When is Chinese New Year 2026 and which animal is it this time?
Chinese New Year — also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival — falls on Tuesday 17 February 2026, although in China, celebrations take place for a few weeks either side of this. Each year is represented by one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac signs; 2026 is the Year of the Horse, an animal said to symbolise energy and dynamism. Other Asian countries that celebrate at this time include Tibet, Vietnam and Korea.
London’s Chinese New Year Parade and Trafalgar Square celebrations on 21 and 22 February 2026
Central London springs into life on the weekend of Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 February 2026 — with the hotly-anticipated merrymaking around Chinatown, Trafalgar Square and Soho.
Though the programme is yet to drop (deets are always left relatively last-minute), we predict it’ll play out like so:
Saturday 21 February 2026: lion dance performances weave through the streets of Chinatown between approx. 11am-5pm.
Sunday 22 February 2026: the main event, i.e. the Chinese New Year Parade and associated festivities. The parade usually departs from the east side of Trafalgar Square at 10am, wending its way along Charing Cross Road and down Shaftesbury Avenue, before dispersing on Wardour Street and into Chinatown around 11.45am. Featuring the largest gathering of Chinese dragons and lions in Europe — and awash with luminescent floats, traditional drumming and dancing — it is quite the sight/sound.
To give you a general overview, here’s the official map from 2025, which we’ll replace with 2026’s when it’s unveiled:
For the rest of the day (approx. 12pm-6pm) expect lion dancing, stalls and Asian street food in Chinatown; cultural workshops and family activities in Leicester Square; and a gamut of performances, stalls, speeches and the like in Trafalgar Square — where a large stage will also host entertainment.
For the latest info on the above, visit the official Chinatown website.
Events to celebrate Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year in London
Here’s our roundup of other Lunar New Year events and menus going on in London:
LION DUMPLINGS: Of the multitude of dumplings being munched this Lunar New Year, it’ll take something to beat the lion-faced cuties from XI Home Dumplings Bay in Spitalfields — on aesthetics alone. The giant sweet steamed buns are filled with matcha and custard, and are available to order online now, with pick-up from the beginning of February. At £28.80 a pop, make sure you get a photo before you demolish it. 1-15 February (order now)
LUNAR NEW YEAR MENU: Canton Blue, the upmarket Cantonese restaurant in The Peninsula at Hyde Park Corner, offers a set — and an a la carte — Lunar New Year menu for exactly one month, featuring the likes of golden fish dumplings, and deep-fried lobster with salted egg yolk sauce. The £148pp set menu is anything but thrifty, although you can always settle for a refined cup of white tea in the Tea Lounge. 3 February-3 March
CHOP CHOP: The Hippodrome’s late night Asian diner Chop Chop (which slings the likes of Hong Kong-style roast duck and Japanese pistachio mille crêpe cakes up until 4am) celebrates with lion dances and lucky red envelope/Chinese calendar giveaways on the evening of Monday 16 February. If you happen to be born in the Year of the Horse (1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990 or 2002), then from 16-19 February you can enjoy 20% off your bill. Bring proof of your DoB. 16-19 February
DUCK & WAFFLE: Brave Duck & Waffle’s glass elevator, and be rewarded with a lofty Lunar New Year feast, starring dishes such as tea-infused duck eggs paired with bang-bang peanut dressing, and fillet of sea bass with pak choi, chilli, ginger, soy and oyster sauce. 16-20 February
HORSE DECORATIONS: Dear Asia in Aldgate — which teaches Japanese, Korean and Chinese language — invites you to celebrate Lunar New Year by crafting either a Year of the Horse gold foil decoration, or a bamboo Horse bookmark, while tucking into New Year treats, snacks and tea. 17 February
GREENWICH PENINSULA: Dragon and lion dances, tea tasting sessions, Chinese knot-making, woodblock printing and paper cutting workshops, competitive mahjong, and a variety of delicious South Asian dishes: all are on the cards — some free, others paid-for — at a bonanza day of celebrations at Greenwich Peninsula. 21 February
MARITIME MUSEUM: Another New Year blowout for the whole family, this one at Greenwich’s National Maritime Museum. A dizzyingly packed schedule includes the chance to try your hand at Chinese calligraphy, a ‘chopsticks challenge’, lantern making and Tibetan dance — as well as meeting ‘James Robson’, a Chinese sailor who sailed on the Cutty Sark. That’s just a small selection too — phew! FREE, 21 February
MORE ASIAN FOOD AND DRINK: Where else to feed on good Asian food in London? The obvious advice is to head to Chinatown, the heartlands of London’s Chinese community, and home to a slew of joints dishing up scrummy noodles, dim sum, cakes and the like. Many will be doing something special for New Year. Nearby Fitzrovia and Holborn are also scattered with excellent Chinese restaurants.
Other hubs of Asian food we’d suggest are New Malden for Korean, and Hackney for Vietnamese. And here are 5 amazing places to eat Asian food in central London, as recommended to Londonist by Michelin-starred chef and founder of Chinatown’s Viet Food, Jeff Tan.
For Tibetan food in London, Kailash Momo in Woolwich comes highly recommended by our readers.
Dragons around London
A dragon is for life, not just for Lunar New Year. For extracurricular dragon-finding, read our articles about the dragons of London, that time we gave all the City of London dragons names, and when we went dragon boating on the Thames.
And seeing as it’s the Year of the Horse, we have our equine brethren covered too.
