In the year of the Dragon, you can travel to China without leaving the South of France. From 15 November 2024 to 16 February 2025, the charming village of Céret in the Pyrénées-Orientales department is hosting the lantern festival ‘Splendeurs de Chine’. During the event, 2,600 lanterns create 40 scenes that transform the gardens of the Château d’Aubiry into a twinkling splendour.
City of lanterns
2024/2025 is the first edition of Splendeurs de Chine to honour Chinese culture and the relationship between China and France. For this premiere, the village of Céret near Perpignan expects several hundreds of thousands (!) of people to admire this superlative city of lanterns. Therefore, I suggest buying an online ticket well before the date you want to go. Especially if you plan to go on a Friday or a Saturday. Daughter dear decided to join me on a Saturday evening, and I expected it to be busy. It was! Parking was well-organised, though, and stewards directed us to a big field in front of the festival.
Light sculptures
Arriving at the impressive entrance gate was only the beginning. I had done my homework to prepare a little before entering the 5 hectares of park ground. That’s how I found out that the festival has over 2,600 monumental light sculptures. These lanterns present about 40 thematic scenes portraying Chinese mythology and legends. To build up this incredible site, Sichuan artisans prepared the lanterns for months in China to be assembled on the spot in Céret. And all of this is specially designed for Splendeurs de Chine. Once inside, my girl and I let the lights lead us, and we found ourselves amidst one magical scene after another.
Glimmering and shimmering
Be prepared to see the most amazing fantasy creatures, the animals of the zodiac, and a stunningly illuminated tree with butterflies, flowers, and forest animals. But there was plenty more, and my girl and I needed more eyes! The Aubiry castle itself also participated with projections on the facade and live performances on the stage in front of it. To take a break from all this glimmering and shimmering, we had something to eat at one of the many food stalls. It took us about two hours to visit the festival, but you can easily spend more time there. The thousands of Splendeurs de Chine lights sure help chase away the winter darkness!
