Festival «Festival quốc tế cồng chiêng Gia Lai 2026» (International Gong Festival)

   UNESCO recognised the gong culture of the Central Highlands as a masterpiece of the intangible heritage of humanity back in 2005. Every few years Gia Lai gathers the people who actually play: around forty-five troupes from Vietnam and abroad come to Pleiku from 30 October to 8 November.

   The centrepiece is «Đêm hội cồng chiêng quốc tế», the international gong night: 20:00 on 7 November at Đại Đoàn Kết Square in Pleiku. Central and international delegates are expected, along with the UNESCO representative in Vietnam, and the evening includes the handover of national treasure status to the Kơ Đơ gong set and to the collection of golden ritual objects from the An Phú Cham tower. Entry terms have not been announced; the square and the streets are open public space.

   How the programme is laid out:

   — a street festival: all the troupes parade through the Pleiku, Diên Hồng and Hội Phú wards;
   — 6–8 November at the Pleiku Museum and Đại Đoàn Kết Square: traditional culture exchange between ethnic groups, craft and folk art spaces, community rituals;
   — «Ẩm thực Gia Lai hội tụ», the provincial food programme, at the same square;
   — 30 to 40 stalls on Anh Hùng Núp street with OCOP products, local farm goods and Gia Lai coffee;
   — the festival also spreads beyond Pleiku, to Biển Hồ commune and nearby localities.

   Come if you want to hear gongs live rather than on a hotel playlist. A gong set is not one instrument but an ensemble: each player holds a single note and the melody exists only when everyone plays together — that is the whole point of the tradition. The Bahnar, Jrai and other highland communities each bring their own tuning and their own rites.

   Pleiku is the capital of Gia Lai, a town at around eight hundred metres with cool evenings and red volcanic soil around it. The province is known for coffee and for Biển Hồ, a lake in an extinct crater; for one week the sound of the gongs carries several blocks on top of that.

   The organiser is the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Gia Lai province. Some venues and the exact day-by-day schedule are still being confirmed, so check the provincial newspaper before you travel.

   Ten days, forty-five troupes and a heritage that lives in players' hands rather than in a display case. If the Central Highlands are on your route in early November, aim for the seventh.