National Day holiday traffic more chaotic than expected

Vietnamese people took a four-day break for the National Day holiday between Aug. 31 and Sept. 3, and getting stuck on the road was a memorable part of the holiday for some families like Phong's.

The family from Hanoi described their journey to Nghe An in the north central region as a grueling experience. Phong said it took seven hours to cover the 300 km round trip, which usually only takes four. The family, who returned on Sept. 2, was caught in traffic jams during their trip.

The Mai Son-National Highway 45 expressway sections running through Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces were plagued by multiple accidents and heavy traffic. This prompted many drivers to opt for the CT01 expressway, leading to massive traffic jams from the night of Aug. 30 until the next afternoon.

Drivers from Hanoi were forced to either reroute to National Highway 1A or endure hours of stop-and-go traffic. Phong's family began their journey at 7 a.m. on Aug. 31, but they did not reach Nghe An until 2 p.m.

"I've never experienced anything like this before," Phong said, noting that their similar trip last year had gone smoothly. The beach they visited, located near residential areas, was swarming with hundreds of tourists and locals in the afternoon.

Ha Trang, also from Hanoi, decided on a last-minute trip to Tam Dao in Vinh Phuc Province in the northern highlands. However, she did not anticipate the three-hour ordeal to cover just 70 km, a route mostly on expressways.

"Vehicles moved inch by inch from the base of the mountain to the town center," she said, explaining that the journey usually takes only an hour.

On an online Tam Dao tourism forum with over 610,000 members, accommodation offers flooded the discussion, and platforms like Agoda and Booking still had plenty of rooms available. "I didn't think there would be so many visitors, but the crowd exceeded my expectations," Trang said.

Leading up to the holiday, many accommodations remained unbooked. Travel agency representatives noted that with families recently returning from summer vacations and the holiday coinciding with the start of the school year, the demand for travel had not spiked as expected.

A week before the holiday, air travel destinations were not the top choice for many Vietnamese travelers. Hotels in Da Nang, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc had booking rates of under 40%, which only increased to 60% just before the holiday.

In contrast, Sa Pa in the northern highlands saw a higher demand, with four and five-star hotels being 80-90% booked two weeks prior, while smaller hotels reached 50-65% occupancy. Last-minute travelers found it nearly impossible to secure a room during the holiday itself. Some tour agencies reported that the usual 15-minute trip from the central bus station to hotels in Sa Pa took over 40 minutes due to heavy traffic.

Hoai Thu, a tourist from Hanoi, arrived in Sa Pa on Sept. 1, only to find herself staying in a small motel. "I thought it would be easy to find a place, but everything was full," she said.

Self-driving trips have become increasingly popular, as the high cost of air travel remains a deterrent. Several families booked rooms just hours before departure.

Do Hung, director of Anh Sao Tourism Company in Hanoi, recounted a group of 12 tourists who planned to travel to Mong Cai-Tra Co near the China border on Aug. 31. Due to a lack of available rooms in Tra Co, a popular beach destination, he had to redirect them to Mong Cai City, where more accommodations were available.

In southern Vietnam, spontaneous trips from HCMC were less common, partly due to fewer expressways and longer travel times.

Nga Bui, who had just returned from a three-day trip to Da Lat, noted that while the city was crowded, finding a room was not as difficult.

"During the National Day holiday, many from HCMC tended to return to their hometowns, while others prefer to stay in the city for leisure," said tour guide Hai Yen.