What the festival is — and what is official today
The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival is an annual festivity held in celebration of the Lantern Festival, organized by the Tourism and Travel Department of the New Taipei City Government. The official New Taipei City Travel event page describes it as the most prominent such event in Taiwan alongside the southern fireworks festival, with over a century of history behind the lantern-releasing tradition and more than 100,000 visitors around the Lantern Festival period. It also records the festival's international attention: Discovery Channel called it the second biggest New Year's Eve celebration in the world in 2008, and Fodor's named it one of fourteen festivals worth attending in a lifetime.
Here is the part most articles get wrong, and the reason this page exists: as of 2026-10-25, the official event page lists the next festival's date simply as "February (To be announced)". No checked official page publishes 2027 release dates, ticketing rules, or a registration process, so this page will not invent them. What the official page does establish is the pattern: the festival follows the Lantern Festival — the fifteenth day of the lunar new year, which falls on 20 February 2027 — with the event itself announced later by the organizer. When the official announcement lands, it will appear on the New Taipei City Travel event calendar; that page is the pointer to watch, and every date claim in this article is dated to its check.
The three-station geography
The festival carries the Pingxi name because the lantern-releasing tradition belongs to the towns of the Pingxi Branch Rail Line. The Taiwan Tourism Administration describes the line as 12.9 kilometers of railway through the Keelung River valley, built in 1918, running from Sandiaoling to Jingtong. Along that line sit the settlements visitors actually mean by "Pingxi": Pingxi itself, Jingtong at the end of the line, and Shifen in the middle — the railway town where the old street runs beside live tracks and lantern shops operate on weekdays and holidays per the New Taipei City Travel page for Shifen Old Street. Year-round, you can buy and release a lantern at Shifen any day; the festival is the mass organized release that concentrates all of it into one or two nights.
Getting there — and the crowd reality
Reaching the line from Taipei means the Taiwan Railway to a connecting station and then the Pingxi Branch Line; the New Taipei City travel portal is the source to confirm current timetables and connections on your travel day. Two honest warnings. First, on festival nights the branch line is overwhelmed: a line that carries a few carriages on a normal day does not absorb a six-figure crowd, and road access into the narrow valley closes down under traffic. Second, check the last return train before you commit to staying for the final release — a missed connection turns a festival night into a long wait in a small town. If the festival night looks too much, the everyday version — Shifen's trackside lantern shops on a weekday afternoon — delivers most of the experience with a fraction of the people. Our comparison of Jiufen or Shifen covers that everyday trade-off in detail, and Taipei day trips puts the line in its wider context.
When to go, when to avoid, and what to wear
Go on a weekday if you want the towns themselves; go on the announced festival night only if the mass release is the specific thing you came for. February in the Keelung River valley is cold and damp — this is one of the wetter corners of northern Taiwan in winter, and the Central Weather Administration is the authority to check in the days before you travel. Bring more warmth than the calendar suggests: festival nights mean hours standing still outdoors, which feels several degrees colder than walking around.
Etiquette and safety on the ground
The official pages state clear expectations. New Taipei City Travel's Shifen page tells visitors to follow traffic signs and not to randomly cross the railroad tracks — the tracks are live and run through the middle of the visitor experience. For the festival itself, follow the organizer's guidance on where releases are permitted; lanterns launched outside designated areas are the safety and landowner problem the restrictions exist to prevent. If any official page in a given year mentions paid reserved-seating or package options, treat that as event-year detail and verify it against that year's announcement rather than assuming it carries over.
Pairing with a Jiufen or Shifen day
The Pingxi line and Jiufen are natural neighbors — the half-day tours pair them for a reason — but on a festival night, pairing is exactly what you should not attempt. The everyday pairing is the good one: a Shifen-and-Pingxi-line morning, a Jiufen afternoon, and none of it within a week of the Lantern Festival. If kids are in the group, read the terrain and attention-span reality in our Jiufen with kids guide first, and note that Shifen's flat trackside walking is the easier of the two towns.
Common questions
When is the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival in 2027?
Not officially announced yet. As of 2026-10-25 the official New Taipei City Travel event page lists the date as "February (To be announced)". The Lantern Festival itself falls on 20 February 2027, and the festival is an annual Lantern Festival celebration, so that is the window — but the release dates are the organizer's announcement, and we will not quote one before it exists.
Do you need tickets or registration for the festival?
No checked official page describes a ticket or registration requirement for the public releases, and this page will not invent one. Watch the official event calendar page for whatever rules the organizer publishes with the 2027 announcement.
Can you release a lantern outside the festival?
Yes — the New Taipei City Travel page for Shifen Old Street states that lantern shops there operate weekdays and holidays, which makes the everyday release possible year-round without the festival crowds.
How do you reach the Pingxi line from Taipei?
By the Pingxi Branch Rail Line, which the Taiwan Tourism Administration describes as a 12.9-kilometer line from Sandiaoling to Jingtong built in 1918. Confirm current connections and last trains through the New Taipei City travel portal on your travel day — festival nights are not the night to improvise.