The AIA Carnival returns: a winter fairground on the Central Harbourfront, 2026 to 2027

Some Hong Kong winters have a fairground at their centre, and this one will again. The AIA Carnival returns from Tuesday 22 December 2026 to Sunday 21 February 2027 at the Central Harbourfront Event Space, on the Central Harbourfront, and the organiser presents this edition with a new look, new attractions and new experiences. The dates and venue are set out on the Carnival's official site, and our event listing carries the run and the source it was checked against.

What you need to know, in short

The run is a long one, a full two months across the middle of winter, from just before Christmas to late February. Admission is paid, and the Carnival works on two parts: an entry ticket to get in, and tokens for the rides and games once you are inside. Entry tickets and tokens are sold through the official site, and there are also special tickets valid for all public days, the option worth looking at if you expect to go more than once. No price is recorded in our listing, so check the official site for the current ticket details rather than relying on figures quoted elsewhere.

The November member sale

The first chance to buy comes early. A member sale runs from Tuesday 3 to Sunday 8 November 2026 for people on the Carnival mailing list, well before the gates open in December. There is an incentive to join the list itself: every 100th new mailing list sign-up until 8 November wins 2 free tickets plus 20 tokens. If the Carnival is already on your winter list, signing up before that November window is the practical move, whether or not you are the 100th name on the list.

How tickets and tokens work

Think of the budget in two layers. The entry ticket covers getting into the harbourfront site. The tokens cover what you do there, ride by ride and game by game, so a short visit for a look around and a long family afternoon do not have to cost the same. Because both parts are sold through the official site, you can sort the entry before you arrive and leave the tokens to how the day actually unfolds. The special tickets valid for all public days suit a different kind of visit again: repeat trips across a run that lasts from 22 December to 21 February, rather than one big day squeezed into a single afternoon.

What has not been announced yet

Be clear about what is still to come. The full ride, game and entertainment lineup for this edition is announced closer to opening, and it has not been published yet. That means any list of specific rides or attractions circulating now is getting ahead of the organiser. What is confirmed is the shape of the thing: a returning Carnival, a new look, new attractions and new experiences, in the same harbourfront home. We will update our listing when the organiser publishes the lineup, and that announcement, not the rumours before it, is the one to plan around.

A winter anchor on the harbourfront

The setting does a lot of the work. The Central Harbourfront Event Space is open air, with the harbour in front of it and the city behind it, and in December and January that makes the Carnival an easy evening as well as a full day out: arrive in daylight, stay as the lights come on, and walk the harbourfront before or after. The opening week sits inside the city's Christmas season, covered in our Hong Kong at Christmas guide, while the long run into February gives you plenty of second chances if the first date you pick does not work out. However you time it, start with the basics that are already fixed: join the mailing list before 8 November if the member sale matters to you, buy only through the official site, and wait for the lineup announcement before promising anyone a particular ride.

More reading on the articles page, or go straight to the events calendar.