Gia Lai festivals in 2026: what is in Pleiku

Gia Lai is hosting the National Tourism Year, and Pleiku has plenty on, but two of the big openings were in Quy Nhơn. Each date below comes with its place, so you will not book a ticket in the wrong direction. The ones to write down are the weekend gongs on Saturday evenings, the ethnic cultures day on 25 and 26 April and the gong festival from 30 October to 8 November.

The 2026 calendar: which events are in Pleiku

Every event, with its date and place, so you can see at a glance what you can reach from Pleiku. The early-year events have already passed; they stay so you can see the rhythm of the year.

One regular event sits outside the table: the weekend gongs, covered below. For Tết, the province ran events in parallel in Quy Nhơn and Pleiku wards, with a live show linking the two on New Year’s Eve; in Pleiku, people gathered at Great Unity Square on the evening of 16 February.

If you can pick only one occasion, make it the festival at the end of the year, when gongs, wild sunflowers and the mountain town come together; see the dã quỳ season in Pleiku.

Weekend gongs: Saturday evenings at Great Unity Square

In Pleiku for a weekend and want to hear gongs without climbing a mountain or waiting for the festival? Come on a Saturday: the weekend gongs run from 7 to 9 pm every Saturday and on related holidays and events, from March to the end of December. The place is Great Unity Square, Pleiku ward, where village gong teams, such as the one from Piơm village, Đak Đoa commune, play for residents and visitors.

It is part of the province’s plan to protect gong culture, a planned schedule rather than an improvised show, and with so many Saturdays to choose from you need not squeeze it into festival week. Before or after the music, sit in a café; some are in cafés in Pleiku.

The gong festival, 30 October to 8 November: Ia Gri, then the city centre

The festival has two stages, so choose the one that matches what you want to see. The Gia Lai international gong festival runs from 30 October to 8 November, with about 45 troupes of gong artisans from Vietnam and some Asian countries. From 30 October to 1 November the events are at Ia Gri village, Biển Hồ commune; the peak, 6 to 8 November, moves to Great Unity Square, Pleiku Museum and some central streets. The highlight is the international gong night, planned for the evening of 7 November at Great Unity Square.

The festival marks 21 years since UNESCO recognised the Central Highlands gong space, and rites such as the Jrai ceremony for a new communal house are being rebuilt for it. Around the same dates is the Wild Sunflower and Chư Đăng Ya Volcano Week; both places are in the Chư Đăng Ya volcano page.

In the fourth quarter there is also a series of events themed “Gia Lai: touch the rhythm of the gongs, touch the soul of the Central Highlands”, from October to December in Pleiku, Quy Nhơn and other places in the province. Apart from the festival and the closing ceremony, the other events have no fixed date yet. To read the plans, see Báo Văn hóa and Báo Đại biểu Nhân dân.

The festival dates are the province’s plan, so book a room you can change and check the dates again before you travel.

Events in Quy Nhơn: do not rush to Pleiku

“Gia Lai festival” does not mean everything is in Pleiku. The National Tourism Year opened on the evening of 28 March 2026 at Nguyễn Tất Thành Square, Quy Nhơn ward, and the summer tourism festival opened there on the evening of 20 June. Only the closing ceremony is planned for Pleiku ward, at the end of December 2026.

Look at the ward name in each announcement before you book a coach or a room: events in the same series can be a whole province apart. The summer festival opening is in the Gia Lai provincial portal.

Jrai village ceremonies: no fixed shared date

Want a real village ceremony rather than a stage show? Village ceremonies have no shared calendar. The Jrai grave-abandonment ceremony (Pơ Thi) at Kép 1 village, Ia Mơ Nông commune (Chư Păh district, the old name), is held in mid-February, when the rice ripens, to see the spirits of the dead off to the world of Yàng; it is one village’s own ceremony. The Jrai new-rice ceremony is usually held in December after the harvest.

That is why these two ceremonies are not in the calendar above. They belong to the community, so if you want to attend, ask the commune authorities or a village elder first, and ask permission before you take photos.

What about next year?

The plan’s general direction is that the ethnic cultures day in Gia Lai is held every year, and the Gia Lai gong performance festival every two years. So next year is likely to have the cultures day again, but wait for the province’s announcement for the exact date.

For the end-of-year coffee harvest, see the Gia Lai coffee season, and for the other pages on this theme, see seasons and festivals.