Your weekly, fact-checked shortlist of what's actually on in Hong Kong this weekend — concerts, exhibitions, family days out, nightlife and free things to do, each verified against official sources before it makes the list. New edition every week.
FREEFRI + SAT · 8PM NIGHTLY
Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance — the Last Two Nights
Tai Hang's back lanes, Causeway Bay · Wun Sha Street is the focal point · MTR Tin Hau Exit A2 (about 5 min) or Causeway Bay Exit E · Free
The weekend's headline act is 146 years old and made of straw. A 67-metre dragon studded with tens of thousands of burning incense sticks is carried through Tai Hang's narrow lanes by a 300-strong team, and of its three-night run (24–26 September) the two that are left are the two that matter: Friday 25, Mid-Autumn night itself, and Saturday 26, the public holiday. Both start at 8pm. Free, no ticket, and the smoke hangs in the lanes long after the dragon has passed. Good to know: the lanes are tight and fill early — claim a kerbside spot on or near Wun Sha Street well before eight, and if you have a choice, take Saturday: Friday is the heaviest night of the three.
History, route & viewing tips →
FREEFRI ONLY · 6:30PM–MIDNIGHT
Pok Fu Lam Village Fire Dragon Dance
Pok Fu Lam Village to Wah Fu Estate, Southern District · no MTR nearby — bus or taxi from Central or HKU station · Free
Hong Kong has two Mid-Autumn fire dragons, and almost every visitor guide mentions only one. The Pok Fu Lam village dragon runs on the evening of the festival itself — Friday 25 September — and the Southern District Office's own activity listing gives it 6:30pm to midnight, parading out of the village lanes and down to Wah Fu Estate. It is a working village tradition rather than a staged event: crafted, consecrated, danced, and finally released to the sea. The district calendar still marks the date tentative, so check before you commit the evening to it. Good to know: there are no grandstands and no crowd pens here, which is the appeal — but it also means no MTR, so plan the trip home before you set off.
Mid-Autumn in Hong Kong: the full guide →
FREEFRI + SAT + SUN · FINAL WEEKEND
Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival & International Lantern Spectacular — Closing Nights
Central Lawn, Victoria Park, Causeway Bay · MTR Tin Hau Exit A2 (about 2 min) or Causeway Bay Exit E · Free
Hong Kong's largest official lantern display shuts on Sunday. The LCSD carnival runs 17 to 27 September, lit 6:30pm to 11pm nightly and pushed to midnight on Friday 25, and this year it is paired with the Tourism Board's first International Lantern Spectacular: a World Lantern Boulevard of more than 3,000 lanterns from 20 countries and regions, four giant Nanjing Qinhuai installations including an eight-metre “Shadowlight” centrepiece, and a galleria of 400-plus locally handcrafted pieces. Free and unticketed, with crowd control if it fills. Good to know: Sunday is both the calmest of the three nights and the last one — every other night this week has been busier than this Sunday will be.
Layout, hours & what to see first →
SPORTSAT · FROM 12PM
WXV Global Series Challenger — the Final Matchday
Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground, Kai Tak Sports Park · MTR Sung Wong Toi Exit D (about 5 min) · HK$180 for all three matches
The inaugural six-nation women's tournament finishes where it started, with a third and last triple-header on Saturday 26 September: Fiji v Netherlands at 12:00, Hong Kong China v Samoa at 15:30 and Spain v Brazil at 19:00. One HK$180 matchday ticket covers all three, which remains the best-value sport ticket in the city this weekend. And because the Saturday is a public holiday, staying for the 7pm kick-off costs you nothing on Monday. Good to know: the 15:30 fixture is the one to be in your seat for — it is Hong Kong China's last match of the competition.
Full fixtures, tickets & getting there →
SPORTSUN · DAY MEETING
Sha Tin's Eleven-Race Sunday
Sha Tin Racecourse, Sha Tin · MTR Racecourse Station (East Rail Line — opens on race days only) · From HK$10
Racing closes the weekend out in the New Territories. The Jockey Club's own entries list a Sunday 27 September meeting at Sha Tin across both surfaces — Turf C+3 course and the all-weather track — with an eleven-race card, a substantial afternoon by any standard. Public enclosure entry starts at HK$10. This is also the first Sha Tin Sunday in a fortnight: the 20 September meeting was cancelled and has not been rescheduled. Good to know: Racecourse Station opens directly onto the course but only on race days, so do not plan a Sha Tin Park walk around it on a non-racing weekend.
Sha Tin Racecourse venue guide →
FREEFRI + SAT + SUN · 6:30–11PM
Moonlit Bunny Crew on the Cultural Centre Piazza
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza, 10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui · MTR East Tsim Sha Tsui Exit L6/J or Tsim Sha Tsui Exit E · Free
The harbour-side alternative to the Causeway Bay crush, and the one that outlasts the festival. LCSD's Mid-Autumn installation on the Cultural Centre Piazza — a geometric rabbit ensemble by the local creative team STICKYLINE — is lit 6:30pm to 11pm nightly from 17 September all the way to 11 October, three weeks longer than the Victoria Park carnival, and to midnight on Friday 25. It sits a minute from the Avenue of Stars. Good to know: stand here at 8pm and the lanterns are your foreground for A Symphony of Lights across the water — two free attractions from one spot, no queue for either.
Dates, hours & how it differs →
FREEFRI + SAT + SUN · NIGHTLY
Moon Fest Lumiere on Lee Tung Avenue
Lee Tung Avenue, Wan Chai · MTR Wan Chai Exit A3 or D (straight onto the avenue) · Free
Wan Chai's lantern option, and the least crowded of the city's three. More than 800 lanterns — contemporary designs alongside traditional palace-style pieces — are strung along Lee Tung Avenue's 200-metre pedestrian walkway, joined this year by an 18-metre LED fire dragon. It runs through 19 October, which means it outlasts the festival by three weeks. Good to know: this is a walk-through, not a destination, so treat it as the after-dinner stretch of a Wan Chai evening rather than the evening itself.
Photo spots & what's new this year →
FOOD & DRINKFRI + SAT + SUN · FINAL WEEKEND
Restaurant Week Summer 2026 — the Last Three Days
More than 300 restaurants citywide · Discounted set menus · HSBC credit card required
Six weeks of set menus come down to three days: the Hong Kong Restaurant Week Summer dining period ends on Sunday 27 September, across more than 300 restaurants. Payment must be settled with an HSBC credit card, dine-in only, with bookings through the DiningCity app or the Restaurant Week site. Good to know: Friday and Saturday dinner slots at the headline rooms went days ago, and this being the closing weekend they will not reopen — lunch is the realistic booking, and Sunday lunch the most realistic of all.
How it works, terms & the best menus →
ARTFRI + SAT + SUN · FREE
Miss You Much · Leslie 70th Birthday · Exhibition
1/F Thematic Gallery 5, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, 1 Man Lam Road, Sha Tin · MTR Che Kung Temple Exit A (about 6 min) · Free
The quiet hit of the autumn, and the best free indoor afternoon in Sha Tin. The Heritage Museum's tribute to Leslie Cheung, who would have turned 70 on 12 September, opened on 9 September and runs to 10 May 2027 — more than 300 exhibits, eleven stage costumes and the first-ever recreation of his former residence. Admission is free, with timed-slot entry applied on his birthday and, the museum says, on other busy days as needed. Good to know: the box office shuts 30 minutes before the museum does, so a late arrival can find the doors open and the tickets gone; and the museum sits a few minutes from Sha Tin Park if you want the walk afterwards.
Official exhibition page, hours & access →
ARTFRI + SAT + SUN · ON NOW
Herzog & de Meuron: In Focus at M+
Focus Gallery, L2, M+, 38 Museum Drive, West Kowloon · MTR Austin Exit D1 or Kowloon Exit C1/D1 · Included with M+ admission
M+ marks its fifth birthday with a show about the architects who designed the building it is in. Opened 12 September, it draws on a major new donation to the M+ Collections: models, drawings, material samples and prototypes from ten Herzog & de Meuron projects in China, among them M+ itself, Tai Kwun and the Beijing National Stadium. The objects sit in exact replicas of the wooden vitrines the firm uses for its open storage in Basel, which is rather the point — architecture cannot be hung on a wall, so you get the workshop instead. Free with standard museum admission; no closing date announced. Good to know: it is a single-gallery show, so it works as a 40-minute stop on the way to something else rather than a whole afternoon.
What's in the show, tickets & hours →
GOOD TO KNOWINSIDER TIP · THE LONG WEEKEND
Mid-Autumn is Friday. The holiday is Saturday.
Citywide · Friday 25 – Sunday 27 September
Worth getting straight before you plan anything. The festival falls on Friday 25 September, but the festival day is not the holiday: the government gazettes the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, so the general holiday is Saturday 26 September. That has three practical consequences this weekend. Friday is an ordinary working day that becomes the busiest night of the year after six, and it is the night both fire dragons and every lantern display peak — so if you want lanterns without the crush, go Saturday or Sunday instead. Saturday is the holiday proper, which is why the rugby's 7pm kick-off is painless and why restaurants will be full. And Sunday is a normal Sunday with racing back on at Sha Tin — but it is also the last night of the Victoria Park carnival and the last day of Restaurant Week, so anything you have been putting off is now or never. Good to know: the extended midnight lighting hours at Victoria Park and the Cultural Centre Piazza apply on Friday only.
Mid-Autumn Festival 2026: dates & traditions →