Vancouver Lunar New Year 2027: Parade Date, Route, Events

Lunar New Year 2027 in Vancouver: the dates

Lunar New Year 2027, often called Chinese New Year, falls on Saturday 6 February and opens the Year of the Goat (also translated as Sheep or Ram), a Fire Goat year in the traditional cycle. Vancouver celebrates it for about two weeks. Canada's largest Chinatown holds the Spring Festival Parade, lion dance teams tour shops and shopping centres from Chinatown to Richmond, families book banquet tables, and LunarFest lights up downtown and Granville Island with lanterns. Korean Seollal and Vietnamese Tết usually fall on the same day. Programmes for 2027 are normally announced in January, so where a detail is marked 2026, it is what ran last time.

The Chinatown Spring Festival Parade

The parade is the heart of Vancouver's New Year. It is organised by the Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver with the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver, the Vancouver Chinatown Merchants Association, S.U.C.C.E.S.S., the Chinese Freemasons and the Shon Yee Benevolent Association, and it brings out the largest gathering of lion dance teams in Canada, along with martial arts schools, dancers, marching bands and community groups. The 50th parade, on 11 February 2024, had more than 5,000 participants and about 100,000 spectators. For the 52nd, on 22 February 2026, organisers expected close to 200,000 people. The 2027 parade will be the 53rd.

Where to watch

The route is short, so every stretch sees the whole parade; what differs is the crowd and the walk. The western end of Pender Street, from the Millennium Gate towards Main Street, is closest to Stadium–Chinatown station and fills first. Gore and Keefer streets, on the second half of the route, are a longer walk from the SkyTrain, and the groups reach them later in the morning. Front-row places go well before 11am: arrive by about 10am, earlier with children, and agree on a meeting point, because mobile networks slow down in a crowd this size. Close your umbrella when the parade passes so that people behind you can see. In the days around New Year, lion dance teams also visit Chinatown businesses to "pluck the greens", a lettuce and a red envelope hung over the door, for luck.

For the neighbourhood itself, including the Sam Kee Building, the Chinese Canadian Museum and the best walking loop, see our Chinatown guide.

Lunar New Year events around Vancouver

The 2027 programmes had not been published when we checked on 3 October 2026. This is what ran in 2026, when New Year's Day fell on Tuesday 17 February. Most of these events are annual and move with the lunar calendar, which in 2027 puts the main weekends on 6–7 and 13–14 February.

The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is worth the visit on any winter day. It was built in 1986 by craftsmen from Suzhou, and regular adult admission was about $16 in 2026. A local favourite with a different flavour is Gung Haggis Fat Choy, which mixes Robbie Burns Day with Lunar New Year, bagpipes with lion dances and haggis with dim sum; in 2026 it was held on 1 February.

Where to eat in Chinatown at New Year

New Year food carries meaning: dumplings for wealth, nian gao (sticky rice cake) for rising a little higher each year, a whole fish for abundance, long noodles for long life, and mandarin oranges for gold. Chinatown restaurants are at their busiest on parade day, so eat early or book ahead.

If an older guide sends you to Floata Seafood Restaurant at 180 Keefer Street, the large dim sum hall upstairs in Chinatown Plaza: it closed in October 2025, when the City of Vancouver ended its lease. For dim sum in Chinatown and Richmond, see our dim sum guide.

Richmond: the temple at midnight, malls and banquets

Richmond, where Chinese Canadians are the largest community, celebrates on a bigger scale than Chinatown, mostly along No. 3 Road. The Canada Line runs there from Waterfront in about 20 to 25 minutes, with stations at Aberdeen, Lansdowne and Richmond–Brighouse.

Many Richmond restaurants sell New Year banquet menus, and the best tables go weeks ahead. Where to eat, from food courts to Cantonese seafood, is in our Richmond food guide.

New Year customs worth knowing

• Greetings. "Gung hay fat choy" (Cantonese, the one you will hear most in Chinatown) wishes prosperity; "Xīnnián kuàilè" is Mandarin for "Happy New Year".
• Red envelopes. Lai see (hongbao in Mandarin) hold new, crisp bills, usually in even amounts, and are given by married adults to children and unmarried relatives. Avoid amounts with a 4, which sounds like the word for death.
• Red and gold. Couplets, lanterns and paper cuts go up before New Year's Eve. Shops on Pender and Keefer streets sell them, along with Year of the Goat decorations.
• The first day. Many families avoid sweeping, cleaning or cutting hair on New Year's Day so as not to sweep away good luck. Some family-run shops close that day, so check before you plan a visit around one.

Weather and what to wear

February is cool and often wet. At Vancouver International Airport it averages 105 mm of precipitation on about 15 days, daytime highs around 8°C and 91 hours of sunshine in the month. Around New Year's Day the sun rises at about 7:35am and sets at about 5:15pm. Three hours at the parade means standing still in the damp, so bring a waterproof jacket, warm layers and shoes that cope with puddles; a hat is kinder to the people behind you than an umbrella. Snow is rare in the city but normal on the North Shore mountains, where the ski season is at its peak. Monthly figures are in our Vancouver rain guide, and more ideas in the winter guide and things to do in February.

Where to stay for Lunar New Year

Chinatown has few hotels, but Gastown and downtown are a 10 to 15 minute walk from the parade route, and Stadium–Chinatown station is three stops from Waterfront on the Expo Line. If Richmond and the temple are your focus, stay along the Canada Line. In 2027 Valentine's Day and the Family Day long weekend fall a week after New Year, so book early if your dates touch 13–15 February. Compare the areas in our where to stay guide and see the Gastown guide for the closest neighbourhood to Chinatown.

Tips for Lunar New Year in Vancouver

1. Confirm the parade date in January. Sunday 7 February is the likely date, based on the last three years, but only the organisers can confirm it.
2. Take the SkyTrain. Streets around Chinatown close from 8am to 5pm on parade day, and parking fills early.
3. Be on the route by 10am. The parade starts at 11am and runs for about three hours.
4. Book New Year dinners early. Banquet menus in Chinatown and Richmond sell out weeks ahead.
5. Carry a little cash. It helps at small bakeries and stalls, and for red envelopes.
6. See the temple at midnight. The International Buddhist Temple's New Year's Eve ceremony, on Friday 5 February 2027, is the most moving way to welcome the year.

Checked 3 October 2026 against City of Vancouver notices for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 parades (dates, route, closures, attendance), CTV News and Global News coverage of the 50th parade, TransLink's January 2026 guide to Lunar New Year events by transit, Miss604's 2026 listings, Destination Vancouver and Vancouver Magazine on the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, the Chinese Canadian Museum, the International Buddhist Temple, Global News on the closure of Floata (October 2025), Daily Hive, Vancouver Magazine and the Michelin Guide on the restaurants, Royal Museums Greenwich on the 2027 lunar calendar, and Environment and Climate Change Canada climate normals (1981–2010) for Vancouver International Airport. The 2027 programmes had not been announced; check each organiser before you go.