Hoi An International Lantern Festival 2026: Expected Dec 3–6 Plans and Getting Back When the Streets Fill Up

The Hoi An International Lantern Festival 2026 is expected to take place on December 3–6, 2026 (Thursday to Sunday) under the theme “Hoi An – Heritage in a Kaleidoscope of Colours”. The main venues are Hoai River Square, An Hoi Sculpture Garden, both banks of the Hoai River and many streets across the Ancient Town. Events run in the afternoon and evening, so the two things to plan ahead are which night to go and how you will get back to Da Nang or your hotel once the streets fill up.

Please note: So far only the expected dates (December 3–6, 2026), the theme and the main areas are known; the organisers have not published a detailed programme. The number of lantern installations, booths, opening hours and what happens each night below are expected details and may change. Check official local announcements before you choose your night, and confirm pickup times once the programme is published.

What the festival includes

The items below are expected details, not an official programme from the organisers. Detailed schedules and times may change, so check local announcements close to your dates.

• An expected 15 large lantern installations inspired by pottery, wood and bamboo, plus lantern spaces from Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, Laos and several Vietnamese provinces. Lantern models are also placed in craft villages, attractions and local businesses.
• An expected 20 experience booths at Hoai River Square and An Hoi Sculpture Garden, open from about 4:00 pm to 9:30 pm daily: lantern-making steps, meeting artisans, handicrafts and a food space with Hoi An street dishes.
• The “Lanterns and the Art of Rebirth” exhibition (expected) with workshops on making lanterns from recycled materials.
• The “Colours of Heritage” art programme (expected) with Hat Boi classical theatre, Bai Choi, folk songs, ethnic music, contemporary art and ao dai performances.
• A talk (expected) on Hoi An crafts in integration and creativity, the “Impressions of Hoi An Lanterns” photo contest and an online lantern-design contest.

The lantern installations are expected to stay up until the Lantern Festival (Tet Nguyen Tieu) in 2027, so if you miss the four festival days you can still see the decorations in the weeks that follow.

Which night to go

If you only have one evening, arrive before 4:00 pm (the expected opening time) to walk the booths in daylight, have dinner, then stay to watch the lanterns light up. The booths are expected to close at 9:30 pm, but the Old Town stays crowded after that.

Stay in Hoi An or come from Da Nang

Staying in Hoi An suits travellers who want both the December 4 and December 6 nights, or who travel with young children or older relatives who need a break in the middle of the evening. Hotels in and around the Old Town tend to fill early during the festival, so book your room before anything else.

Staying in Da Nang and returning the same night suits travellers already booked near My Khe Beach or the city centre. The two cities are about 30 km apart, around 40–45 minutes by private car in normal traffic. The part to plan carefully is the return: around 9:00–10:00 pm, when the booths are expected to close and the evening programme to end, a large crowd leaves the Old Town at the same time, ride-hailing cars are hard to get and traffic out of the centre is slower than usual.

Two one-way rides or a same-day return. If you spend many hours in Hoi An (for example, craft villages in the afternoon, then the festival in the evening), two separate rides are usually simpler. If you want one car to take you there and bring you back the same evening, see the Hoi An – Da Nang same-day return car tour.

Planning your late-night return

1. Book the return ride in advance. Send a request for a private car with a local driver back to Da Nang or your hotel as soon as you choose your night, with your expected departure time and group size. Saturday, December 5 and the closing night on December 6 should be booked first; confirm the exact departure time once the programme is officially published.
2. Agree on a pickup point outside the festival zone. Hoai River Square is expected to be the festival’s main stage, so cars usually do not pick up right there. The pickup point is agreed for each trip and may change with local traffic arrangements; your driver confirms the exact spot before pickup time.
3. Allow time to walk. When the streets are crowded, walking from the centre of the Old Town to a pickup point on the outer ring takes longer than usual. Setting the pickup a little later than when you plan to leave keeps things relaxed.
4. Save the driver’s number and the pickup location on your phone before heading in. If your group splits up, agree on an easy-to-find meeting point.

Free waiting time and the fee for longer waits are shown in the trip conditions on the route page and repeated in your trip confirmation. A full evening timeline, the usual pickup points and how to estimate when to leave are covered in Hoi An from Da Nang: return at night or stay overnight.

Book your return on the Hoi An to Da Nang private car page, the outbound ride on the Da Nang to Hoi An private car page, or compare other vehicle sizes on the pricing page.

Combining it with daytime plans

The festival is concentrated in the afternoon and evening, which leaves mornings free for places outside the Old Town:

• Make a lantern at a workshop: silk-gluing classes on a ready-made frame usually take 45–60 minutes; see the Hoi An lantern-making workshop guide. Workshops fill up quickly during the festival, so reserve ahead.
• Thanh Ha pottery village, Tra Que vegetable village and the Cam Thanh coconut forest are all a few kilometres from the Old Town; how to combine them in one outing is in the Hoi An craft villages and workshop car tour itinerary.
• To add Hue, see the Da Nang – Hoi An – Hue 4-day itinerary for the lantern festival.

Early December weather

By early December the rain has eased, but there are still many wet days and evenings feel cool. In some years the Hoai River still rises in low-lying areas in early December; streets along the river may then be restricted and pickup points move to higher ground. Bring a light raincoat and shoes that cope with wet pavement, and check the forecast and local announcements a day or two before you go. The Hoi An rainy season guide has more on choosing meeting points in the rain.