Chinese New Year vs Lunar New Year: Which Phrase to Use, and What It Means for Travel Dates

They Are Related Labels, Not Interchangeable in China

"Lunar New Year" and "Chinese New Year" are two English labels for the same calendar moment — the new moon closest to the start of spring in the lunisolar calendar. They are not different holidays. They describe different scopes.

"Lunar New Year" is the umbrella term. It covers the same festival across China, Vietnam (T?t), Korea (Seollal), Mongolia (Tsagaan Sar), and several other East and Southeast Asian countries that share the same lunar calendar anchor. When a piece of writing compares several of these countries' celebrations at once, "Lunar New Year" is the right label because it covers all of them.

"Chinese New Year" is the country-specific label. It refers to the same holiday in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, where the holiday is also called Spring Festival (Chūnjié). When you are writing about travel to China, the country label fits.

The two are interchangeable in casual writing, but they are not interchangeable in careful writing — and the moment you start talking about travel dates, the difference matters.

When to Say Chinese New Year, Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year

Three rules that hold up across most English writing about travel to China:

• Use "Chinese New Year" or "Spring Festival" when the trip is in China. Both are correct. CNY is the familiar English label. Spring Festival is the direct translation and the formal name used in official notices and signage. Either works.
• Use "Lunar New Year" when the writing compares several countries. A multi-country itinerary piece, a comparison article, or a piece that mentions Vietnam or Korea at the same time can use "Lunar New Year" once and switch back to "Chinese New Year" or "Spring Festival" for the China portion.
• Do not call it "Chinese New Year" when referring to other countries' celebrations. Vietnamese New Year is T?t, not Chinese New Year. Korean New Year is Seollal. The country label belongs to the country.

This page covers the China-specific holiday. If you came looking for the multi-country version, the country comparison is on the Chinese customs page.

Not Every Lunar New Year Is the Same Day or the Same Holiday

The lunar new year drifts across the Gregorian calendar. It usually falls in late January or February, occasionally in mid-February. The first day of the new lunar year is the day of the new moon that falls between January 21 and February 20. This is what people mean by "the lunar new year" — the date itself.

This page does not cover:

• The Islamic New Year (Hijri calendar), which is the lunar calendar used in Islamic tradition but follows a different calculation. Different dates, different holidays.
• The Persian New Year (Nowruz), which falls on the spring equinox and is unrelated to the lunar new year.
• The Gregorian New Year on January 1, which is a public holiday in China but is not the lunar new year.

If you are searching for one of these and arrived at this page, the official State Council notice for the year and your country's travel advisory are the two sources that matter.

The Calendar Question Travelers Actually Need

The first day of the new lunar year is when the holiday itself starts, but the public holiday around it shifts every year. The State Council issues the official holiday schedule, usually in December of the previous year. The schedule tells you which days off are required, which days are shift-work makeups, and the full window. For 2026, the first lunar day falls around February 17. The public holiday and any shift-work days follow the State Council notice.

This matters for travelers in two ways:

• Flights and hotels book up early. Domestic flights into and out of major cities fill two to four weeks ahead, and hotel rates shift upward across the holiday week.
• Many shops, restaurants, and small businesses close. A private guide handles this; a traveler on their own may find the city quieter than expected, with some restaurants on a rotating close.

For the practical travel question — should you go during Chinese New Year or around it — the Chinese New Year travel page covers the trade-offs in detail. The China season page covers the broader window.

How This Affects a Private Trip Brief

If your window lands on the first lunar day or the surrounding week, the trip shape changes: domestic flights fill, business closures stretch beyond the official holiday, and most travelers pick the week before or the week after. The travel-during page covers what to expect and when to consider shifting the window. This page is the label question, not the go-or-no-go list.

If your window lands on the holiday week and you want to know what is open, send the dates and the city. We will come back with what is realistic and what the city feels like on the days you would arrive.