue Walking Street is the beating heart. The city installs elaborate Christmas decorations — giant trees, light tunnels, themed photo spots — that draw both locals and tourists. By 7pm, the street is wall-to-wall people. Street performers set up near the statue of Ho Chi Minh, and the whole boulevard becomes an open-air party that runs until well past midnight.
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A few blocks away, the area around Notre-Dame Cathedral transforms. Even if you’re not religious, walking through the crowd on Christmas Eve is an experience — thousands of people on motorbikes and on foot, candles flickering, Vietnamese hymns mixing with traffic noise. The energy is infectious.
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Thao Dien — A Quieter Celebration
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If the District 1 chaos feels overwhelming, head to Thao Dien in Thu Duc. The neighbourhood’s cafes and restaurants put up tasteful decorations — think fairy lights in trees, not neon Santas — and the vibe is more relaxed. Many expat-run establishments host Christmas dinners and events. It’s the kind of place where you can sit on a rooftop with a cocktail and watch fireworks in the distance.
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The Cafe Apartment, 42 Nguyen Hue
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This nine-storey building of independent cafes and shops takes on a special character at Christmas. Each floor decorates differently — some minimalist, some over-the-top — and the view from the upper floors at night, overlooking the lit-up walking street below, is one of Saigon’s best December moments. NOTE – The Scent Lab is here too, on the 2nd floor. Tourists discover pottery two floors below, vinyl records play above, and the scent of jasmine base notes drifts from the studio.
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Why a Perfume Workshop Is the Perfect Christmas Activity in Vietnam
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Here’s something most travel guides won’t tell you: December in Vietnam can be tricky to fill. The major tourist activities — Cu Chi Tunnels, Mekong Delta tours, temple visits — don’t change for Christmas. There’s no Christmas market to browse (though a few hotels try). But there are plenty of things to do in Ho Chi Minh City during the holidays. No ice skating rink. No pantomime.
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What there is, if you know where to look, is an opportunity to create something personal. Something you can’t buy in a shop. Something that captures the specific sensory experience of being in Vietnam during the holidays.
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A perfume workshop at NOTE – The Scent Lab takes 90 minutes. You work with 30+ professional-grade ingredients — including Vietnamese specialties like lotus, Vietnamese cinnamon, and sandalwood (đàn hương), warm and grounded. Your workshop instructor guides you through top, heart, and base notes. You leave with a custom EDP perfume and a formula card that’s saved permanently — so you can reorder when you return.
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At Christmas, the workshop takes on a different dimension. Maybe the perfume is a gift for someone back home — something you made with your hands, infused with the scents of your trip. Maybe it’s a gift to yourself — a sensory bookmark for a holiday spent somewhere unexpected.
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From the studio window on the 4th floor, you can see Nguyen Hue stretching toward the river — motorbikes circling the roundabout below, tourists taking photos on every landing.
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“Creating your own signature perfume is just such a nice and unique experience. Vy guided us through the process and was a very lovely person. I would recommend this to everyone who loves perfumes or needs a gift for a loved one.”
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The Scent of Christmas in Vietnam — What You’ll Actually Smell
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Every city has a December smell. London has mulled wine and wet wool. New York has roasted chestnuts and subway steam. Vietnam’s December smell is entirely its own.
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In Saigon, the warm air carries grilled corn on the cob, the caramel sweetness of bánh tráng nướng (Vietnamese pizza), and the ever-present baseline of diesel and jasmine. Walk past a street-side phở stall and the star anise and cinnamon hit you — the same cinnamon that perfumers use as a heart note, the same one you might choose for your custom fragrance.
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In Hanoi, December air is cooler and sharper. Cà phê trứng — egg coffee — has a rich, almost burnt-sugar aroma that fills the narrow Old Quarter alleys. Incense from pagodas mingles with the smoke of charcoal-grilled bún chả. On cold nights, the smell of fried dough from bánh rán vendors cuts through everything.
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These are the scents that a perfume workshop lets you bottle. Not literally — you won’t be mixing phở into your perfume — but the ingredients available at NOTE include cinnamon, star anise, lotus, jasmine, and sandalwood, all deeply tied to the Vietnamese aromatic landscape. When you spray your custom perfume six months later, you won’t just remember Vietnam. You’ll smell it.
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Christmas Gift Ideas — Made in Vietnam, By You
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If you’re travelling during the holidays, gifts become a challenge. You want something meaningful, not another fridge magnet. A custom perfume solves this in a way that’s hard to explain until you’ve done it.
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Think about it: you sit in a studio overlooking Saigon’s Walking Street. You smell dozens of raw materials. You choose the ones that remind you of someone — your mother’s garden (jasmine, green tea), your partner’s quiet confidence (vetiver, cedarwood), your best friend’s chaotic energy (bergamot, pink pepper). Drop by drop, you build a scent that’s theirs. You name it. You write the label by hand. You carry it home in your luggage.
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That’s not a souvenir. That’s a love letter in liquid form.
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“I left with not only my handmade creations but also a wealth of new knowledge. Highly recommend.”
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A Christmas Day Itinerary in Ho Chi Minh City
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Christmas Day itself is a regular working day in Vietnam — shops are open, traffic runs as usual, and the city doesn’t pause. This is actually a gift for tourists: you have the whole city available while people back home are stuck on a couch watching holiday films.
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Morning (8am–11am)
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Start with phở at a local stall — the ritual of sitting on a tiny plastic stool, adding herbs to your bowl, watching the steam rise. Then walk through Ben Thanh Market while it’s still cool. The market is overwhelming in a good way: stacks of spices, bolts of silk, dried fruit, Vietnamese coffee. If you’re looking for traditional souvenirs, this is the place.
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Midday (11am–1pm)
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Head to the Cafe Apartment at 42 Nguyen Hue. Grab lunch at one of the eateries inside the building, or explore the cafes on different floors. Each has its own personality — some artsy, some cosy, some Instagrammable. From the upper floors, the view of the Walking Street stretches out below you.
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Afternoon (2pm–4pm)
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This is your window for the perfume workshop. Book a 2pm slot at NOTE – The Scent Lab (42 Nguyen Hue, 2nd floor). Ninety minutes of focused, creative work — choosing ingredients, blending, testing, adjusting. It’s meditative. It’s fun. And you leave with something you made.
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Evening (5pm onwards)
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As the sun drops, Saigon transforms. Rooftop bars come alive — try one near Nguyen Hue for views of the city lights. If you want culture, the Saigon Opera House sometimes hosts special December performances. For dinner, explore the District 1 food scene — from refined Vietnamese restaurants to street-side bánh mì vendors who’ve been perfecting their craft for decades. Book your holiday workshop online — confirmation is instant, no deposit required, and you can pay by card, bank transfer, or cash when you arrive.
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\n Book Your Christmas Workshop →\n
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Christmas in Hanoi — A Different Atmosphere
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If you’re spending December in Hanoi, the mood is different — quieter, cooler, more atmospheric. The city doesn’t have Saigon’s tropical heat, and December nights can drop to 10–15°C. It feels more like Christmas weather, even without snow.
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The Old Quarter is magical in December. Narrow streets are strung with lights, and the small churches scattered through the neighbourhood hold candlelit services. Hoan Kiem Lake, already beautiful, takes on a softer glow. The area around St. Joseph’s Cathedral becomes a gathering point — families, couples, groups of friends, all out to enjoy the atmosphere.
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NOTE – The Scent Lab in Hanoi is located at Lotte Mall Westlake (Store 410, 4F, Lotte Mall Tay Ho, 272 Vo Chi Cong, Tay Ho). The mall itself is a modern contrast to the Old Quarter’s ancient charm, and the perfume workshop offers the same 90-minute creative experience as the Saigon locations. For visitors spending Christmas in Hanoi, it’s a way to bottle the memory of a very different kind of holiday.
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Practical Tips for Christmas in Vietnam (2026)
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A few things that will make your December trip smoother:
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Weather varies dramatically. Saigon in December is hot and dry (28–33°C). Hanoi is cool and sometimes rainy (12–20°C). Da Nang and Hoi An are somewhere in between but can be wet. Pack accordingly — you might need a light jacket in Hanoi but only shorts and sunscreen in Saigon.
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Book ahead for popular activities. December is peak tourist season. Perfume workshops, cooking classes, and popular restaurants fill up — especially around Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The studio is open daily, but advance booking through workshop.thescentnote.com is recommended during the holiday period.
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Churches are open to visitors. Even if you’re not Catholic, attending a Christmas Eve service at Notre-Dame Cathedral (Saigon) or St. Joseph’s Cathedral (Hanoi) is a cultural experience worth having. Arrive early — they fill up fast.
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New Year’s Eve is bigger than Christmas. If your trip spans both holidays, know that December 31st is the main event in Vietnam. Fireworks, street parties, and city-wide celebrations make it one of the most exciting nights of the year. Ho Chi Minh City’s fireworks display over the Saigon River draws hundreds of thousands of people.
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Instagram your Christmas experience. Follow @note.workshop for holiday-season content and behind-the-scenes stories from the studio.
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“Booked this for our HCM trip with friends. The workshop is really fun. You’ll learn a lot about perfume making and the different notes.”
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Beyond Christmas — Why December Is Peak Workshop Season
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December brings a specific kind of traveller to Vietnam: one who’s already done the beach holiday, the temple tour, the street food crawl. They’re looking for something they haven’t tried. Something they can only do here. Something that makes a story worth telling.
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A perfume workshop fits that need perfectly. It’s creative without requiring artistic skill. It’s educational without feeling like a classroom. It’s personal without being awkward. And unlike a cooking class — where you eat the result and it’s gone — you carry your creation home. Every spray is a return ticket.
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Most travellers say they wish they’d booked earlier in their trip. The perfume becomes a companion for the rest of their holiday — worn to dinners, on boat rides, through markets. It evolves on the skin as they move through different climates and temperatures. By the time they fly home, the scent has absorbed layers of memory that weren’t planned.
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If that sounds like your kind of December, the studio at NOTE – The Scent Lab is open every day through the holiday season. Three locations: District 1 (42 Nguyen Hue), Thao Dien (34 Nguyen Duy Hieu), and Hanoi (Lotte Mall Westlake).
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\n Book Your Perfume Workshop →\n
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Curious how other Christmas visitors rated the workshop? Read reviews on TripAdvisor, Klook, and Google Maps.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Is Christmas celebrated in Vietnam?
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Yes, though not as a public holiday. Vietnam is predominantly Buddhist, but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are widely celebrated as cultural events — especially in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Streets are decorated, churches hold services, and the atmosphere is festive and joyful.
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What is there to do in Vietnam on Christmas Day?
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Everything is open on Christmas Day — it’s a normal working day. Popular activities include visiting Christmas-decorated streets (Nguyen Hue in Saigon, Hoan Kiem in Hanoi), attending church services, exploring markets, and booking experience-based activities like perfume workshops, cooking classes, and cultural tours.
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Is December a good time to visit Vietnam?
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December is peak tourist season. Ho Chi Minh City is hot and dry (28–33°C), comfortable for sightseeing. Hanoi is cooler (12–20°C) and occasionally rainy — overall, the south is ideal in December.
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Can I make a custom perfume as a Christmas gift in Vietnam?
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Yes. At NOTE – The Scent Lab, you create a custom EDP perfume in 90 minutes using 30+ professional-grade ingredients — a meaningful, handmade Christmas gift. The formula is saved permanently, so you or the recipient can reorder anytime.
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Where is NOTE – The Scent Lab located?
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NOTE has three locations: 42 Nguyen Hue (Cafe Apartment), District 1, HCMC; 34 Nguyen Duy Hieu, Thao Dien, Thu Duc, HCMC; and Lotte Mall Westlake (Store 410, 4F), Tay Ho, Hanoi. All are open daily. Book online at workshop.thescentnote.com/book/.
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How much does a perfume workshop cost in Vietnam?
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Workshop pricing varies by package and bottle size. Visit workshop.thescentnote.com for current rates. Online booking is available with pre-payment for convenience — book ahead during the December holiday season as slots fill quickly.\n
Practical info: how much it costs
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