Chinese New Year is always a colourful cultural highlight, bringing brightness to the dark winter days here in the UK. This is especially true for a city like Manchester, whose Chinatown buzzes all year round but becomes a hive of activity and celebration come New Year.

Welcoming the Year of the Snake, 2025 marks the return of the legendary Dragon Parade to Manchester City Centre alongside all of the usual Chinatown celebrations. Vibrant and cheerful, thousands of red lanterns decorate the city’s trees while the dragon snakes its way through the streets along with traditional Lion and Ribbon dances and 12 Zodiac animals and ancient army characters.

And there’s loads more going on in arts and cultural venues around the city, including dedicated dance performances, free family events and arts workshops where you can get creative and learn new skills. The celebration also presents a great opportunity to stop for a bite to eat in one of the city’s best Chinese restaurants before soaking in the festivities.

Here are our top picks of those, as Manchester prepares to ring in the Lunar New Year.