Pingxi Lantern Festival in Taiwan

6:03 PM




Year round you can light a lantern in Shifen Old Street near the outskirts of Taipei. Throves of tourists and locals a like visit the railroad tracks, write their wishes and light paper lanterns. More on this here. 
Once a year though on the last day of the Lunar New Year , they celebrate the Pingxi Lantern Festival. Luckily my visit last year was just in time for it. It was held on Feb 19,2019, this year it will be held on Feb 7 & 8, 2020.  On this night, thousands of people light up the sky with lanterns. 

Thousands of lanterns light up the sky in Pingxi in Taiwan. Annually on the last night of the Lunar New Year, throves of tourists and locals head to this little town in Pingxi just steps from Old Shifen Street where you can release a lantern year round. 







One batch of the many lantern releases

I joined a tour group via Klook to make traveling to & from Taipei easier and to ensure I get a spot to join. The releasing of lanterns were held in batches. There were over 10 batches that started late afternoon til about 10 in the evening. 

Per batch was given a meeting time and participants lined up in different areas as each group ahead of them had their turn. 

one batch of participants going out of the event proper. 


I was in group 9 and had met our group at 6:30 PM in Old Shifen St. We then headed to the festival site which was about 15-20 minutes walk. We finally entered the event proper site at 8:00. 

Each group was generally in one line and had one staff member supervised each lantern group (sub-group of 4). 


There was a short program to welcome participants (in Taiwanese) as each person wrote their wishes on the lantern. Four participants shared one lantern - each one had a side to write their wishes on. We were told earlier in the day to think about what we wanted to write because there would only be a short time given to do so. 



After writing with permanent markers , a different staff member with a blow torch went to light the soybean soaked papers of the lanterns. The lantern is then held down to the ground led by the staff assigned to the group to wait for enough air to build up and fill it. 

When it’s almost ready, each group held on to their side of the lantern. The countdown began and lanterns slowly lifted to fill up the sky. 



Do i need to get tickets ahead of time to join the Pingxi Lantern Festival? 

If you want to be part of the group that releases the lantern, you definitely should get tickets ahead of time by booking a tour or tickets in advance. Due to the limited slots, it is unlikely to get walk in tickets. 

If you just want to see it though, you can see the lanterns in the unrestricted area. 



How do you get to the event venue? 

I booked my tour via Klook. It included the transfers from Taipei City and a short bus city tour. We were given about 2 hours in Old Shifen St then walked to the event site.

FEB 8, 2020: KKDAY TOUR 2020:Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival Day Tour

You can take the train from Taipei to Shifen Railway station. Expect the trains to be full going and coming from the festival.

Can you light additional lanterns at the festival proper? 

Based on my observation, they only allowed one per group. Those that brought extra ones weren’t able to light them.

How long is the releasing of lantern event proper? 

It was about 30 minutes per batch.

Where did you get your ticket? 
The tour i booked via Klook was organized by http://www.edison.com.tw/



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