Festival «Lễ hội Trăng rằm - Thu Fest 2026» (Full Moon Festival, Thu Fest)

   A 199 kg mooncake, the first of its size in Quảng Ninh province, a light parade of more than 120 model vehicles along the bay and high altitude fireworks to close the night. Autumn in Bãi Cháy opens a week before the full moon this year, and it opens big.

   The festival runs for two days, 18 and 19 September, at the Halo Bay Show water music lake on Peninsula 1 in the Halong Marina district, Bãi Cháy ward. Entry conditions have not been announced. The programme mixes folk games, traditional market stalls and a digital technology zone, aimed at children but wide enough for the whole family. The official poster names BIM Group, Bãi Cháy ward and the Quảng Ninh Youth Union as the organisers.

   What to watch for:

   — Mai Hoa Thung, lion dancing on top of tall poles
— a light parade with more than 120 model vehicles
— the Halo Bay Show water music programme
— high altitude fireworks
— guests: national team footballer Hai Long, beauty queen Lê Nguyễn Bảo Ngọc and singer Captain Boy

   Lê Nguyễn Bảo Ngọc was crowned Miss Intercontinental in 2022 and placed in the top six of Miss World 2026, the contest whose opening week Quảng Ninh itself hosted in August. The evening is broadcast live on provincial television and radio channels and on the VTVgo app, with a parallel livestream on the pages of the provincial broadcaster and of Bãi Cháy ward.

   Some background on the date. Tết Trung thu falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, which in this Bính Ngọ year lands on 25 September. In Vietnam it is first of all a children's festival, built around lantern processions, lion dances, baked and sticky mooncakes and the custom of sharing a tray of food under the brightest moon of autumn.

   Two figures belong to that night in every Vietnamese childhood: chị Hằng, the lady of the moon, and chú Cuội, the man who holds on to a banyan tree. Mai Hoa Thung, meanwhile, is the hardest form of lion dance, with the lion leaping between and balancing on a row of high columns, demanding strength and nerve in equal measure.

   For Bãi Cháy the festival also has a seasonal meaning. This is the main hotel and beach strip of Hạ Long, autumn brings soft light and the clearest water of the year, and a large evening event right on the shore adds weight to the area's entertainment offer.

   If you live in Hạ Long or are heading to the bay this weekend, keep the evening free. Fireworks over water are worth the wait.