Kaifeng’s Chrysanthemum Festival: A Song City in Bloom

By late October, Kaifeng smells of wet brick and chrysanthemum. Four-metre flower towers stand on the imperial axis, office workers detour past beds of near-black blooms, and the evening air above the Drum Tower tastes of frying oil and sugar.

The Kaifeng chrysanthemum festival, now in its 44th year, runs from 18 October to 17 November 2026, when roughly 3.3 million potted chrysanthemums are set out across the city. It rewards a dedicated trip because this Northern Song capital, seat of government from 960 to 1127, has grown, judged and written about the flower for more than 1,500 years. Reaching it is easy: high-speed trains from Zhengzhou East take about twenty minutes.

At jusha.travel, we love sharing tips that turn a famous flower show into a few proper days inside a Song-dynasty city. This guide covers what the festival is, when blooms peak, what tickets cost, and where to eat.

What is the Kaifeng chrysanthemum festival?

The festival is a month-long municipal flower show held every autumn since 1983, organised around the city’s growing tradition rather than a single ticketed venue. Henan Province hosts it with the municipal government under the theme “Song rhyme, chrysanthemum fragrance”.

Scale is the point. Of 3.3 million pots planted this year, two million sit on streets and pocket parks, and 1.3 million inside ticketed scenic areas; the city adds 25 photo points and 11 stalls selling plants to take home (Kaifeng Municipal Government, 18 October 2026). That split matters: you can spend a day among flowers without entering a single gate, then pay once for the set-piece displays.

Why chrysanthemums became Kaifeng’s flower

Chrysanthemums have grown here since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, roughly 1,500 years ago. Tang poets wrote about them; the Song court turned autumn viewing into an urban ritual.

The record is remarkable. Liu Meng compiled China’s first chrysanthemum monograph in Kaifeng, describing 35 cultivars, while Meng Yuanlao’s Dongjing Meng Hua Lu records Double Ninth gatherings where taverns built arches of flowers. The Complete Song Ci holds 89 lyrics written about chrysanthemums, with the “yellow flower” image appearing 340 times (China National Radio, 22 October 2026).

The flower became official in 1983, when the city named it its emblem and held the first festival. Growers now maintain more than 2,300 cultivars across seven colour groups, among them the green Peony, the ink-black Moyu and the copper-backed Jinbei Dahong.

When do the chrysanthemums peak?

Peak colour normally falls between 20 October and 5 November, when the shaped displays and the late cultivars are open at the same time. The show then runs twelve more days before everything is struck.

Window	What you actually see
18–19 Oct	Opening weekend; early beds still opening
20 Oct–5 Nov	Peak colour; every shaped display finished
6–17 Nov	Late bloom; thinner crowds, tired petals
After 17 Nov	Struck within days

Weather decides the margins. An early frost can flatten outdoor beds a week before closing, so check the city’s official account before booking late November. Mornings between 08:00 and 10:30 give side light and the shortest queues.

Longting Park: the main stage on a Song palace site

Longting Park is an 83.13-hectare imperial garden laid over the palace foundations of six dynasties, and it has served as the festival’s main venue for decades. The site held a Tang governor’s office from 780, became palace ground under the Later Liang, Jin, Han and Zhou, and carried the Northern Song court until 1127, when the city may have held 1.5 million people — then the largest on earth (Longting District Government).

Ming princes rebuilt here, the river drowned their palace, and Qing officials raised a pavilion on the residual mound in 1692, giving the park its name. Walk the axis to the terrace steps and that layering is still legible underfoot.

This year the main venue carries around 300,000 pots, tower chrysanthemums above 4.5 metres, and sixty-plus Song-themed performances a day (China News Service, 18 October 2026). East of the causeway lies Pan Lake, west lies Yang Lake; locals still say the traitor’s water runs murky and the loyalists’ clear.

What does a Longting ticket cost in 2026?

A full-price adult ticket costs 45 CNY in normal weeks and 60–80 CNY during the festival, with online channels usually landing at the lower end. Every ticket allows unlimited re-entry for three days, which makes a split visit — morning flowers, evening lights — genuinely practical.

Ticket	Price (CNY)	Note
Longting, adult	45; 60–80 in festival	3-day re-entry
Longting + Tianbo Yang Mansion	50	Best value pair
Longting + Hanyuan + Tianbo	60	Three flower shows
Hanyuan Stele Forest	35	19 for students
Qingming Riverside Garden	120	60 concession
Iron Pagoda Park	40	Quietest beds

Two caveats. The local annual pass is suspended for the festival, and prices move — treat the table as the October 2026 position.

Beyond Longting: five more places to see flowers

Hanyuan Stele Forest is a 4,000-tablet calligraphy garden on the west shore of Longting Lake that turns itself into an international floral-art venue each autumn. It hosts 56 landscaped points and eight designers from six countries working without prepared plans (China Daily, 30 September 2026).

Qingming Riverside Garden spreads displays through eight indoor halls and thirty garden set-pieces, including a vast Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains arrangement. Wansuishan Martial Arts City pairs flowers with stunt shows, Kaifeng Prefecture adds a night courtroom drama, and the Iron Pagoda’s grounds stay calmest — grey glazed brick above yellow beds.

Qingming Riverside Garden after dark

Da Song Dongjing Meng Hua is a 70-minute lakeside performance staged on Jinglong Lake, built from eight Song lyrics and running nightly from March to November. Water screens, moving stages and a cast in the hundreds carry the sequence from market bustle to dynastic collapse.

Seats run from 249 CNY in B block to 299 in A, with VIP at 499; a show ticket includes park entry from 08:30, so arrive in daylight. Book two or three days ahead.

How do you get to Kaifeng from Zhengzhou?

Kaifeng has no commercial airport, so most international visitors arrive through Zhengzhou, 70 kilometres west, and continue by train. The link is short enough for a day trip; two nights reward you more.

1. Fly into Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport and clear immigration.
2. Take the intercity train from the airport station direct to Kaifeng, or ride the metro to Zhengzhou East for faster expresses.
3. Board a G- or C-series train; Kaifeng North takes 17–20 minutes, Songchenglu about 21.
4. Exit at Songchenglu if your hotel is in the old city — it is closer than Kaifeng North.
5. Take a taxi (about 25 CNY, 20 minutes) or the 2 CNY festival shuttle to Longting.
6. Use buses 1, 15 or 31 for the lakes and the Drum Tower.

Route	Time	Fare (CNY)
Zhengzhou East → Kaifeng North	17–20 min	24–29
Zhengzhou East → Songchenglu	21 min	18
Xinzheng Airport → Kaifeng	~65 min	32
Kaifeng North → Longting, taxi	20 min	~25

Festival weeks versus ordinary weeks

Festival weeks change three things in Kaifeng: prices, crowds and the streets themselves. Gate prices at the main venues climb by 30–70 per cent, rooms near the Drum Tower tighten, and the free street planting turns errands into a flower walk.

The trade-off is honest. You pay more and share the axis with tour groups between 10:00 and 15:00, but you get performances, night lighting and every display at full finish. In an ordinary week the park is just a palace garden — no towers, no colour.

Eating through the festival

Kaifeng’s night markets are the second reason to visit in November, and the food borrows from the flower itself. Soup dumplings arrive in bamboo baskets at 18–28 CNY, lifted by the tip so the broth sways; tub chicken, braised croaker, lamb flatbread and almond tea fill a table for two at around 100 CNY.

Seasonal dishes appear only now: chrysanthemum tofu, flaky pastries, even a hotpot. The Drum Tower market is the densest and most photographed; Xisi is cheaper and easier to eat at. Both sit within twenty minutes’ walk of Longting’s south gate.

Practical tips for festival days

• Book hotels 7–10 days ahead; festival weekends sell out first.
• Arrive at 08:00 for first light and empty paths.
• Carry your passport — ticketed venues use real-name booking.
• Set up Alipay or WeChat Pay before landing; few stalls take cash.
• Wear shoes with grip; stone steps stay slick.
• Pack a warm layer: November evenings fall to single digits.

Final thoughts

Three days is the right length: one for Longting and the lakes, one for Hanyuan and the Qingming garden, one unhurried day for the wall, the temple and the markets. The flowers are the excuse; the Song city underneath is the reward.

Have you timed a trip to a Chinese flower festival? Tell us in the comments — we read every one. If you enjoy seasonal travel, our guide to Luoyang’s peony festival makes a natural spring counterpart, and our notes on Luoyang’s food stalls pair well with a Henan rail loop. For the martial side of the province, see Shaolin Temple’s kung fu heritage, and for late-night eating, our guide to China’s night markets covers the rest.