Brightly coloured Chinese lanterns will light the Domain at the Auckland Lantern Festival from February 13 – 16, 2020. Celebrating the Chinese New Year welcoming in the Year of the Rat, it’s an event filled with hundreds of handmade Chinese New Year lanterns as well as crafts, performances, and food (plenty of food).
It’s a free family-friendly event with activities and entertainment for everyone. It is expected to draw nearly 200,000 visitors over the four day weekend, so be sure to check the tips section below for transport suggestions. The first day is lanterns only. Therefore it is best for photographers as well as people who want smaller crowds.
Auckland lantern Festival 2020 had been CANCELLED.
Check back early 2021 for the next lantern festival.
Updates for Auckland Lantern Light Festival 2020
- Entrance to the family-friendly Auckland Lantern festival is free.
- The lantern festival is held on the Auckland Domain, the city’s oldest park.
- This year the starting hours are earlier than in the past, although it closes at 10.30 pm every night. Opening times are as follows:
- Thursday, February 13, 2020, from 6.30 pm.
- Friday, February 14, 2020, from 5 pm.
- Saturday and Sunday, February 15 -16, 2020 from 4 pm.
- There is no dedicated parking for the event. The standard domain parking fills up quickly, and as with most Auckland domain events, many of the streets are closed to traffic. If possible, head to the city early in the day to enjoy the Auckland Museum and the Wintergardens (both on the Auckland Domain), rather than looking for parking in the evening.
- Even the nearby paid parking lots filled up last year.
- Public transportation may be the best option.
- Primary event sponsors are ATEED (Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development), Harcourts, and ASB.
Photo highlights of prior year’s Auckland Lantern Light Festival
Food stalls at the event
- There will be about 100 food and craft stalls on Friday to Sunday. So arrive feeling hungry.
- Most only take cash, although there were ASB ATM machines near the food stalls last year. On Friday night, the queue to get cash was the longest queue we saw all evening.
- In honour of the Chinese New Year, most of the food stalls offer Asian foods. Pad Thai seemed a popular option, and it was what I selected. There are also smoothies, fresh coconut milk, and plenty of sweets including deep-fried ice cream or ice cream in a fresh pineapple bowl.
Special events at the Auckland Lantern Festival
Some of the special events we have enjoyed at prior year’s lantern festivals include:
- An opening ceremony
- Fireworks finale on the final night
- Musical performances
- Acrobatic performances
- Martial arts arena with demonstrations
- Short films from the NZ Film Commission
- Lion Dance
- Xi’an Shadow Puppets
- Face painting
- DJ sessions beginning at 8 pm
Chinese zodiac: year of the
- Rat (1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, 2032)
- Ox (1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021, 2033)
- Tiger (1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034)
- Rabbit (1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023, 2035)
- Dragon (1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024, 2036)
- Snake (1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025, 2037)
- Horse (1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026, 2038)
- Goat (1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027, 2039)
- Monkey (1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028, 2040)
- Rooster (1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029, 2041)
- Dog (1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030, 2042)
- Pig (1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031, 2043)
More prior year’s Auckland Lantern Festival images
Practical information on visiting the Auckland Lantern Festival 2020
- Bring a camera and check out these tips for taking better night light shots.
- If you are going to drive, try to arrive plenty early, or park in the surrounding neighbourhoods. After 30+ minutes of driving around the domain searching for a car park, we ended up finding street parking in Newmarket and walking the 1.6 km back to the Auckland Domain.
- Use the AT Journey planner to find the best public transportation options from your neighbourhood.
- Another option is to spend the night in Auckland. We use booking.com to find the best rates in the city. Click here to check availability at Auckland Hotels
- In past years, Auckland Lantern Festival event maps were distributed by volunteers at the entrances to the festival along any of the primary walking paths into the domain.
- The city loves a good party, and the Chinese Lantern Festival is one of many exciting events in Auckland throughout the year.
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Will you be visiting the Auckland Lantern Festival 2020?
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Amy Franks
I’ve never been to one but i hope it goes well. We’ve been following the chinese new year, hopefully this year won’t be such hard work like the last one.
Mary (cactus catz)
Wow, those lanterns look very cool!
Paul F. Pietrangelo
I was amazed with many colorful pictures that you showed us. I would have like to have seen some of the different foods. I enjoy eating, oops, I mean the different types of food. See ya Rhonda.
Cruisin Paul
Margy
Beautiful colours and a variety of themes. – Margy
Amanda
What an amazing festival! I love how bright everything is. My daughter celebrated the Chinese New Year in school extensively this year with her teacher who is from China. It is really interesting to see how it is celebrated around the world. Have a great week!
Deb Nance
The lights seem to make the world more alive. Magical.
Deb Nance
Wow! The lights are magical. Lights bring life, somehow.
Alissa Apel
The lights and colors are so pretty! I like the fifth one down so much!
Lydia C. Lee
Wow! They look fanastic!
Lady Fi
Fabulously festive.
Patrick Weseman
Holy Cow, that looks like so much and what a cool event to go to. Wow. The pics you took are great. Thanks for sharing this.
Kelleyn Rothaermel
This one puts ours to shame!
stevebethere
Fantastic pics and all the colour I want the food heheh!
Have a good week Rhonda and thanks for stopping by š
Veronica Lee
I didn’t know that Chinese New Year is celebrated so grandly over there in New Zealand! Iād love to attend someday!
Anda
What a gorgeous display of color and shapes! You are so lucky to have all these great festivals in Aukland. Where any of these lanterns for sale? I would love to have something like that in my garden. Can you imagine how beautiful it wood look at night?
Pat
What a wonderful and festive parade and celebration! happy year of the Dog, Rhonda!
Alex J. Cavanaugh
Hey look, I was visiting you four years ago – there’s my original comment.
The lights are still really awesome. Incredible works of art.
Hilary
Hi Rhonda – it looks amazing … lovely photos – but the lanterns etc are so so creative. Thanks for the tour around – cheers Hilary
Sandee
How fun, but the crowds. I just can’t do all that walking and crowds anymore. I think I’m getting old, Rhonda. I would love to see all this color in person though and the food? I want to try the food.
Great informational post and the pictures are awesome. As always.
Have a fabulous day. ā„
Rhonda Albom
The crowds were much bigger than I remembered from my last visit, but last time we went on the opening night which is lanterns only – no food or craft stalls, so way fewer people.
Jill
Lovely photos of what looks to be a fun festival. I’d love to attend someday!
Leanne
How pretty!!!
Simon
Great photos! I loved the Chinese Lantern Festival and wrote about it on my blog too! It’s really cool, cultural events like this one that make me glad to have semi-recently moved to Auckland.
Julie
The lanterns are so vibrant with such fine attention to detail! I look forward to reading your guest post.
Claire
Beautiful picture, love the dragons š
Julia
I’ve never heard of this – or any other – lantern festival. Lovely pics.
Kim
Oh, wow! Those photos are fantastic. I spent some time in Auckland when I was living in Sydney and it was so beautiful. New Zealand is a beautiful, beautiful country.
Robyn Engel
It looks so festive and colorful.
Have a wonderful weekend, Rhonda.
xoRobyn
Kim Marie Ostrowski
Those were so cool!
Esp. that first one was impressive & LOVE THE Dragons I was born year of the dragon.. I want one of those for my room!
Rhonda Albom
My daughter was also born in the year of the dragon. She has a special red bracelet that she was given when we were in China during a year of the dragon. I think she can only wear it in a dragon year.
Suzanne Furness
Wow those lanterns look great, bet it is well worth seeing. My friend, who is a photographer, is visiting us for a few days so may even get to play around with some myself. Mind you, it depends on the UK weather!
Comedy Plus
I like all the lanterns, but the dragons are my favorite.
Have a fabulous day. š
Nana Prah
Wonderful pictures you took. My favorite is the lit up dragon with the moon peeking out between the leaves. Nice.
L. Diane Wolfe
Good to hear the book arrived. Wow, that was fast.
I love the goldfish lanterns. Those are adorable.
Cathrina Constantine
I love looking at your pictures. You’re very good! It’s great when timing is perfect, right?
Alex J. Cavanaugh
The Lantern Festival looks cool!
Can’t wait to hear the fine story.
Joyce
I love the vivid colors and fun displays! Awesome festival and photos.
Lexa Cain
My goodness, what a very busy week you’ve had. Congrats on winning the book! Free is always great! Good job on all the errands finished and commitments met. I loved the pics, and I’m waiting for the $fine$ story. š
Anna
Beautiful lanterns!
Sharon Himsl
Very colorful photos! With a Chinese daughter-in-law, I have seen similar and always enjoy it. Too bad about the fine!