Taiwan Lantern Festival 2026 in Chiayi Guide + Photos

The 2026 Taiwan Lantern festival returns for its 37th year, in Chiayi from 3 March to 15 March 2026.

After a successful and record breaking 2025 Taiwan Lantern Festival last year in Taoyuan which attracted over 20 million people, this year’s Chiayi 2026 Taiwan Lantern Festival is set to be bigger and better than ever before.

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We were lucky enough to attend both the 2024 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Tainan, plus the 2025 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Taoyuan and both were such an illuminating spectacle!

Better still, the Taiwan Lantern Festival is free to visit and one of the best Taiwan events in March 2026, taking place just after the Lunar New Year in Taiwan.

This article was originally published on 14 December 2024.

You might also like – Our 1 day Taipei highlights itinerary or our 3 day best of Taipei itinerary

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Table of Contents

Taiwan Lantern Festival dates 2026 (Chiayi)

Celebrated after Lunar New Year, the Taiwan Lantern Festival runs from 3 to 15 March 2026 in Chiayi – no tickets or admission fee is required.

A special opening ceremony attended by local and national dignitaries (and hopefully the Taiwan bear tourism mascot!) will take place on 3 March 2026.

The Taiwan Lantern Festival usually lights up nightly from mid afternoon and runs until late in the evening.

You might like – Our monthly Taiwan events hub including February festivals and March events >

How to get to the Chiayi Taiwan Lantern Festival 2026

The Taiwan Lantern Festival 2026 takes place in Chiayi across various parts of the city likely including by Chiayi HSR Station and Chiayi’s wing of the National Palace Museum.

This is a great location and it is easy to go from Taipei to Chiayi on the Taiwan High Speed Rail.

The journey from Taipei Main Station to the Taiwan Lantern Festival 2026 in Chiayi takes just over 20 minutes on the High Speed Train, plus a short walk at the end to the outdoor exhibition area where the lanterns are.

You might like – Our guide to the best things to do in Chiayi >

How to get to Chiayi

Chiayi in southwest Taiwan has two main train stations – Chiayi Station (for local / TRA trains) and Chiayi High Speed Railway Station.

Note the HSR station is a little way away from downtown and most of the central Chiayi accommodation.

From Taipei to Chiayi, the High Speed Railway train from Taipei Main Station takes around 1 hour 27 minutes (5 stops), whilst the local ‘Tze-Chiang Limited Express’ from Taipei takes around 3 hours 30 minutes.

Chiayi is also easily accessible by train from Kaohsiung, Tainan and Taichung.

You could also potentially combine a trip to the 2026 Taiwan Lantern festival with a visit to Alishan – check out our guide to riding on the bus and booking tickets here or our Alishan itinerary.

High speed rail fares from Taipei to Chiayi usually cost around NT$1,045 one way (around £26 or $35 USD).

Please note you cannot use an EasyCard to pay for your HSR train tickets in Taiwan (which is a shame as they have so many cool EasyCard designs).

Check out discounted Taiwan High Speed Rail tickets for foreigners only on KK Day and Klook.

Taiwan High Speed Rail train in lantern form! Taiwan Lantern Festival — *Taiwan High Speed Rail train in lantern form!*

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Taiwan Lantern Festival 2026 – what to expect

Launching 3 March 2026, the two week Taiwan Lantern Festival in Chiayi will welcome millions of visitors from all over Taiwan and overseas tourists. It is one of the biggest lantern festivals in the world, which usually occurs just after the Lunar New Year.

The theme for the 2026 Taiwan Lantern Festival is still TBC. Last year, it was “Lights Linking a Thousand Ponds Across Taoyuan” so expect lots of reflective installations and immersive water light scenes.

We can hand on heart say this is one of Taiwan’s best events and hope we can make it to the 2026 Taiwan Lantern Festival as we loved it so much.

The Chiayi lantern festival will have lanterns big and small plus huge attractions like ferris wheels, fairground rides and even augmented reality. At last year’s festival, you could download an app and see the festival come to life with digital characters.

Many of Taiwan’s other cities and regions will be installing their own lanterns – the great thing about this Taiwan event is that it is the national Taiwan Lantern Festival and it changes its location every year, so all cities get a chance to host it.

You might like – Our guide to Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan plus how to get there by public transport

We love big lanterns

Based on our experiences at last year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival, lanterns of all shapes and sizes will be appearing featuring all your favorite cartoon characters plus historical displays.

Last year, we spotted everyone from Doraemon to Super Mario (although the latter lantern did look a little rude to us – although that could just be our imagination running wild).

The famous Formosa bear, Oh Bear, also features heavily amongst the lantern displays, as the annual Taipei Lantern Festival is organised by Taiwan Tourism.

Another fantastic thing about the lantern festivals is that whilst many of the displays are done by professionals and big corporations or tourist boards (likely costing a lot of money), local community and school groups are also encouraged to create lanterns to go on display.

You might like – Top things to in Taichung >

Other things to do

At last year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival, there were also huge numbers of fairground rides, immersive installations plus playgrounds for children to enjoy.

There are live music and dance groups who have curated performance pieces to coincide with the lantern festival theme.

As well as static lanterns, there is usually a light show that is repeated at regular intervals across the evening.

A large number of Taiwanese food trucks and food kiosks will be at the festival, akin to a Taiwan night market – from stinky tofu to steamed buns, you won’t go hungry!

You might like – Things to do in Taipei at night guide >

What the Taiwan National Lantern Festival isn’t

One thing to mention – we run a Taiwan Travel Tips (TTT) Facebook group and a few people seem to get this confused with a lantern release (like the Pingxi Lantern Festival).

If you want to release an actual lantern, read on for where you can do this…

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Other Taiwan Lantern Festival events in 2026

Taiwan Lantern Festival isn’t the only Taiwan lantern event in March 2026 or after Lunar New Year.

Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival & Mass Release 2026

We love exploring the Pingxi, especially Shifen waterfall and Houtong Cat Village.

Every year, a mass lantern release takes place along the Pingxi line (usually in Shifen at the Shifen Lantern Release Square or Pingxi Junior High School).

The 2026 Pingxi Lantern Festival and mass lantern release dates are likely Tuesday 3 March 2026 and possibly one other day across two locations (TBC).

Last year, the Pingxi Lantern Festival was confirmed as Saturday 8 February 2025 (at Pingxi Junior School) and Wednesday 12 February (at Shifen Square, near Shifen Wat e rfall.)

Here at the Pingxi Lantern Festival 2026, thousands of lanterns are released across both nights and the whole Pingxi sky lights up in unison. You can write messages of good luck, prosperity and wishes on your lanterns before watching them whoosh into the sky.

Please also note you can release lanterns on the Pingxi railway line along Shifen Old Street every day of the year but it is not a mass release and it does not take place at night.

Check out our guide to the Pingxi Line and its lanterns here >

Book your day-time Shifen Old Street lantern release with KK Day and Klook (over 10k booked).

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Taipei Lantern Festival 2026

Much smaller than the national lantern festival, Taipei’s own version is celebrated after Lunar New Year and the 2026 Taipei Lantern Festival in Ximending will take place in March 2026 – exact dates TBC.

In 2025, it ran from 2 February 2025 until 16 February 2025 – no tickets or admission is required.

The Taipei Lantern Festival usually lights up nightly from dusk and runs until the early hours – many of the lantern displays get turned off around midnight.

A short walk from both the Beimen and Ximen MRT Stations, the Taipei Lantern festival 2026 will likely run from outside Beimen MRT Station all the way to Nishi Honganji Temple in Ximending, Zhongzheng District, along Zhonghua Road.

Read our full guide to the Taipei Lantern Festival here >

Other small lantern festivals in Taiwan are usually held in bigger cities like Hualien and Taichung.

You might like – Our guide to Taipei’s biggest Lunar New Year market on Dihua Street >