Festival · 2026-10-26
Thai Nguyen’s tea festival opens Friday, and the forum has two dates
The province’s July plan runs the International Tea Festival from 30 October to 7 November and expects the opening at 19:30 on Friday. A 13 October ministry page puts the international tea forum on 31 October. The July plan puts that forum on 1 November. No ticket is printed.
30 October–7 November 2026. Opening expected at 19:30 on 30 October in the July plan. A fee, and a train fare: Check on arrival.
The week in Thái Nguyên is the tea festival, and the two official pages do not share one clock for every event. The province’s legal-support portal, posted 26 July 2026, summarizes the People’s Committee plan issued on 11 July 2026. It sets Festival Trà Quốc tế – Thái Nguyên 2026 from 30 October to 7 November, under the title “Thái Nguyên – Đệ nhất danh trà”. The opening, combined with the 195th anniversary of the province (4 November 1831–4 November 2026), is expected at 19:30 on Friday 30 October at Võ Nguyên Giáp Square in Phan Đình Phùng ward, with a special arts program and fireworks at high and low burst. About 1,000 invited delegates are on that plan. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism page of 13 October 2026 also puts the opening on the evening of 30 October at that square, and leaves the clock unprinted.
The forum is where the pages split. The ministry page schedules the International Tea Forum on 31 October, on the theme “Từ di sản trà đến kinh tế trà toàn cầu”, and names no hall. The July plan schedules the international tea forum and cooperation meeting for Sunday 1 November at the ESG Valley tea culture center, 65 Hoàng Văn Thụ, Phan Đình Phùng ward. The contest name splits the same way. The ministry page lists World Master Tea Vietnam and gives it no date. The July plan calls the contest Vietnam Master Tea, in three rounds from 15 September to 8 November, with the final expected on the closing night. Both pages expect that closing on the evening of 7 November at Võ Nguyên Giáp Square. The July plan also schedules nightly arts from 31 October through 6 November at the square and the central pedestrian street, and a tea-food space expected from 30 October to 7 November on those same streets. No ticket is in either page. Check on arrival.
The map of tea country around those dates is the part a visitor can still use. The ministry page, citing the announced plans, names the festival grounds as the provincial center and the tea regions of Tân Cương, Đồng Hỷ, La Bằng, Vô Tranh, and Đồng Phúc. It says a street procession, “Rước Trà khai hội”, runs through the central streets before the opening on 30 October. On 14 October the provincial portal reported a meeting that agreed to inaugurate six heritage trains on 30 October, each with at least 280 seats and a community car for music and local OCOP goods, on the line the July plan describes as Hanoi station to Thái Nguyên station and back. The same meeting recorded that Vietnam Railways has no train yet built for that line, and that the budget for the heritage-train program is limited. Neither page prints a fare or a departure time. Check on arrival. The ministry page also schedules, as expected, Tân Cương commune’s 100th-anniversary ceremony on 29 October at the Tân Cương tea-culture space, the program “Tân Cương – Tinh hoa trà Việt” there on 31 October, the main day of “Đồng Phúc mùa vàng – Hương trà giữa tầng mây” on 6 November in the Shan Tuyết tea of Bằng Phúc, where the page says visitors can visit, pick tea, hand-roast with artisans, and take tea on the ancient tea hills, and the Thái Nguyên Trail – Xứ Trà sơn cước on 7 November in La Bằng commune, at 5, 15, and 25 km. The photograph is a tea plantation in Vô Tranh commune, one of the five regions named for the festival. Wikimedia Commons files it as Bacthai20’s own work, dated 19 June 2025, and dedicated to the public domain.