Chinese New Year Travel Guide: Dates, the Travel Rush, Closures and Where to Celebrate

Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival (春节, Chūnjié), falls on Saturday 6 February 2027, and New Year's Eve is the night before, Friday 5 February. Travelling in China over the holiday works well if you want to see the festival, you book trains early, and you stay in one or two cities while everyone else is on the move. It works badly if your trip depends on lots of train rides in the weeks around the holiday, or on small family-run restaurants.

When Chinese New Year 2027 falls, and whether your trip should overlap it

The festival follows the lunar calendar, so it moves every year, usually landing between late January and mid-February. Since 2025, a national regulation gives everyone four public holidays for it: New Year's Eve plus the first three days of the new year. For 2027 that means Friday 5 February to Monday 8 February are the core days.

The actual break is longer than four days, and this is where most visitors get confused. China uses a system called 调休 (tiáoxiū), which means "make-up workdays". The government joins the public holidays to the weekends around them to make one long break, and then asks people to work a Saturday or Sunday before or after to pay back the extra days. So during the Spring Festival week, some weekend days are normal workdays: offices and banks open as if it were a Tuesday.

The usual rule is a break of eight days starting on New Year's Eve, including the make-up arrangements. In practice it can differ. For reference, in 2026 the break ran nine days, from 15 to 23 February, and people worked on Saturday 14 February and Saturday 28 February to balance it.

The exact 2027 days off are set by an annual State Council notice, which in past years came out in early to mid-November — check the notice on the Chinese government website before you lock in plans. The legal basis, the national holiday regulation on gov.cn, sets only the four core days; the rest depends on that notice.

The celebration itself lasts about two weeks and ends with the Lantern Festival (元宵节, Yuánxiāojié), which falls on Saturday 20 February 2027 and is not a public holiday. For every other public holiday and its make-up workdays, see our China festival and holiday calendar.

Should your trip overlap it?

Our view:

• Go during the festival if you want temple fairs, lanterns and red decorations everywhere, and you're happy to spend the core days in one or two places. Big cities are pleasant then because many residents have gone home.
• Avoid it if you need to move between cities on specific days in the two weeks before or after New Year's Day, if your budget is tight, or if eating at small local places is the main point of your trip.
• The middle path many travellers take: arrive in your first city a few days before New Year's Eve, stay put through the first days of the new year, and do your long train rides once the return rush is over.

Chunyun: the travel rush, and how to get train and plane tickets

Chunyun (春运, chūnyùn) is the Spring Festival travel season, when people travel home for the reunion and then back to work. In recent years it has lasted about 40 days, starting about two weeks before New Year's Day. The official dates are announced each year at the national Chunyun conference led by the National Development and Reform Commission, so check the 2027 dates there once they are published.

The scale is hard to picture. During Chunyun 2026, the Ministry of Transport counted 9.41 billion cross-regional trips, including 540 million by rail. About 79.3% of those Chunyun 2026 trips were made by car, which is why motorways jam while some trains still have seats.

For a tourist, timing matters more than the total. The government describes the pattern as "spread out before the festival, concentrated after it". People leave for their hometowns over a week or two, but they all come back at the end of the holiday. In 2026 the busiest day of the whole season was the sixth day of the new year, 22 February, and the busiest day on the railways was the seventh day, 23 February, with 18.73 million rail passengers. In other words, the last two days of the holiday break are the hardest days to travel, harder than the days just before New Year's Eve.

Direction matters too. Before the festival, trains leaving big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are the busiest; after it, trains heading back into them fill up. A tourist travelling against that flow usually finds it easier, but on popular routes nothing is guaranteed.

Booking trains

Train tickets go on sale 15 days ahead (counting the travel day itself), and during Chunyun the popular trains can sell out on the day they open, so the rules on presale, the waitlist and refunds are worth knowing before you start.

What that means in practice:

• Set up 12306 before you need it. The official China Railway 12306 site accepts foreign passports for online booking. Your account can only buy tickets once your passport check shows as approved, and you can get approved by uploading a photo of your passport or by showing it at a station ticket window. The 12306 app is in the US App Store, in English and Chinese.
• Know the exact sale time for your train. Each station sets its own release time and can change it, so there is no single national moment when tickets drop. Check your departure station's time on 12306 and set an alarm.
• Use the waitlist (候补, hòubǔ) if a train shows sold out. It keeps trying for you around the clock, and you get your prepayment back if no seat comes up. The limits on how many waitlist orders you can place are in the table above.
• Allow extra time at the station. Passport holders go through the staffed gate rather than the automatic ones, and during Chunyun those queues are long.

Our step-by-step guide to booking train tickets in China walks through registration and the booking screens. If 12306 registration stalls, an English-language agent such as Trip.com can buy the tickets through 12306 on your behalf and charges a service fee for it; check the fee on the payment page before you confirm. The agent does not have its own pool of seats, so on sold-out days it faces the same limits you do.

Flights

Flying is the usual fallback when trains on your date are gone. Fares around the holiday are set by each airline and tend to rise on the days people go home and come back, so compare prices as soon as your dates are fixed and check the fare rules before you pay. Our domestic flights guide covers booking and airport basics.

What closes and what stays open

China does not shut down for the festival, but the rhythm changes. The quietest days for business are New Year's Eve and the first three days of the new year, when families are at home together. From about the fourth day, more places reopen, and by the end of the official break most of the country is back at work.

Here is what to expect, based on how things usually go. Opening plans differ by place and by year, so check on the day.

• Often closed for a few days: small family-run restaurants, street-food stalls, neighbourhood shops and markets. Many owners go back to their hometowns, and some take a week or more off.
• Usually open: shopping malls, chain restaurants and fast-food chains, convenience stores, hotel restaurants, metros, taxis and ride-hailing. Some keep shorter hours on New Year's Eve.
• Banks and government offices: government offices close for the official days off. Many bank branches run a reduced holiday schedule — check the bank's own notice if you need a counter. ATMs and phone payments keep working.

Phone payment is the easiest way through the holiday. Alipay's international version lets you link an international bank card and pay in shops, for taxis and on public transport. Cash is still legal tender, and businesses are not allowed to refuse it.

Museums and major sights

Big museums and attractions usually stay open through the festival and get very busy. New Year's Eve is the day most likely to close. Two examples:

• The National Museum of China in Beijing was open on 15 February and from 17 to 23 February 2026, and closed only on New Year's Eve, 16 February; entry is free but needs a real-name booking, made up to 7 days ahead.
• In Xi'an, the Tang West Market Museum closes on Mondays and on New Year's Eve, and opens on public holidays.

Most Beijing sights dropped advance booking in 2024, but a few, including the Forbidden City and the National Museum, still require it. The Forbidden City sells no same-day tickets, and bookings open at 20:00 seven days before your visit. Holiday slots go first, so book on the day they open. The Beijing complete guide has the details for each site.

Tibet runs on its own calendar. Tibetan New Year (Losar) can fall on a different day from Spring Festival. In 2026 the Potala Palace in Lhasa was open as normal on 16 and 23 February, closed on Tibetan New Year's Eve (17 February) and on the second day (19 February), and on Tibetan New Year's Day (18 February) opened from 6:00 through the south gate, with entry stopping at 11:00. Check the Potala's notice for 2027 before you book; our Lhasa and Tibet guide covers permits and planning.

Where to celebrate Chinese New Year in China

The dates below are from the 2026 festival, the most recent one. Organisers announce each year's programme closer to the holiday, so use them as a guide to what to expect and check the official announcement before you go.

Beijing: temple fairs at Ditan and Longtan

Temple fairs (庙会, miàohuì) are the classic Beijing new-year outing: snack stalls, folk performances, crafts and games in a park. In 2026 the Ditan and Longtan Spring Festival temple fairs ran together from the first to the seventh day of the new year (17–23 February), open 8:30–17:00 daily, with more than 500 stalls between them. Tickets were sold online with QR-code entry, and the 2027 arrangements will come from the Dongcheng District government — check its announcement. Go in the morning if you can; afternoons are packed. For where to stay and how to get around, see the Beijing guide.

Xi'an: the Chang'an lantern festival

Xi'an runs a large new-year lantern festival, with displays on the City Wall, at Tang Paradise (Datang Furongyuan) and at the Daming Palace site; the 2025 season ran from 22 January to 16 March, and in 2026 the lanterns were already lit on 1 January. The nearby Datang Everbright City pedestrian street can get more than 300,000 visitors a day on holidays, so go in the daytime or avoid 19:00–21:00. Xi'an pairs well with a day at the Terracotta Army; our Xi'an complete guide covers both.

Harbin: the ice and snow season

If you would rather have snow than crowds of shoppers, Harbin's ice season runs right through the holiday. Harbin Ice and Snow World opened on 17 December in 2025 and on 21 December in 2024, so it usually opens in mid to late December. The Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival has opened on 5 January for the last three years. Late in the season the weather decides: in 2026 a sudden warm spell made the park close for the year on 21 February. With the 2027 festival in early February, the timing should suit Harbin well; our Harbin winter guide has the full plan.

Hong Kong: the night parade and fireworks

Hong Kong celebrates with a big night parade and fireworks over the harbour. In 2026 the Chinese New Year Night Parade ran on the first day of the new year at 8pm in Tsim Sha Tsui, with about 60 floats and performing groups. The fireworks show was on the second day at 8pm over Victoria Harbour and lasted about 23 minutes. If the same pattern holds in 2027, that points to 6 and 7 February, but check the Hong Kong SAR government's announcement first. Hong Kong's own public holidays for 2027 are 6, 8 and 9 February: the second day of the new year falls on a Sunday, so the fourth day is given as a holiday instead. See our Hong Kong and Macau guide for crossing from the mainland.

Lantern Festival, and the quiet big cities

On the Lantern Festival, the 15th day, many cities and towns hang lantern displays in parks and old streets. It is a good final night if your trip runs through to 20 February. During the first few days of the new year, Beijing and Shanghai often feel calmer than usual, because so many residents have left for their hometowns — a good time for long walks and quiet metros, as long as your sights are open.

Customs and etiquette worth knowing

You don't need to learn rituals to enjoy the festival, but a little context explains what you see.

• Reunion dinner (年夜饭, niányèfàn). New Year's Eve is about a big family dinner at home. That is why the city goes quiet that evening and why so many small restaurants close. Restaurants that do open on the Eve often sell set reunion menus that need booking in advance.
• Red envelopes (红包, hóngbāo). Older relatives give money in red envelopes to children and younger unmarried family members, and bosses give them to staff. As a visitor you are not expected to give them. If a family hosts you and has young children, a small red envelope is a kind gesture. Use new notes, and avoid amounts with the number 4, which sounds like the word for "death". People also send digital red envelopes in WeChat.
• Spring couplets (春联, chūnlián). Red paper strips with matching lines of poetry go up on each side of a door. The single character 福 (fú, "good fortune") is often hung upside down, because "upside down" sounds like "arrived".
• Greetings. "新年快乐" (Xīnnián kuàilè) means "Happy New Year". "恭喜发财" (Gōngxǐ fācái), "wishing you wealth", is heard everywhere, and in Hong Kong and Guangdong you'll hear it in Cantonese as "Kung Hei Fat Choi".
• Small taboos. Some families avoid sweeping the floor on the first day, so as not to sweep away good luck, and avoid talk of death or illness. As a guest, follow your hosts' lead. Our guide to Chinese etiquette and taboos covers gifts and table manners.

Firecrackers are the one custom with real rules attached. Beijing's city rules ban fireworks and firecrackers inside the Fifth Ring Road, and since 1 January 2022 the ban has covered the whole city, including cold sparklers and children's toy fireworks — check the local notice before the 2027 festival. Shanghai bans them everywhere inside the Outer Ring Road. You also can't take fireworks on a train, not even in checked luggage. In smaller towns and the countryside, expect a lot of noise around midnight on New Year's Eve.

The holiday does not change the normal rule on tipping in mainland China; see our guide to tipping in China.

Weather and costs

Despite the name, Spring Festival is midwinter. In January the 0°C line runs roughly along the Huai River and the Qinling Mountains, with northern China below freezing and southern China above it. Average January temperatures (1991–2020) are about −2.8°C in Beijing, −18.4°C across the Harbin area, 13.8°C in Guangzhou and 16.5°C in Hong Kong. Snow and ice can cancel trains in the north; if the railway cancels your train, you can get a full refund with no fee. Our winter travel guide and what to wear by season cover packing.

Hotels set their own prices and can raise them over the holiday, but they must show the price clearly and cannot raise it after your booking is confirmed. Flights and hotels usually cost more in the days before and during the holiday, especially in festival cities, so check prices as soon as your dates are fixed. Book early for the holiday week and pick a rate you can cancel; you can compare hotels in your festival city on Booking.com.

Frequently asked questions

The short version

Chinese New Year falls on 6 February 2027, with the core holiday from 5 to 8 February and a longer break that the State Council will announce. Chunyun, the travel rush, lasts about 40 days around the festival, and its hardest days are at the end of the holiday break, when everyone returns. Small restaurants close for a few days, but big sights, malls and transport keep running.

Next steps: fix your dates, register on 12306 with your passport, and set alarms for the day your trains go on sale. Then book your hotel for the holiday week and pick one festival city — Beijing for temple fairs, Xi'an for lanterns, Harbin for ice, or Hong Kong for the parade.

Last updated: October 2026