Mid-Autumn Festival 2026 falls on September 25: Hoi An has as many as two nights, so which night should I go?

Quick answer for those searching right now: Mid-Autumn Festival 2026 falls on Friday, September 25 — the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Just one more week to go.

But if you're planning to go to Hoi An, there's something you need to know beforehand, because it determines which night you should go: this year Hoi An has two nights in a row, not just one.

The reason lies in a custom of the ancient town that has lasted over twenty years. Since 1998, every lunar 14th of each month, Hoi An holds an ancient town night. But this lunar 14th falls on Thursday, 24/9 — right before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

So: Thursday 9/24 is the old quarter night, and Friday 9/25 is Mid-Autumn Festival. Two nights right next to each other, and they're not the same.

What makes the old town's nights so special? It's not because of extra lanterns being hung up — Hoi An has lanterns every single night. What makes it different is the opposite: people turn off some of the lights.

From dusk until around ten o'clock at night, most electric lights in the old town district are turned off, and vehicles are prohibited from entering. The entire area is illuminated only by lantern light. This is exactly where many guests get the wrong idea: they arrive in Hoi An on an ordinary evening, see the lanterns glowing brightly mixed in with electric lights, and then wonder "is that really all there is to the famous lantern festival?". What's actually worth seeing is the darkening, not the lighting up.

Mid-Autumn Festival adds yet another layer. The full moon of the 8th lunar month is the biggest full moon of the year, so this is the night the Old Quarter gets prepared the most carefully — and also the most crowded night. This year it falls right on a Friday, meaning it runs straight into the weekend. If you're not up for the crowds, you should plan carefully.

Which night should we go? It's up to what you want:

• Want to see the Old Quarter exactly as it is when the lights go dim, get good photos, and still be able to walk around and breathe → go on Thursday, 9/24.• Want the real Mid-Autumn atmosphere — kids carrying lanterns, drums and lion dances, streets bursting with people → go on Friday, 9/25, and accept the crowds.• If you're greedy, go both nights, because the two evenings give two completely different feelings.

A few practical things. The Old Quarter bans vehicles during festival hours, so park outside the outer ring and walk in — don't try to drive all the way inside. If you want a seat by the riverside, you'll need to arrive early, around before six o'clock. If you want to float lanterns, buy them right away at the piers along the Hoai River, and remember that paper lanterns are still trash once they're set adrift if nobody retrieves them — float one or two for fun, but don't float the whole basket.

And what about Mid-Autumn Festival in Da Nang? It's completely different, and this is where a lot of people are surprised.

Da Nang has no old quarter, so Mid-Autumn Festival here isn't a tourism thing — it's a festival for children and for neighbors. Star lanterns wrapped in cellophane paper, lion-dance drums beating from the entrance of the alley, small lion-dance troupes going from house to house, grown-ups laying out trays of offerings in the shared courtyard. If you want to see that, don't go downtown — go into the residential neighborhoods, and go after seven in the evening.

These past few days on the street, moon cake stalls have started appearing set up along the sidewalk, and shops have already begun decorating with lanterns early. If you're planning to buy cakes as a gift, remember that baked mooncakes keep longer than sticky (jelly) mooncakes — sticky mooncakes taste best within the first few days. The topic of choosing gifts to bring home is discussed in more detail in this article.

Travel between two places. Da Nang is about 30 km from Hoi An. These two nights the roads are crowded and it gets late, so taking a shared ride or private car with driver is still the most convenient — riding a motorbike late at night after being stuck in traffic all evening is exhausting. Anyone who wants to stay in Hoi An should book accommodation early, because the weekend coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival is when rooms fill up quickly.

In short: September 24th to watch, September 25th to feel. One night the street lights go dark and silent, one night the street is full of drums and children. Both only coincide once a year like this.

Image: Christophe95 (CC BY-SA 4.0), Mig Gilbert (CC BY-SA 2.0), Dragfyre (CC BY-SA 3.0) — Wikimedia Commons