Hoi An Lantern Festival 2026: Every Date (Verified Full-Moon Calendar)

On thirteen evenings in 2026, the electric lights along Hội An's Old Town go dark on purpose and the streets revert to candle and moonlight. Silk lanterns become the only real light source, the Sông Hoài (the Hội An arm of the Thu Bồn) fills with thousands of floating candle-floats drifting downstream, and for about twenty minutes around dusk the town looks almost exactly as it did three centuries ago. Arrive on the wrong night and you get none of it — just a normal evening in a busy town. So the single most useful thing this guide gives you is the right dates.

The Hoi An Lantern Festival — Lễ hội đèn lồng, known locally as Đêm Rằm Phố Cổ ("Old Quarter Full-Moon Night") — falls on the 14th day of every lunar month, the evening before each full moon. This is the detail almost every English-language listing gets wrong: it is the 14th night, not the 15th, and not "sometime this month." Get the date right and everything else follows.

A note on accuracy: the dates below are computed from the lunar calendar and cross-checked against Vietnamese sources. Tết 2026 falls on Tuesday 17 February, and Rằm tháng Giêng — the first full moon of the lunar year — falls on Tuesday 3 March 2026 (per Đời sống & Pháp luật and Người Lao Động). That places the first festival night of the lunar year on Monday 2 March 2026. Every date in this guide is verified against those anchors.

When Is the Hoi An Lantern Festival in 2026?

The festival is held on the 14th night of each lunar month, year-round. Because the lunar and Gregorian calendars drift, the dates move every year. Here are all thirteen festival nights that fall within the 2026 calendar year, with the lunar-to-Gregorian conversion done for you.

The next festival night after the calendar above is Thursday 21 January 2027 (14th of lunar month 12). Tết 2027 falls on Saturday 6 February 2027.

If you only get one night, make it Monday 2 March 2026 (Nguyên Tiêu, the first full moon of the lunar year) or Thursday 24 September 2026 (the eve of Mid-Autumn). Those two carry the most ceremony. If you want the festival without the heaviest crowds, the lower-season nights — 2 January, 22 November, 22 December — give you the same lights-off Old Town with room to breathe.

What Actually Happens on Festival Night?

From about 5:30 pm, motorbikes are blocked from the Ancient Town core. Then the town does the thing that makes this festival worth planning around: it switches off most electric lighting, and from roughly 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm the thousands of silk and paper lanterns strung across the streets become the only significant light source. This lights-off protocol is the heart of Đêm Rằm Phố Cổ — it is a local heritage policy, not a tourism gimmick.

The river becomes a second source of light. Locals and visitors light small candle-floats — hoa đăng, paper lanterns with a candle inside — and release them onto the Sông Hoài from the An Hội footbridge and from small wooden boats launching off the Bạch Đằng quay. Each float carries a wish. Between roughly 7:00 and 9:00 pm the water fills with them, drifting downstream toward the Thu Bồn's main channel. Cultural performances run alongside: bài chòi folk singing at the An Hội square, traditional music on the Bạch Đằng stage, calligraphy at the assembly halls. By 10:00 pm normal lighting and traffic resume.

The lights-off idea has a documented origin. The Trung tâm Quản lý Bảo tồn Di sản Văn hóa Hội An (Hội An's heritage conservation centre) traces the monthly tắt đèn điện — "turn off the electric lights" — to a 1998 municipal decision, an idea associated with the Polish architect Kazimierz Kwiatkowski, who began documenting Hội An's vernacular architecture in 1982. Since mid-2025, following the administrative reorganisation that placed Hội An and Mỹ Sơn under Đà Nẵng, that same centre operates under Đà Nẵng's culture authority — so the 2026 festival is governed at the Đà Nẵng level for the first time.

Where Does It Happen, and How Do You See It from the Quiet Side?

The action concentrates on the Sông Hoài between the An Hội footbridge and the Cẩm Nam bridge, with the Bạch Đằng riverfront on the north (Old Town) bank as the densest spot. By about 7:15 pm on a peak night, the An Hội bridge and Bạch Đằng quay are shoulder to shoulder. You do not have to stand in that.

The water itself is the festival, which means the calmest seat is on it or across it. From our own riverside vantage on the Thu Bồn, the pattern that works is simple: come early for the blue-hour window, or watch from the far bank. Five approaches:

One — the blue-hour window. Reach the Bạch Đằng riverfront by 5:00 pm and take a spot on the steps facing the water. Lanterns come on against a cobalt twilight sky before the crowd builds. The best light is roughly 5:45 to 6:20 pm.

Two — from a boat. A small rowing boat (about 120,000–200,000 VND for 45 minutes) puts you mid-river among the floats. Book by 5 pm; availability is tight on festival nights.

Three — the south bank at Cẩm Nam. Walk five minutes past the An Hội night market to any riverside deck on Cẩm Nam and watch across toward the Old Town. The lantern reflections from this angle are often better than from the crowded north bank, and you will have a table.

Four — inside, not on the river. The Quan Công Temple courtyard and the Tấn Ký old-house interior fill with candlelight on festival nights and see a fraction of the crowd. Quiet, atmospheric, and a different kind of photograph.

Five — Cẩm Kim island. A short ferry across the Thu Bồn reaches Cẩm Kim, where local families do their own smaller release with a fraction of the tourist density. Fewer lanterns on the water, more of the actual community.

Planning a trip around this? See dates at our quiet riverside hotel on the Thu Bồn. Check availability →

A practical thread that ties it together: where you sleep decides how much of the evening you actually enjoy. Staying on the Thu Bồn rather than inside the pedestrian core means you can walk or take a short boat to the release, then retreat to quiet water when the crowd peaks — instead of fighting back through the night market to a hotel deep in the Old Town. (We are a riverside hotel on the Thu Bồn ourselves, which is exactly why we lay the evening out this way: the festival is a thing you visit, then come home from.)

What to Bring and How to Dress

The festival is participatory — everyone is welcome to light and release a hoa đăng. Floats are sold on Bạch Đằng and at the An Hội bridge for about 20,000–40,000 VND; bring small bills, as most vendors do not take cards on festival nights. Wear closed-toe, comfortable shoes — cobblestones plus candle wax make flip-flops a poor choice. From October onward, bring a light layer for the cooler evenings. Renting an áo dài (traditional dress) suits the night well; rental shops along Trần Phú keep extended hours on the 14th of the lunar month.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Hoi An Lantern Festival in 2026? It is held on the 14th night of every lunar month. In 2026 that falls on: 2 Jan, 1 Feb, 2 Mar, 1 Apr, 30 Apr, 30 May, 28 Jun, 27 Jul, 26 Aug, 24 Sep, 23 Oct, 22 Nov, and 22 Dec. The most atmospheric are 2 March (first full moon of the lunar year) and 24 September (eve of Mid-Autumn).

What time does the Hoi An Lantern Festival start and end? Motorbikes are cleared from the core around 5:30 pm, electric lights go off from roughly 6:00 to 10:00 pm, and the candle-float release on the river peaks between about 7:00 and 9:00 pm.

Is the lantern festival on every night in Hoi An? No. Silk lanterns are lit in the Old Town most evenings year-round, but the full Đêm Rằm Phố Cổ — lights off, traffic closed, river-float release — happens only on the 14th night of each lunar month.

Do you have to pay to see the Hoi An Lantern Festival? The festival itself is free to walk through. You will need an Ancient Town entry ticket to enter heritage houses and assembly halls, and a candle-float (hoa đăng) costs about 20,000–40,000 VND if you want to release one. A short boat ride is roughly 120,000–200,000 VND.

When is the biggest lantern night in Hoi An in 2026? The two largest are Monday 2 March 2026 (Nguyên Tiêu, the first full moon of the lunar year) and Thursday 24 September 2026 (the night before Mid-Autumn / Tết Trung Thu).

Can you release a lantern on the river yourself? Yes. Buy a hoa đăng from a riverside vendor and release it from the An Hội bridge, the Bạch Đằng quay, or a small boat. Local custom is to make a wish as you set it on the water.

Is the lantern festival worth seeing during the rainy season (Oct–Nov)? It can be, but watch the forecast. October and November are Hội An's wettest months and the Old Town can flood in bad years; the 23 October and 22 November nights are lovely in dry spells but may be cancelled or curtailed during high water.

Turn a lantern night into a getaway. A full-moon lantern evening is the natural centrepiece of a romantic trip to Hội An — couples often build an anniversary stay or a riverside couples massage and spa-for-two around one of these dates, and book a private couple's spa for the afternoon before. Planning further ahead? The 2027 lantern dates are verified too. We watch each rằm from the quiet side of the Thu Bồn, a few minutes upstream of the Old Town. Staying for a lantern night? Book a riverside room a few minutes' walk from the release.

This calendar synthesises the official record of the Trung tâm Quản lý Bảo tồn Di sản Văn hóa Hội An on the 14th-night Đêm Rằm Phố Cổ lights-off protocol, coverage of the 2025 move placing Hội An's heritage management under Đà Nẵng, and Vietnamese-press confirmation of the 2026 lunar anchors. The hotel-side contribution is the verified 2026 lunar-to-Gregorian date table and the viewing plan tuned to the Sông Hoài release window between the An Hội and Cẩm Nam bridges, observed first-hand from the Thu Bồn riverside.