N.C. Chinese Lantern Festival

The lantern festival returns to Koka Booth for its winter run, opening on 21 November and continuing nightly until 10 January 2027.

This is the biggest ticketed attraction of the Triangle winter and deservedly so. Enormous illuminated silk-and-steel lanterns are installed around Symphony Lake, and you walk a route through them after dark. The set pieces run to dragons tens of meters long and structures built from thousands of pieces of porcelain.

The essentials:

• Opens 21 November, runs to 10 January 2027
• Nightly 4:30 to 10 p.m.
• Tickets from around $17, varying by night
• Walking route around the lake, at your own pace

When to go, because this matters a great deal:

• Weeknights early in the run are the quietest and cheapest
• The two weeks around Christmas is the busiest stretch of the entire season
• Opening at 4:30 means you can catch the last of the daylight and then watch the lanterns take over as it darkens, which is the best way to see it

Dress for standing outside in winter for ninety minutes. The route is paved and manageable with strollers, and there is food and drink on site.

For a Wake Forest family this is a proper evening out rather than a quick trip, so pick a night you are not rushing.

Tickets are dated and timed, so decide your evening before you book rather than assuming you can turn up on a different night with the same ticket.