Lunar New Year 2027 in Asia: dates, where to be and what closes

The 2027 dates at a glance

The Year of the Goat begins on Saturday 6 February 2027. Because the first day falls on a weekend, most governments have added a substitute day, so the holiday stretches into the following week in several places. South Korea's official lunar calendar, published by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, puts Seollal Day on Sunday 7 February instead. The Lantern Festival, the 15th day and the end of the season, falls on Saturday 20 February.

Where the New Year is the year's biggest holiday, the break is long and the cities change character:

Where it is a shorter public holiday, or not one at all, daily life carries on around the celebrations:

"Official" means the government has published the 2027 holiday. Event dates are usually announced a few weeks before; where we count them from the lunar date, the place's section says so.

Hong Kong: fireworks, flower markets and a night parade

Hong Kong's general holidays are Saturday 6 to Tuesday 9 February 2027: the first, second and third days of the New Year, with the fourth day, Tuesday, added because the second day falls on a Sunday. The season starts in the flower markets, which the Hong Kong Tourism Board says usually run for about a week and close in the early hours of New Year's Day; the largest is in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, and Mong Kok's is also popular.

The Tourism Board's night parade of floats and international performers through Tsim Sha Tsui opens the celebrations, and the fireworks over Victoria Harbour are typically held on the second day, which would be Sunday 7 February. The third day brings the Chinese New Year race meeting at Sha Tin, Che Kung Temple is at its busiest on the second and third days, and at Wong Tai Sin Temple worshippers compete to offer the first incense of the year. The 2027 parade route and fireworks time had not been announced when we checked; the waterfront of Tsim Sha Tsui is where both happen.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum closes on the first two days of the Lunar New Year, 6 and 7 February. The rest of the year's festivals are in our Hong Kong festivals and events calendar.

Macau: a short ferry ride for a second parade

Macau's obligatory holidays are Saturday 6 to Monday 8 February 2027. Public employees also have the afternoon of New Year's Eve, 5 February, and compensatory days on 9 and 10 February, so government counters stay shut until Thursday 11 February; private businesses follow the obligatory days.

The Macao Government Tourism Office runs the city's own float parade with drones and fireworks. In 2026 it announced the programme only on 3 February and held the parade on the third and twelfth days of the New Year, starting at Sai Van Lake Square; expect the 2027 programme at short notice too. The Macao Museum closes on Mondays but opens on public holidays, so it is open on Monday 8 February. See our Macau festivals and events calendar for the rest of the year, and Hong Kong to Macau for the crossing.

Taiwan: a seven-day break and the Lantern Festival

Taiwan's government offices close from Thursday 4 to Wednesday 10 February 2027, seven days in a row. New Year's Day and the second day fall on the weekend, so Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 February are the substitute days. The calendar is set for government offices; private employers set their own days. The Tourism Administration describes the season as family time: spring cleaning, rice cakes, auspicious characters on the doors and a reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, Friday 5 February.

Before the holiday, Taipei's Dihua Street becomes the city's New Year shopping street, and our Taipei guide covers it. In Beitou, the Geothermal Valley closes on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day (5 and 6 February). The bigger reason to stay is the Lantern Festival: the national Taiwan Lantern Festival is planned in Miaoli County from 20 February to 7 March 2027, around the Zhunan and Toufen sports parks, dates the Ministry of Transportation calls provisional. Sky lanterns rise over Pingxi in New Taipei on the Lantern Festival night itself. All of it is in our Taiwan festivals and events calendar.

Vietnam: Tet, the year's great homecoming

Tet is Vietnam's biggest holiday, and for 2027 the Ministry of Home Affairs has given the public sector seven days off, from Thursday 4 to Wednesday 10 February. The government portal counts that break from the 28th day of the last lunar month to the 5th day of the first, which makes Saturday 6 February Tet Day itself. Private employers choose one of three five-day patterns around the turn of the year, so not every shop closes on the same days.

The week before is the best time to be there. Vietnam's tourism authority sends you to the Quang Ba flower market near West Lake in Hanoi for the peach blossoms, to the Old Quarter's alleys on Tet Eve, where families set up small altars on the kerb, and to Nguyen Hue Street in Ho Chi Minh City, which hosts the country's largest flower show.

Then the country goes home. The same authority warns of heavy demand for bus, train and plane tickets and hotel rooms, and says businesses and restaurants typically shut for at least the first few days of Tet. Vietnam Railways put about 300,000 North-South tickets for travel from 23 January to 25 February 2027 on sale on 5 September 2026, with extra trains on some routes. If Tet is your only window, stay in one city through the first days. More dates are in our Vietnam festivals and events calendar.

South Korea: Seollal on 7 February

Korea counts its lunar calendar on its own: the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute gives Sunday 7 February 2027 as the first day of the first lunar month, a day later than its neighbours. The Seollal holiday covers the day before, the day itself and the day after, 6 to 8 February, and the Korea Tourism Organization lists Tuesday 9 February as a substitute holiday. Families eat tteokguk, rice-cake soup, on New Year's morning and play yunnori and other traditional games.

For a visitor, the palaces are the draw. Over Seollal 2026 the four grand palaces of Seoul, Jongmyo Shrine and the royal tombs were free, then closed on the day after the holiday; the 2027 arrangements are set for each holiday. Many department stores, malls and restaurants close on Seollal Day or for part of the holiday, convenience stores and shops in tourist areas often stay open, and many national museums close on Seollal Day itself. Intercity trains and buses sell out fast, so travel before 6 February or after the 9th; our Korea festivals and events calendar has the rest of the year.

Singapore: Chinatown, River Hongbao and Chingay

Singapore's Chinese New Year public holiday is Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 February 2027, and the Ministry of Manpower has added Monday 8 February as a public holiday. The National Heritage Board describes 15 days of celebrations, with a reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, and festivities that spill into public spaces: the bazaars of Chinatown, the River Hongbao along the Singapore River and the Chingay Parade through the streets.

The Chingay organisers have scheduled their 2027 parades for Friday 19 and Saturday 20 February, marked tentative, with the venue to be announced. Singapore keeps running through the holiday, which makes it the easiest place on this list to celebrate with a full itinerary; our Singapore festivals and events calendar covers the year.

Malaysia: open houses and Penang's temples

Malaysia's official list makes Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 February 2027 public holidays in every state, Kelantan and Terengganu included.

Penang is the place to see it. Penang Global Tourism says more than 200,000 lights and lanterns illuminate Kek Lok Si at Chinese New Year, when the temple keeps extended hours. In George Town, the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi clan temple closes on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, 5 and 6 February. Our Malaysia festivals and events calendar has the state holidays.

Indonesia: Imlek and Cap Go Meh

Indonesia's joint ministerial decree makes Saturday 6 February 2027 a national holiday for Imlek, the Chinese New Year 2578 Kongzili, and Friday 5 February a collective leave day, so government offices have a long weekend; private employers decide whether to follow it.

In Jakarta, the old Chinatown of Glodok is the place to go: the Vihara Dharma Bhakti temple, first built in 1650, is packed with worshippers at Chinese New Year. The great spectacle comes two weeks later in Singkawang, West Kalimantan, where Indonesia's tourism ministry describes the Tatung parade of Cap Go Meh, held on the 15th day after the New Year, which counts to Saturday 20 February 2027. See our Indonesia festivals and events calendar.

The Philippines: Binondo, the oldest Chinatown

Proclamation 1427 sets the 2027 holidays and declares Saturday 6 February for Chinese New Year as a special non-working day. As it falls on a Saturday, it changes little for travellers.

The Department of Tourism calls Chinese New Year the most electrifying time in Binondo, founded in 1594, with dragon dances, fireworks and cultural performances, and warns of very large crowds. Ongpin Street is the centre of it, an easy trip from a base in Manila; our Philippines festivals and events calendar has the year's other dates.

Thailand: Yaowarat without a holiday

Chinese New Year is not on Thailand's 2027 public holiday list, so Saturday 6 February 2027 is an ordinary weekend day. The Bank of Thailand gives bank branches in Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, Satun and Songkhla an extra day only when the New Year falls on a weekday; on Saturday 6 February 2027 it does not.

The celebrations are still large. In 2026 the Tourism Authority of Thailand's programme on Bangkok's Yaowarat Road ran each evening from 18:00 to 23:00, from Odeon Circle to the Chaloem Buri intersection, and provincial towns from Nakhon Sawan to Hat Yai held their own parades and shrine festivals. The 2027 programme had not been published; see our Thailand festivals and events calendar.

Choosing where to be, and getting there

For a big public celebration with everything open, choose Singapore, Hong Kong or Bangkok. For the family New Year that most people never see, choose Hanoi or Seoul, and accept closed restaurants on the main days. To stretch the season, start in Hong Kong for the fireworks on the second day and move to Taiwan or Singapore for the Lantern Festival week around 20 February.

Travel between cities before New Year's Eve or after the third day. In Vietnam and Korea, where people travel from all over the country to their home towns, trains, buses and flights sell out first, so book those journeys and your room for that week before anything else, and keep the holiday days themselves for one city.