Hoi An (Hội An) Lantern Festival: Full Moon Dates, Boats and Tips

On this night the old town switches off its electric lights. What is left is the glow of lanterns hanging outside the shophouses and the candles inside paper lanterns drifting down the river. On one corner a caller sings out the cards for bai choi (bài chòi), a folk game a little like bingo; elsewhere there is Chinese chess, and family bands play Quang Nam (Quảng Nam) folk songs. Locals simply call it Old Town Night.

Hoi An lantern festival dates, October 2026 to December 2027 #

Dates follow the Vietnamese lunar calendar on Vietnam time (UTC+7). With no leap month in this period, each month has one 14th night. Use the lunar dates above rather than an astronomical full-moon calendar.

What happens on the 14th night, and how other nights compare #

The program reenacts Hoi An's old town nights of the early 20th century and has run since 1998. Most performances are kept alive by local community groups, from family bands and Tang-style poetry recitals to traditional martial arts, tuong (tuồng) opera and folk-song classes you can join.

Photo: Christophe95

The Hoi An World Cultural Heritage Conservation Center once listed the program as 6:30pm to 9pm, but that schedule dates from 2011, and current official pages give no lights-off time. To be sure, call the center's hotline on +84 843 428 888.

On ordinary nights the lanterns still go up, the boats still run, paper lanterns are still sold along the river and bai choi is still played. The difference is the electric lighting and the number of performances. If your dates miss the 14th, a weeknight in Hoi An is still well worth it, and a lot calmer.

Tickets, car-free hours and when it gets busy #

According to the Da Nang tourism portal (March 2026), the VND80,000 ticket covers general access plus three sites: the Japanese Covered Bridge (Chùa Cầu) or the Quan Cong Temple (Miếu Quan Công), and two others of your choice. The VND120,000 ticket covers the bridge or the temple, three sites of your choice and the museums. Either is valid for up to three days, so keep the stub. Choose the ticket around the sites you want to enter, and check their opening hours if you are visiting in the evening.

The Ancient Town is open only to pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles from 9am to 9:30pm in summer and until 9pm in winter; Phan Chau Trinh (Phan Châu Trinh) Street follows suit from 5:30pm. Leave your car or scooter at a paid lot outside the core and walk in.

Boats start taking passengers at 4pm, and in March 2025 there was a long queue within half an hour; weekend evenings, Old Town Nights and public holidays are the busiest. We suggest arriving before 5pm, walking the streets while it is still light, eating early, and taking a boat at dusk or after 8pm. If you have a choice, pick a 14th night that falls midweek.

Hoi An lantern boat rides: prices, safety and choosing a lantern #

The Hoai River rowing-boat cooperative charges VND170,000 for one to three passengers or VND220,000 for four or five per 20-minute trip; each boat carries no more than five people, children included, and the last boats leave at 9:30pm (March 2025). Motorboats run for about 30 minutes at an average of VND50,000 per person, according to Da Nang's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (May 2026). Paper floating lanterns (hoa đăng) sell along both banks for about VND10,000 each (February 2025).

The department also found that some visitors paid more after booking through a hotel or middleman. Before you step aboard, ask whether the price is per boat or per person, how long the trip lasts and whether lanterns are included; buying at a riverside ticket booth makes prices easiest to compare.

Photo: Christophe95

Choose a candlelit paper lantern over plastic or battery-lit versions; one or two per group is enough. Release it from the boat or the river steps, never throw it from a bridge, and let a burning lantern drift rather than fishing it out.

Getting to Hoi An from Da Nang, the best months and flood season #

Hoi An is just over 30 km from Da Nang and has been part of Da Nang City since July 2025, so maps and bus tickets may show new administrative names. A taxi, ride-hailing car or hotel transfer is the simplest option on an Old Town Night. Bus route 2 (up to VND30,000, August 2026) runs from Da Nang Central Bus Station to the Hai Ba Trung (Hai Bà Trưng) parking lot in Hoi An, but on the timetable in use since August 28, 2026, the last bus back leaves Hoi An at 6:30pm. Check the current last departure and arrange your return before heading out.

We suggest staying in Hoi An on the 14th and walking the old town early the next morning, when it is quiet. If you are heading south next, you can fly or take a night train from Da Nang to Nha Trang.

Averages calculated from Open-Meteo model data for 2015-2024 give Hoi An 491 mm of rain in October and 400 mm in November, against roughly 54-83 mm a month from February to April. For the best odds of a dry evening, aim for a 14th night between February and April. If you want to add a beach to a late-year trip, check how the rainy seasons compare in Da Nang, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc (Phú Quốc) first.

Lantern Night, Mid-Autumn and December's lantern festival #

Hoi An's Lantern Night (the 15th day of the first lunar month) and Mid-Autumn Festival are both national intangible cultural heritage. The 2026 Lantern Night festival ran from March 2 to 4, the 14th to 16th lunar days; on that pattern, 2027's would fall on February 19-21, but as of October 22, 2026 we had not found an official program. Mid-Autumn is the season of lion dances and the Heaven Dog (thiên cẩu) dance; in 2027, the eighth-month Old Town Night falls on September 14, the day before Mid-Autumn on the 15th lunar day.

Photo: LÊ TẤN LỘC

The newest addition is the first Hoi An International Lantern Festival, planned for December 3-6, 2026 around Hoai River Square and the An Hoi (An Hội) Sculpture Garden. Its display of large art lanterns is expected to stay up until Lantern Night in 2027.

Hoi An lantern festival: common questions #