Matsuri Travel

Festivals in East Asia

Summer matsuri, lantern rites, and ghost-month traditions from Japan to Taiwan.

Illuminated ice castle towers glowing at night at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Dec 18, 2026 – Feb 28, 2027est.

Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival

Castles carved from river ice glow neon in China's coldest big-city winter

Harbin, China$$$$
Ice sculptures lit up at night in Sapporo
Feb 4–11, 2027

Sapporo Snow Festival

Building-sized snow sculptures and glittering ice art down the length of Odori Park

Sapporo, Japan$$$$
Red paper lanterns hung for Chinese New Year
Feb 5–20, 2027

Chinese New Year (Spring Festival)

Red lanterns, reunion dinners and firecrackers as China welcomes the lunar new year

Beijing, China$$$$
Hundreds of glowing paper sky lanterns rise into the night sky over Pingxi during the Sky Lantern Festival in Taiwan
Feb 13–20, 2027est.

Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival

Hundreds of paper wishes rise from a Taiwanese mountain valley at Lantern Festival

New Taipei City, Taiwan$$$$
Rows of glowing red paper lanterns hanging for the Lantern Festival
Feb 20, 2027

Lantern Festival (Yuanxiao)

The first full moon of the lunar year lights up lantern fairs, riddles and sweet dumplings

Nanjing, China$$$$
Pink cherry blossoms in full bloom during hanami season
Mar 20 – Apr 5, 2027est.

Hanami (Cherry Blossom Season)

Picnics under pink clouds as Japan follows the cherry blossom front north

Tokyo, Japan$$$$
Crowds in front of Jenn Lann Temple in Dajia, the temple where the pilgrimage begins and ends
Apr 9–18, 2027est.

Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage

Nine days on foot behind the sea goddess's palanquin across central Taiwan

Taichung, Taiwan$$$$
An ornate gilded yatai float hung with lanterns stands in its open storehouse during the autumn Takayama Festival
Apr 14–15, 2027est.

Takayama Festival

Gilded festival floats and mechanical puppets in a mountain town of old merchant houses

Takayama, Japan$$$$
A monk carrying a glowing lantern through Seoul during the Lotus Lantern Festival
May 8–9, 2027est.

Yeon Deung Hoe (Lotus Lantern Festival)

A river of glowing lotus lanterns flows through downtown Seoul for Buddha's Birthday

Seoul, South Korea$$$$
Bearers in happi coats carrying a portable shrine through the streets at Kanda Matsuri
May 11–17, 2027est.

Kanda Matsuri

Tokyo's great Edo-era festival sends portable shrines through Akihabara and Nihonbashi

Tokyo, Japan$$$$
Lit-up stage and decorated shrine crowds during the Da Jiu festival on Cheung Chau
May 13–14, 2027est.

Cheung Chau Bun Festival

Floating children, towers of buns and a midnight climbing race on a Hong Kong island

Hong Kong, Hong Kong$$$$
A drummer riding a festival cart through the streets of Asakusa during Sanja Matsuri
May 14–16, 2027

Sanja Matsuri

Asakusa's rowdy shrine festival, with a hundred mikoshi bouncing through old Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan$$$$
Teams paddling hard in a dragon boat race
Jun 9, 2027

Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu)

Drums, dragon-prowed boats and sticky rice dumplings on the fifth day of the fifth moon

Yueyang, China +2$$$$
Rows of paper lanterns glowing on a Yamaboko float during the Yoiyama nights of Gion Matsuri in Kyoto
Jul 1–31, 2027est.

Gion Matsuri

A full month of rites builds to towering floats hand-hauled through downtown Kyoto

Kyoto, Japan$$$$
Hot-air balloons glow against a violet dusk sky as visitors watch from the grass at Luye Highland in Taitung
Jul 3 – Aug 19, 2027est.

Taiwan International Balloon Festival

Seven weeks of dawn balloon flights and night-glow concerts over the East Rift Valley

Taitung, Taiwan$$$$
Young riders on horseback on the Mongolian steppe at Naadam
Jul 11–13, 2027est.

Naadam Festival

Wrestlers, child jockeys, and archers: Mongolia's three games under steppe skies

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia$$$$
Festival-goers covered in grey mud at the Boryeong Mud Festival
Jul 23 – Aug 8, 2027est.

Boryeong Mud Festival

Korea's beach town turns mineral mudflats into the world's messiest summer party

Boryeong, South Korea$$$$
Festival boats on the river during the Tenjin Matsuri in Osaka
Jul 24–25, 2027est.

Tenjin Matsuri

A hundred torch-lit boats and 3,000 fireworks turn Osaka's river into a stage

Osaka, Japan$$$$
People gather around a blazing torch tower in a town square at night during the Torch Festival in Xiangyun, Yunnan
Jul 27–29, 2027est.

Yi Torch Festival

Torch parades, Yi wrestling and mass bonfire dances turn Chuxiong into a fire city

Chuxiong, China$$$$
A giant illuminated Nebuta warrior float glowing at night as it moves down an Aomori street
Aug 2–7, 2027

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri

Four-ton illuminated warriors glide through the night to chants of rassera

Aomori, Japan$$$$
A temple-shaped structure outlined in thousands of lights glows at night during Keelung's Ghost Festival in Taiwan
Aug 2–31, 2027est.

Hungry Ghost Festival

For one lunar month the gates open, and the living throw a party for the dead

Keelung, Taiwan +3$$$$
Dancers in traditional hats and happi coats performing Awa Odori in a black and white street scene
Aug 12–15, 2027

Awa Odori

Japan's best-known dance festival, where the fools who watch join the fools who dance

Tokushima, Japan$$$$
The Daimonji bonfire burning on the hillside above Kyoto at the end of Obon
Aug 13–16, 2027

Obon & Gozan no Okuribi

Japan welcomes its ancestors home, and Kyoto sends them off with mountains on fire

Kyoto, Japan$$$$
A dancer in a deep woven hat dancing through the night streets at Owara Kaze no Bon
Sep 1–3, 2027est.

Owara Kaze no Bon

Three hushed nights of braided-hat dancers and kokyū strings in lantern-lit Yatsuo

Toyama, Japan$$$$
Performers carry the Tai Hang Fire Dragon, bristling with burning incense sticks, through a night crowd at a Hong Kong performance
Sep 14–16, 2027est.

Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance

A 67m dragon of smouldering incense snakes through Tai Hang's lanes for three nights

Hong Kong, Hong Kong$$$$
A giant white hahoe mask sculpture towering over visitors at the Andong Mask Dance Festival
Sep 24 – Oct 3, 2027est.

Andong Mask Dance Festival

About ten autumn days of masked satire: UNESCO talchum and troupes from abroad

Andong, South Korea$$$$
Men riding a sacred log in festival dress at the Onbashira Festival at Moriya Shrine
Apr 1 – May 5, 2028est.

Onbashira

Once every six years, men ride giant tree trunks down a mountain slope in Nagano

Suwa, Japan$$$$

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