Taiwan Lantern Festival (New Taipei / Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival): Dates, Tickets & Venue (New Taipei City)

A valley full of rising paper

Pingxi lets go of its lanterns in waves. Hundreds of paper lanterns on bamboo frames lift off together from a crowded field. Each one is warmed by a fuel pad burning at its base, and each carries wishes brushed on in ink. The festival marks the end of Lunar New Year, and the 2027 edition takes place in February around Lantern Festival day.

On the 2027 lunar calendar that day falls on 20 February. Pingxi is a former coal-mining district of narrow river gorges in the hills east of Taipei. Its old streets sit right against the railway tracks, so the whole district fills up on festival nights.

The national Taiwan Lantern Festival moves to a different host city each year. The Pingxi sky lantern event is New Taipei’s own celebration, and the New Taipei City Government publishes its dates, release sites and access arrangements on its official tourism channels.

Reaching Pingxi on festival night

There are two main ways in:

• Pingxi Line train: change at Ruifang Station from TRA trains out of Taipei Main Station. The single-track branch stops at Shifen, Pingxi and Jingtong. EasyCard works at the gates, and a Pingxi Line one-day pass is sold.
• Festival shuttle buses: on past festival days these ran from Taipei Zoo Station, the terminus of the MRT Wenhu (Brown) Line in Muzha, through Shenkeng to Pingxi.
• Driving: private cars are generally restricted on festival nights, so most attendees use public transport.

On release nights the trains run packed and the shuttle queues are long. Visitors usually spend the afternoon on Shifen Old Street and walk to Shifen Waterfall before dark.

Inside the release grounds

Past editions have held their mass releases in a large open space, with Shifen and the Pingxi town area as the usual sites. Hosts count down from a stage, and each wave goes up at the same moment. Official-wave lanterns have been allocated in limited numbers through registration or queue cards, and many attendees come only to watch.

Between waves, lantern shops along the old streets sell lanterns for private releases, and the stalls sell grilled sausages and peanut ice-cream rolls. Wear layers. February nights in these hills are cool and often damp.

Writing your wish the Pingxi way

Shop staff hang your lantern on a rack, hand you a brush and ink, and let you write on all four panels. Colours carry traditional meanings, and multicoloured lanterns combine several wishes:

• Red: health and safety
• Yellow: wealth
• Pink: love
• Orange: good relationships
• White: a bright future

People usually write their name and wish on each side. The panels are often photographed before release, so friends take turns holding the frame. Staff light the fuel pad, and you hold the lantern lightly by the rim until it pulls upward on its own.

On Shifen Old Street, people stand right on the rails between trains. When a whistle sounds, everyone steps back behind the shopfronts without being asked. Lanterns are fire, so hair, scarves and phone cords stay clear of the base. Locals travel with a loaded EasyCard so they can pass straight through the station gates and skip the ticket machine queues.