2027 Spring Festival Snack Route: From Ditan to Longtan Lake

Setting the 2027 Festival Calendar Before You Plan

The 2027 holiday season opens with New Year's Day on 1 January 2027, but the food calendar most visitors care about starts a month later. Spring Festival eve falls on 5 February 2027, the first day of the first lunar month lands on 6 February 2027, and the Lantern Festival closes the run on 20 February 2027. For the exact number of public holiday days and any make-up workdays, check the official State Council notice before booking trains or hotels.

Traditional temple fairs in Beijing usually open on the first day of the lunar month and close somewhere between the fifth and the seventh day, while a few sites stretch their programme to the Lantern Festival. Because the dates move every year, treat last year's schedule as a rough guide only. Read the official announcement for each venue about a week before you travel, and confirm whether the fair opens on the same morning as the lunar new year.

Most fairs open in the morning and wind down before dark, and the food lanes are busiest from late morning until the middle of the afternoon. If you want to eat without standing in a slow-moving line, arrive within the first hour of opening, or return after three in the afternoon, when families start heading home and stalls begin moving the last portions at a friendlier price.

How the Main Fairs Differ in Character

Ditan Park, north of the old city, runs one of the most orderly fairs in Beijing. Stalls sit along straight lanes, folk performances happen on fixed stages, and the layout makes it easy to see everything in a couple of hours. It suits visitors who want a clear picture of a standard Beijing new year fair, especially when they are showing relatives around for the first time.

Longtan Lake, south of the city centre, spreads its stalls around a frozen lake and along winding paths. The open water keeps sightlines long, the crowd disperses instead of bunching at one gate, and walking feels calmer even on busy days. The trade-off is distance, so plan on a longer loop and wear shoes you can walk in for an hour or two.

Changdian fair sits on Liulichang, the old street of antique shops and stationery stores. Food stalls are fewer here, and the programme leans towards books, calligraphy, paper cuts and curios. It works well as a half-day of browsing with snacks on the side rather than a dedicated eating trip, and it pairs neatly with a walk through the surrounding hutongs.

Grand View Garden in the south-west builds its fair around the classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber. Expect themed decorations, costumed characters and activities aimed at children, with a modest food lane attached. Families with small children often find the scale easier to manage here than at the larger lakeside sites, and the indoor exhibitions give you somewhere warm to retreat.

Tickets at most fairs are free or cost a small amount, with spending inside the grounds counted separately. Snack prices run roughly twenty to thirty per cent above ordinary street prices, which is normal for a festival built on temporary stalls and heavy footfall. Knowing this in advance keeps the experience pleasant and stops a few overpriced skewers from colouring the whole day.

• Ditan: orderly lanes, dense stalls, scheduled folk performances
• Longtan Lake: open water, dispersed paths, a longer walking loop
• Changdian: culture street, few food stalls, strong browsing
• Grand View Garden: family scale, themed displays, indoor options

Savory Beijing Classics Worth Trying

Douzhi, a fermented mung bean drink, is the dividing line among locals. It tastes sour and faintly grassy, and first-timers usually order a small cup with jiaoquan, the crisp fried rings, plus a dish of pickled vegetable threads. Drink it in sips rather than gulps and treat the rings as the dipping vehicle, because the combination makes far more sense once you taste them together.

Luzhu huoshao is a one-pot stew of pork intestine, lung, tofu and sliced leavened bread simmered in a deep savoury broth. It is heavy, warming and well suited to a cold February afternoon when you have been walking outdoors for hours. Ask for less offal if you are unsure, and add chilli oil or vinegar at the table to adjust the richness.

Baodu means quick-boiled tripe, either beef or lamb, plunged into boiling water for a few seconds and served with a sesame dipping sauce. The texture depends entirely on timing, so eat it the moment it reaches your hands and do not let it sit. Stalls that turn over trays quickly tend to produce a cleaner and more consistent plate.

Chaogan, a thick glossy stew of liver and intestine bound with starch, is usually eaten with steamed buns as a morning dish or an afternoon snack. The portion is small and the flavour is strong, so it pairs well with something plain. In a fair setting, look for a stall with a steady queue of local customers and a pot that is being stirred constantly.

Miancha is a millet flour porridge topped with sesame paste and salted pepper, eaten by rotating the bowl while spooning from the edge so the surface stays neat. It is mild, nutty and easy on the stomach, which makes it a sensible choice for older travellers or anyone who has already eaten two or three fried items in a row.

• Hearty set: luzhu huoshao, chaogan and a steamed bun
• Sampler set: small douzhi, jiaoquan and miancha
• Quick bite: baodu with sesame sauce, eaten standing

Sweet Bites, Fried Dough and Warm Drinks

Tanghulu, hawthorn berries threaded on a stick and dipped in hard sugar syrup, is the image most people carry home from a Beijing winter. The sugar shell should crack cleanly when bitten and the fruit should still be tart inside. Buy from a stall where the skewers are assembled in front of you and the syrup looks glossy rather than dull and sticky.

Lvdagun is a roll of glutinous rice wrapped around sweet red bean paste and dusted with roasted soybean flour, soft and faintly nutty. Aiwowo, rounded glutinous rice balls filled with sugar and sesame, taste lighter than they look. Both are sold by weight or by the piece and are easy to share, which helps when a group wants to try several things without committing to a full portion of each.

Tang erduo and mi mahua are twisted doughs fried and then coated in sugar syrup, crisp at the edge and chewy at the centre. They keep better than most fair food, so they double as a small gift if you are visiting someone later in the day. Guanchang, a starch sausage sliced and pan-fried until the edges blister, is served with garlic sauce and is only worth eating hot.

Chatang is millet flour paste poured from a long-spouted copper kettle, a small piece of theatre as much as a snack. The pour aerates the paste and gives it a smooth silky texture that is hard to reproduce at home. Watch a couple of pours before ordering so you know what to expect, and hold the bowl with both hands because it arrives hot.

Drinks in February are mostly warm: hot sour plum tea, hot soy milk, hot pear and rock sugar soup, and plain hot water from a thermos. Cold drinks exist but few people want them at minus five degrees. Carry a small flask of your own and refill it where you can, since queues at drinks stalls can be as long as those for food.

• Sweet set: tanghulu, lvdagun and aiwowo for sharing
• Crunchy set: tang erduo and mi mahua, easy to pack
• Warm-up: chatang or hot pear soup between stalls

Building a Two-Fair Food Route

A comfortable two-fair day starts at Ditan in the morning and moves to Longtan Lake after lunch. The two sites sit in the north-east quadrant of the city, and a taxi or short bus ride connects them without crossing the centre. Ditan is quieter before ten, so use that window for savoury food and a performance, then leave before the midday crush builds at the gates.

Arrive at Longtan Lake around two in the afternoon, walk the waterside path at an unhurried pace, and switch to sweet snacks and hot drinks as the light starts to drop. Leave before five, when the exits fill with families and the nearby station begins to meter the flow of passengers onto the platform. This split keeps you out of the worst queues at both sites.

If you would rather stay at one fair, walk the full length of the food lane before buying anything. Stalls near the entrance carry the longest lines because most visitors stop at the first thing they see, while the same items two hundred metres further in are often served in half the time. Note two or three prices on the way in, then double back and commit.

Changdian works well as a cultural half-day rather than a meal. Eat a proper lunch near Liulichang first, then spend the afternoon browsing print shops, brush stores and paper-cut stalls. The fair is small enough to finish in two hours, and the surrounding streets reward a slow walk once the main lane gets crowded in the late afternoon.

• Morning: Ditan from nine to eleven, savoury food first
• Afternoon: Longtan Lake from two, waterside loop, sweet snacks
• Culture day: lunch near Liulichang, then Changdian on foot

Prices, Queues and Food Safety

Expect to pay more than you would at a neighbourhood shop. A sugar-coated hawthorn skewer, a plate of baodu or a bowl of luzhu usually costs a little above the street price, and the gap widens when you buy many small items in a row. Carry a small amount of cash alongside your phone, because a few stalls sit in spots where mobile signal is weak and payments stall.

The queue peak runs from about half past eleven to half past one, and again briefly after five when the evening crowd arrives. Shift your eating window by an hour in either direction and the experience changes completely. At a popular stall, send one person to hold the line while the rest of the group browses nearby, then regroup when the food is ready.

Choose stalls where the food is turned over quickly and cooked to order. A short queue of local customers is a better signal than a large decorative sign, and a clean work surface with covered ingredients tells you most of what you need to know. Favour hot freshly cooked items and pass on cold dishes that have been sitting out in the open for a long time.

Bring tissues and a small bottle of hand sanitiser, since washing points are scarce once the grounds fill up. Anyone with a sensitive stomach should treat the heavy stews as a tasting portion rather than a full meal and should avoid combining several rich dishes in one sitting. Eat slowly, keep warm, and drink hot water between snacks.

Road Closures and Metro Connections

In the days around the lunar new year, roads near Ditan, Longtan Lake and Liulichang are subject to temporary control. Bus routes are rerouted, some stretches close to private cars, and parking near the gates is close to impossible. The reliable approach is to park along a metro line outside the controlled zone and finish the journey underground.

Ditan is a ten-minute walk from Yonghegong on Line 2 and from Hepingli Beijie on Line 5. Longtan Lake is served by Tiantan Dongmen on Line 5, from where the gates are a short walk east. Changdian sits near Hepingmen on Line 2, which makes it the easiest of the three to reach without a car or a taxi.

Exits peak between four and five in the afternoon, and stations near the fairs throttle entry with barriers and staggered release. Travellers with children or older companions should leave half an hour early rather than join the final surge. Walking one stop further along the line often gets you onto a train faster than queueing at the closest entrance.

Taxis are hard to flag at the gates during the busiest hours. Walk to a main road two or three blocks away and request a car from there, where drivers can stop without blocking traffic. In February it gets dark soon after five, so keep hats and gloves within reach for the walk back and avoid waiting in exposed spots.

Bicycles and shared bikes work well for the short hops between Ditan and the surrounding hutongs, though you should expect restricted parking near the fair entrances. Cycle lanes are usually clear in the morning, and the ride lets you see the decorations along the streets between sites. Lock up well away from the main gate and walk the last few minutes.

Eating with Children and Grandparents

With children, pick one fair and cover it slowly rather than trying to see two. Sugar figurine blowers, dough figurine stalls and paper-cutters hold attention far longer than a plate of food, so watch a demonstration first, then choose two or three snacks. Keep small hands away from the woks and copper kettles at the fried stalls, where the surfaces stay hot all day.

For grandparents, prioritise soft mild food and short walking distances. Miancha, small wontons, aiwowo and plain steamed buns sit more comfortably than the heavy tripe and intestine dishes. Seating is limited and often outdoors, so plan a rest stop every hour, keep a scarf over the chest, and do not push on to the far end of the site just to see everything.

When three generations travel together, divide the roles before you enter the grounds. One person queues for food, one stays with the children, and everyone agrees on a visible meeting point such as the main gate or a large lantern. Keep phones charged, write the meeting point down, and set a fixed time to regroup rather than relying on messages in a noisy crowd.

Alternative Places When the Fairs Are Packed

If the queues at the fairs spoil the mood, move the main meal outside the grounds. Around Hepingli and Yonghegong there are neighbourhood restaurants serving home-style dishes at fifty to seventy yuan per person, which is more comfortable and considerably cheaper than eating everything at a stall. Walk ten minutes from the gate and prices drop noticeably.

Old snack houses such as Huguosi Snacks and Jinfang serve douzhi, jiaoquan, lvdagun and aiwowo all year, with seating and fixed prices. Twenty or thirty yuan buys a table of small portions, enough to understand the range without standing in the cold. These shops are a sensible fallback on days when the fair is too crowded to enjoy.

The Qianmen and Dashilan area holds several historic restaurants that serve traditional dishes, but the streets are busy throughout the holiday. Go before noon or after two in the afternoon to avoid the crush. If you only want the atmosphere of a fair rather than a full meal, two hours at one site is enough, and a proper restaurant lunch will leave you happier than a dozen skewers.

What Travels Well on the Way Home

Most fair food is made to be eaten on the spot, and very little of it survives a journey. The exceptions are the sticky rice and fried dough sweets: lvdagun, aiwowo, tang erduo and mi mahua can be boxed and carried, though they are better finished the same day. Ask about shelf life before buying, and do not stock up more than you can eat within twenty-four hours.

Tanghulu should not be packed at all. The sugar shell softens in a warm room or a heated car and the skewers collapse into a sticky bundle. Eat them where you buy them, or look for a hard-shell boxed version if you really want to carry some home. Chatang and miancha are made to order and cannot travel, so finish them at the stall.

For gifts, paper cuts, new year prints and small stationery items from Liulichang last far longer than food and weigh almost nothing. Compare prices across two or three shops before buying, and avoid making a rushed purchase in a dense crowd. A short walk back after the peak gives you room to look properly and often a better choice.

Final Practical Notes

Wear flat shoes with grip. Fairground surfaces are a mix of packed earth, stone slabs and temporary matting, and a thin layer of ice or slush can appear after a cold night. Heels and brand-new shoes are a poor match for two hours of standing and walking, and a small thermos of hot water is more welcome than another soft drink.

Keep an eye on the weather and on your own energy. Older visitors with heart or blood pressure conditions should step out of dense crowds regularly rather than push through, and everyone benefits from a ten-minute sit-down between food lanes. Plan which fair you will visit and what you want to eat before you arrive, and the day stays relaxed instead of becoming a scramble. If you would like the route, timing and restaurant bookings arranged in advance, Beijing Wanyou Tianxia International Travel Agency can build a festival food itinerary around your group.