Hoi An Lantern Festival Dates 2026 and 2027
The Hoi An Lantern Festival is held on the 14th day of every lunar month, the night before the full moon. The two nights left in 2026 are Sunday 22 November and Tuesday 22 December. In 2027 there are twelve nights, starting Thursday 21 January and ending Saturday 11 December. Dates below are calculated for Vietnam time, UTC+7.
When is the Hoi An Lantern Festival?
The festival falls on the 14th day of each lunar month, so it happens roughly every 29 or 30 days, not once a year. On that evening the Ancient Town switches off its electric street lighting and the streets are lit by silk lanterns and candles. Because the lunar calendar drifts against the Gregorian one, the Western date moves every month.
What are the remaining Hoi An Lantern Festival dates in 2026?
As of 5 November 2026, two lantern nights are left this year.
| Date | Day | Lunar date |
|---|---|---|
| 22 November 2026 | Sunday | 14th day, lunar month 10 |
| 22 December 2026 | Tuesday | 14th day, lunar month 11 |
For reference, these are all thirteen lantern nights that fell in the 2026 calendar year:
| Date | Day |
|---|---|
| 2 January 2026 | Friday |
| 1 February 2026 | Sunday |
| 2 March 2026 | Monday |
| 1 April 2026 | Wednesday |
| 30 April 2026 | Thursday |
| 30 May 2026 | Saturday |
| 28 June 2026 | Sunday |
| 27 July 2026 | Monday |
| 26 August 2026 | Wednesday |
| 24 September 2026 | Thursday |
| 23 October 2026 | Friday |
| 22 November 2026 | Sunday |
| 22 December 2026 | Tuesday |
What are the Hoi An Lantern Festival dates in 2027?
There are twelve lantern nights in 2027. The 21 January night still belongs to lunar month 12 of the Year of the Horse; Tet falls on 6 February 2027, so the 19 February night is the first of the Year of the Goat.
| Date | Day | Lunar date |
|---|---|---|
| 21 January 2027 | Thursday | 14th day, lunar month 12 |
| 19 February 2027 | Friday | 14th day, lunar month 1 |
| 21 March 2027 | Sunday | 14th day, lunar month 2 |
| 20 April 2027 | Tuesday | 14th day, lunar month 3 |
| 19 May 2027 | Wednesday | 14th day, lunar month 4 |
| 18 June 2027 | Friday | 14th day, lunar month 5 |
| 17 July 2027 | Saturday | 14th day, lunar month 6 |
| 15 August 2027 | Sunday | 14th day, lunar month 7 |
| 14 September 2027 | Tuesday | 14th day, lunar month 8 |
| 13 October 2027 | Wednesday | 14th day, lunar month 9 |
| 11 November 2027 | Thursday | 14th day, lunar month 10 |
| 11 December 2027 | Saturday | 14th day, lunar month 11 |
A warning about dates you find elsewhere: several travel sites publish lantern dates that are one or two days out, usually because the lunar conversion was run on a non-Vietnamese time zone or the 15th day was used instead of the 14th. If a date you have seen does not appear in the tables above, check it before you book a flight. Vietnam's lunar calendar is calculated on UTC+7, and a new moon that falls just after midnight Hanoi time shifts the whole month.
Which lantern nights are the biggest in 2026 and 2027?
Three nights draw the largest crowds. Nguyen Tieu, the first full moon of the lunar year, is a temple festival across the whole of Hoi An. Mid-Autumn brings lion dance troupes through the streets. Both fall on the 15th day, the night after the lantern night, and the town stays lit for both evenings.
| Occasion | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern night before Tet full moon | 2 March 2026 | 19 February 2027 |
| Nguyen Tieu, first full moon | 3 March 2026 | 20 February 2027 |
| Lantern night before Mid-Autumn | 24 September 2026 | 14 September 2027 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival | 25 September 2026 | 15 September 2027 |
If you want lanterns without the crush, pick a lantern night in lunar months 2 to 6. March to June evenings are dry and warm, and the Ancient Town is busy rather than packed.
What time does the Hoi An Lantern Festival start and finish?
Plan to be inside the Ancient Town by 17:30. Motorbikes are cleared from the core streets first, then shopfront and street lighting goes down and the lanterns carry the evening. The strongest light for photographs is the blue hour, roughly 17:45 to 18:20 in the cooler months. Riverside activity peaks between 19:00 and 21:00 and thins out after 22:00.
Arriving at 19:30 means queuing at the Japanese Covered Bridge and the An Hoi footbridge in the heaviest crowd of the night. A 17:00 arrival is the single biggest difference between a good lantern night and a frustrating one.
How much does the Hoi An Lantern Festival cost?
There is no separate lantern festival ticket. The Ancient Town sightseeing ticket is what applies, and if you are an international visitor it costs 120,000 VND per person. That is the single figure to budget, on a lantern night or any other night.
In its announcement of 28 January 2026, the Hoi An World Cultural Heritage Conservation Centre set two tiers, which differ in how many monuments the ticket admits you to:
| Tier | What it admits you to |
|---|---|
| 80,000 VND | The Ancient Town, plus the Japanese Covered Bridge or Quan Cong Temple, plus two further monuments of your choice |
| 120,000 VND | The Ancient Town, plus the Japanese Covered Bridge or Quan Cong Temple, plus one museum site, plus three further monuments of your choice |
In practice, international visitors are sold the 120,000 VND ticket. We cost every Hoi An programme at 120,000 VND per person and have never had a client charged less.
Children under 16 are exempt. A 50% reduction applies to certain categories of Vietnamese visitor. Ticket rules in Hoi An have changed more than once, so confirm at the ticket booth on the day rather than relying on a blog, this one included.
How much does a rowing boat cost on the Thu Bon River?
A hand-rowed boat on the Thu Bon costs 150,000 to 250,000 VND per boat depending on size, for a ride of roughly 15 to 30 minutes. A shared per-person ticket is about 50,000 VND and usually includes one hoa dang float. A float bought on its own from a riverbank vendor is 5,000 to 10,000 VND. These are the rates as of November 2026.
| Boat | Capacity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Small boat | 1-3 passengers | 150,000-170,000 VND per boat |
| Large boat | 4-5 passengers | 200,000-250,000 VND per boat |
| Shared ticket | Per person | About 50,000 VND, usually including one hoa dang float |
| Hoa dang float on its own | Per piece | 5,000-10,000 VND from a riverbank vendor |
Prices move with the time of night and which landing stage you use. The stretch between the Japanese Covered Bridge and the An Hoi footbridge is the busiest and the dearest; walk a few minutes upriver and the same ride costs less.
You do not need a boat to float a lantern. Vendors on the Bach Dang riverbank sell hoa dang for 5,000 to 10,000 VND each, and you can release them from the steps at the water’s edge. A family of four can do the whole thing for under 50,000 VND, which is worth knowing before anyone talks you into a boat at the busiest moment of the evening.
Book before 17:00 on a lantern night. After about 18:30 the boatmen are working a queue, the ride gets shorter, and the price does not come down.
Is Hoi An in Quang Nam or Da Nang now?
Hoi An is in Da Nang City. Quang Nam province was merged into Da Nang City with effect from 1 July 2025, and Hoi An's old provincial-level administration went with it. The heritage body that manages the Ancient Town now publishes under a Da Nang City domain.
This matters for practical reasons: older guidebooks, booking forms and insurance documents still say "Hoi An, Quang Nam". Both refer to the same place. If a form asks for province, write Da Nang City.
How do you get from Da Nang to Hoi An for lantern night?
Most visitors sleep in Da Nang and come across for the evening. The road distance to the Ancient Town is 30 to 35 km depending on where in Da Nang you start, and the drive takes 45 to 60 minutes depending on traffic on Vo Nguyen Giap and the Cam Ha approach. Beachfront hotels on the southern end of Vo Nguyen Giap are at the short end of that range; the city centre, the riverside and anything north of the Han River are at the long end. Check your own hotel rather than assuming a single figure, because the difference is about fifteen minutes on a lantern night.
| Option | Typical journey | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Private car with driver | 45-60 min | Drop-off is outside the pedestrian zone; the last 300-500 m is on foot |
| Taxi or Grab | 45-60 min | Returning after 21:30 on a lantern night can mean a long wait for a car |
| Shuttle or public bus | 70-90 min | Last departures are early; check before relying on one |
The return leg is where lantern nights go wrong. Several thousand people leave the Ancient Town within the same 30 minutes, and ride-hailing supply around An Hoi collapses. A pre-booked car with an agreed pick-up point and time is worth more on lantern night than on any other evening in Central Vietnam.
Where should the car wait, and at what time?
World Mate Travel picks clients up at Vinh Hung Riverside Resort and Spa, 111 Ngo Quyen on the An Hoi side, with the car waiting from 21:30 to 22:00. Two things make that work, and you can apply both even if you are not travelling with us.
Pick a point across the footbridge, not inside the Ancient Town. An Hoi is a few minutes’ walk from the core but outside the pedestrian closure, so a car can actually stop there. Drivers cannot enter the closed streets, and a pick-up “at the Japanese Covered Bridge” means your driver is parked somewhere you cannot see, on a phone call, in a crowd.
Agree a window, not a single moment. The car waits from 21:30 to 22:00, so you walk out when you are ready instead of watching the clock through the last hour. A fixed time is what goes wrong on a lantern night: miss it by ten minutes and your driver is circling in the heaviest traffic of the evening while you stand in a crowd with no signal. Arranging your own car, ask for a half-hour window and a spot the driver can legally wait in.
Can the lantern festival be cancelled?
Yes, and it happens most often in October and November. The Thu Bon River floods in the Central Vietnam rainy season, and when water comes over the Bach Dang riverfront the candle-float release is stopped and parts of the Ancient Town close. The lanterns themselves usually stay on, but the riverside part of the evening does not run.
If your lantern night falls in October or November, keep a second date in the itinerary. In most years the next lantern night is only 29 or 30 days away, which is no help on a two-week trip, so the practical fallback is a lantern-lit evening walk on a normal night rather than a rescheduled festival.
What else is on during a Hoi An lantern night?
- Candle floats released from the Thu Bon riverbank near the An Hoi footbridge
- Rowing boats working the stretch between the Japanese Covered Bridge and An Hoi
- Bai choi, the UNESCO-listed sung card game, played in the square by the riverfront
- Traditional music and folk singing at the Ancient Town's performance points
- Heritage houses and assembly halls open in the evening on your sightseeing ticket
- Street food on Nguyen Hoang night market and around Tran Phu: cao lau, white rose dumplings, banh mi
Can you see lanterns in Hoi An on a normal night?
Yes. The silk lanterns hang year-round and the Ancient Town is lit every evening. What is specific to the 14th lunar day is the electric lighting being switched off, which is what produces the candle-lit look people come for. If your trip does not line up with a lantern night, you still get a lantern-lit Old Town, just with street lighting on and a smaller crowd.
Frequently asked questions
It is held on the 14th day of every lunar month, the night before the full moon. That is twelve or thirteen nights a year, not a single annual date.
As of 5 November 2026, the next lantern night is Sunday 22 November 2026, followed by Tuesday 22 December 2026.
21 January, 19 February, 21 March, 20 April, 19 May, 18 June, 17 July, 15 August, 14 September, 13 October, 11 November and 11 December 2027.
There is no separate festival ticket. The Ancient Town sightseeing ticket applies, and international visitors pay 120,000 VND per person. An 80,000 VND tier admitting you to fewer monuments also exists, per the Hoi An World Cultural Heritage Conservation Centre announcement of 28 January 2026. Children under 16 are exempt.
A hand-rowed boat costs 150,000 to 170,000 VND for 1 to 3 passengers, or 200,000 to 250,000 VND for 4 to 5 passengers, for a ride of about 15 to 30 minutes. A shared per-person ticket is around 50,000 VND and usually includes one hoa dang float. Rates as of November 2026.
A hoa dang paper float bought from a vendor on the Bach Dang riverbank costs 5,000 to 10,000 VND per piece as of November 2026. You do not need a boat to release one; you can float it from the steps at the water’s edge.
Be inside the Ancient Town by 17:30. Lights go down from around 18:00, the riverside peaks between 19:00 and 21:00, and arriving after 19:30 means the heaviest crowds of the night.
Hoi An is in Da Nang City. Quang Nam province merged into Da Nang City with effect from 1 July 2025.
Yes. In October and November, flooding on the Thu Bon River can stop the candle-float release and close parts of the Ancient Town.
If you want a lantern night built into a Central Vietnam itinerary with the transfer and the return pick-up already arranged, message World Mate Travel on WhatsApp at +84 988 660 505 or email sales@worldmatetravel.com.
