Yuyuan Lantern Festival 2027

What is the Yuyuan Lantern Festival?

A New Year lantern fair in the Yuyuan bazaar, run by the Yuyuan company since 1995 and listed as national intangible cultural heritage.

Lanterns for the 15th day of the New Year are an old custom across China. The Yuyuan version took its modern form in 1995, when the company that runs the bazaar put up a five-metre pig lantern for the Year of the Pig. The Shanghai government's 30-year look back tells that story, and notes how the themes moved from zodiac animals to classics such as Journey to the West and the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

The traditional run was the 1st to the 18th day of the first lunar month. Today it is longer, around five weeks. The only gap came in 2015, when the festival was called off after the deadly crush on the Bund on New Year's Eve 2014. It came back in 2016 with tighter crowd management, and it has run every year since.

One thing confuses visitors every year. The lanterns hang in the free bazaar around the Nine-Turn Bridge and the Huxinting teahouse, not inside the walled, ticketed garden. Our guide to the garden and the bazaar explains the split.

When is the Yuyuan Lantern Festival 2027?

Not announced as of 22 October 2026. Going by 2025 and 2026, expect lights from mid January to Lantern Festival night on 20 February 2027.

The last two editions followed the same shape: opening a few weeks before Chinese New Year, dark on New Year's Eve, closing on the 15th day. 2027 is the Year of the Goat, so expect goats (or rams, or sheep: the Chinese word covers all three) as the centrepiece.

Dates usually surface in December or early January. In 2026 the details came out in mid January, about two weeks before opening, and tickets went on sale on 19 January. Watch the Shanghai government's lantern festival page in English, and the Yuyuan Mall (豫园商城) WeChat account in Chinese. The garden's own "上海豫园" mini-program posts the garden's holiday hours. We will update this post when the 2027 plan is out.

Do you need a ticket for the lantern festival, and does it include Yu Garden?

Yes for the central zone: 80 RMB for adults in 2026, with timed entry. No, it does not include the walled garden, which has its own 30 RMB winter ticket.

In 2026 the festival spread over six zones. Only one charged: the Yuyuan folk art lantern zone, meaning the bazaar core with the pond, the bridge and the big set pieces. The BFC riverside, Gucheng Park, Middle Fangbang Road (Yuyuan Old Street), Fuyou Road and the Bund zones were free, according to the Shanghai government.

The ticket terms published by Shanghai Bendibao are blunt: the lantern ticket is not valid for Yu Garden by day or for its night tour, nor for the City God Temple. Entry was through gates 2, 3 and 5 of the bazaar, by e-ticket QR code, one entry per ticket. Unused tickets could be refunded until 22:00 on the day, minus 20%. Early-bird tickets could not.

How crowded is the lantern festival, and what crowd control is in place?

Very crowded on weekends, the New Year week and Lantern Festival night. Since the 2015 cancellation the zone runs on timed tickets, with police ready to close roads.

Expect to shuffle. The bazaar lanes are narrow, the bridge zigzags, and everyone wants the same photo. In 2026, entry ran from 16:00 to 22:00 on ordinary weekdays and from 14:00 to 22:00 on peak days: Fridays to Sundays, the New Year holiday and Lantern Festival night. On New Year's Eve the zone stayed dark and sold no tickets.

Around it, the traffic police announced that once the crowd around Anren Street reached capacity, bikes and scooters would be kept out of South Sichuan Road, Renmin Road, Anren Street, Guangqi Road and Middle Fangbang Road. The advice was to come by metro. Yuyuan Garden station on Lines 10 and 14 is a few minutes' walk away.

Our take: go on a weekday in the opening week, when everything is lit and the queues are shortest, and arrive after 19:30 once the after-work wave has gone through. Skip Saturdays and the 15th day unless you love a crush.

Your own guide for the evening: Yuyuan Old Street under the lanterns, then a VIP seat on the Huangpu cruise.

★ 4.9 · 3 to 4 hours · from $128

Explore the private evening cruise tour → Tour details

Can you see Yu Garden and the lanterns on the same day?

Yes, in two steps: the garden by day (last entry 16:00), then the lantern zone from 16:00 on weekdays or 14:00 on peak days.

The walled garden keeps its normal hours in lantern season: 09:00 to 16:30, last entry 16:00, closed on Mondays unless it is a public holiday, as the official visitor page says. From 1 December to 31 March an adult ticket is 30 RMB. A good festival day looks like this: garden at 14:00, out by 15:45, a snack on Yuyuan Old Street, then your timed lantern slot.

Three catches from 2026. The garden closed on New Year's Eve. From 9 February to 3 March its South Gate, at the foot of the Nine-Turn Bridge, shut after 14:00 on Fridays to Sundays and through the holiday, so visitors used the North Gate at 168 Fuyou Road. And the garden's evening tour paused for the whole festival, from 15 February to 3 March, according to the garden's Spring Festival notice. Expect similar rules in 2027 and check the notice in January.

Which tours suit a lantern festival evening?

The two evening tours both stop on Yuyuan Old Street, which was a free lantern zone in 2026. Neither lists the paid lantern ticket, so buy that yourself.

The night cruise and Yuyuan bazaar tour (3 to 4 hours, from $142) pairs a Huangpu river cruise with about 60 minutes on Yuyuan Old Street. The private evening tour (from $128) gives the Old Street 40 minutes, then a VIP cruise seat, Pudong and Xintiandi. Both are private and priced per person, tiered by group size, so a couple pays more per head than a group of six.

Neither enters the walled garden, which is shut by evening anyway. If you want the paid zone too, buy a timed ticket for the slot after your Old Street stop and tell the guide when you book. For the garden in daylight, the Yu Garden tour with tea includes the ticket and fits the afternoon before the lights come on. Our guide to Yu Garden at night covers the rest of the evening options.

Frequently asked questions