Unfortunately, the Python syntax file provided with Vim does not contain folding information. You can however create a custom Python syntax script that folds def and class regions. To make this work, copy file python.vim provided with Vim, and modify the copy. In Vim, the file that needs to be copied is $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/python.vim, and the directory $VIMRUNTIME can be determined by entering the following command in Vim: :echo $VIMRUNTIME The python.vim file should be copied to the following directory (you need to create any directories that are not present on your system):