Last updated: September 2026
Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday, February 6, 2027, opening the Year of the Goat. The public holiday in China usually runs about a week around that date, while the wider 40-day travel period known as chunyun fills every train and flight in the country. Decide first whether you want to travel for the festival or around it.
When is Chinese New Year 2027, and how long does it last?
Saturday, February 6, 2027 is New Year's Day in the lunar calendar. Celebrations run fifteen to sixteen days and end with the Lantern Festival on Saturday, February 20, 2027.
The official public holiday is shorter, and it is the number that shapes your whole trip. China's State Council General Office publishes the following year's holiday calendar in November, so the 2026 edition is the best guide to the pattern. In 2026 the Spring Festival holiday ran from February 15 to February 23 — nine consecutive days, the longest on record, created by working two Saturdays in exchange. Expect the 2027 arrangement to be published in November 2026.
Two consequences for planning:
- The holiday dates, not the lunar date, decide when domestic demand peaks.
- Because the calendar is confirmed only about three months ahead, airlines and hotels price the uncertainty in early. Booking before the announcement is usually cheaper than waiting for it.
What is chunyun, and why does it shape your dates?
Chunyun is the 40-day national travel period wrapped around the festival. In 2026 it ran from February 2 to March 13 under the Ministry of Transport's official work plan, and it moved 9.41 billion cross-region trips, 4.3 percent more than 2025. Rail alone carried 538 million passengers. The single busiest day was February 22, 2026, the sixth day of the holiday, at 380 million trips.
The pattern repeats: the window opens roughly two weeks before New Year's Day and closes about three weeks after it. For 2027 that points to late January through early March, with the Ministry of Transport normally confirming exact dates in its January plan.
What it means in practice:
- High-speed trains and domestic flights between major cities sell out first on the days immediately before and after the holiday.
- Hotel rates in Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and Chengdu peak across the holiday week.
- Everything is still bookable. It is a question of booking early and staying flexible on departure times.
Is Chinese New Year a good time to visit China?
It is the best period for the festival itself. Temple fairs, lantern displays and city-wide decorations run everywhere at once, and in 2026 the Beijing municipal culture and tourism authority listed more than 4,300 cultural and tourism events across the city.
It is the worst period for efficiency. Domestic transport runs at capacity, timed-entry tickets for the Terracotta Army or the Forbidden City are harder to secure, and family-run restaurants and small shops in residential districts close for the first two or three days while their staff travel home.
The useful nuance most guides miss: the first three days of the holiday are the quietest at major sites, not the busiest. Residents stay home with family, and the crowds build from the third day through the seventh.
What actually closes, and what stays open?
- Palace Museum (Forbidden City): open, but closed on Mondays except public holidays. Tickets are released at 20:00 Beijing time exactly seven days ahead, linked to your passport, and entry is through the Meridian Gate only. Peak-season admission is CNY 60 from April 1 to October 31 and CNY 40 from November 1 to March 31, so February falls in the cheaper window.
- Museums and signature sites: open, with the heaviest demand in the middle of the holiday week.
- Small restaurants and independent shops: commonly shut for two or three days from New Year's Day. Hotel restaurants and chain outlets keep normal hours.
- Transport hubs: operating at full capacity, with local crowd-control measures. On February 17, 2026, the first day of that year's holiday, Beijing closed Yonghegong subway station on Lines 2 and 5 from the first train until 18:00 to control the crowd around the temple. Expect similar steps in 2027.
How far ahead should you book?
The holiday announcement itself creates demand. Within hours of the 2026 calendar being published, platforms reported a 63 percent year-on-year jump in flight bookings for that Spring Festival.
- International flights: three to five months ahead. February is a peak month on every route into China.
- High-speed rail: 12306 opens sales 15 days before departure, including the day of travel. Foreign passports need online identity verification before you can book, so set that up well in advance with our guide to boarding a Chinese train station.
- Hotels: six to eight weeks ahead, and earlier if you want the holiday week itself.
- Capped attractions: the moment the booking window opens.
The broader sequence of flights, trains and attraction bookings is set out in our China trip planning timeline.
Which cities work best over Spring Festival?
Beijing is the flagship. The Ditan and Longtan temple fairs are the two biggest, and in 2026 they ran from February 17 to February 23, daily from 8:30 to 17:00, with more than 500 stalls between them. Pair a temple fair with the Temple of Heaven and the central axis.
Xi'an runs the City Wall lantern festival, which no longer starts at New Year. The 2026 edition opened on January 1 and ran for 81 days to March 22, turning more than 50 national-treasure artifacts — bronze horses, tomb sculpture, silver vessels — into lantern designs, with a daily capacity of 50,000 visitors. That long run-up is an advantage: you can see the lanterns in late January without competing with holiday crowds.
Shanghai centers on the lantern display in the old city around Yuyuan Garden, with the Bund easy to add.
What about visas for a February 2027 trip?
This is the one item to check before booking anything else.
China's unilateral 30-day visa-free scheme covers 50 countries. Forty-eight of them — including the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea — are covered until 24:00 on December 31, 2026. Russia runs to December 31, 2027, and Brunei has no end date. As of September 24, 2026, no extension of the 48-country scheme into 2027 has been announced.
If your passport is from one of those 48 countries and you are planning a February 2027 trip, confirm the position before you book flights, and be ready to apply for an L visa through a Chinese Visa Application Service Center. The detail is in our 2026 visa-free policy guide.
A second route works regardless of that deadline: the 240-hour visa-free transit policy, which now covers 57 countries entering through 65 ports across 24 provincial-level regions, after Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam were added on August 20, 2026. It requires onward travel to a third country, so it suits stopovers rather than round trips.
A sample eight-day Spring Festival itinerary
| Day | Base | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beijing | Arrival, hotel in the old city, evening walk through the hutongs |
| 2 | Beijing | Temple of Heaven and the central axis, early to beat the crowds |
| 3 | Beijing | Forbidden City and Jingshan, traditional dinner |
| 4 | Beijing | Mutianyu Great Wall, afternoon return, temple fair in the evening |
| 5 | Xi'an | High-speed train, Muslim Quarter food streets, City Wall lanterns after dark |
| 6 | Xi'an | Terracotta Army with a licensed guide, evening Tang-style show |
| 7 | Xi'an | City Wall cycling, Great Mosque, Shaanxi History Museum |
| 8 | Xi'an | Departure, or a domestic connection for a longer trip |
Eight days is enough for two cities at festival pace. If you have more time, our guide to how many days you need in China sets out what each additional week buys.
Frequently asked questions
Is Chinese New Year a good time to visit China? Yes, for the festival, which no other month matches. Expect peak transport demand and holiday hotel rates, and book everything early.
How long is the Spring Festival holiday in China in 2027? The dates have not been published yet. The State Council General Office is expected to release the 2027 calendar in November 2026. The 2026 holiday ran for nine days, from February 15 to February 23.
Can I see the Great Wall during Chinese New Year? Yes. Sections such as Mutianyu and Badaling stay open through the holiday. Go early, expect cold weather in February, and book transport ahead because this is the busiest domestic travel week of the year.
Do I need a visa for a China trip in February 2027? It depends on your passport. Travelers from the 48 countries whose visa-free arrangement runs to December 31, 2026 should check the position before booking, because no extension has been announced. Russia and Brunei are unaffected.
Should I book before the holiday calendar is published? For international flights, yes — prices usually rise once the dates are confirmed. For domestic trains, wait: the 15-day sales window means booking is only possible close to travel.
Planning around Spring Festival is where a specialist operator earns its fee, because the transport and ticket windows are unforgiving. LinkedTours arranges inbound leisure tours, business travel, study tours and tailor-made itineraries across China, including festival-period trips — see what a tailor-made China trip includes, or browse fixed China tour packages for a starting point. For the comparison with Golden Week, read our Golden Week 2026 guide.
