A quiet beach town transformed into a photogenic stage under a sky full of kites
Quy Nhon, a seaside town in central Vietnam, was filled with roughly 350 artistic kites floating against the blue sky. The "Quy Nhon–Gia Lai 2026 Artistic Kite Festival," held from June 19 to 21, 2026, drew 12 teams from within and beyond the province. By day, giant colorful kites rode the sea breeze; by night, kites fitted with lights lit up the beachfront sky. Right beside the venue, stalls of regional cuisine lined up, offering photo-worthy experiences both in the sky and on the ground.
The festival was held as part of "Gia Lai 2026" — the 2026 edition of Vietnam's "National Tourism Year," in which the government picks a theme region each year to promote tourism. What's worth noting is the location. Compared with Da Nang or Nha Trang, Quy Nhon is still little known in Japan and is regarded as a "quiet beach" with few foreign visitors. The way the town brought in an easy-to-grasp visual — a sky full of kites — reveals its tourism strategy. For anyone in Japan considering a beach trip, Quy Nhon is worth knowing as a candidate for a photogenic experience away from the crowds.
Summary of the news behind this article
The event was organized by Quy Nhon ward. The venues were Xuan Dieu Street along the beach and the adjacent Nguyen Tat Thanh Square. At the opening ceremony on June 19, a commemorative flag was presented and performances were held, with the first day closing on a display of lit kites. The awards ceremony and closing ceremony were held on the final day, June 21.
The competition had three categories: frameless kites with no skeleton, "kite trains" that link several kites in a single line, and team formation flying. The judging was carried out by seven artisans with experience at international kite festivals. The awards included "Best Kite," a prize for the best appearance when displayed on the ground, and a "Popularity Prize" decided by online voting. Beyond simply looking up and enjoying the show, the event was designed to spread on social media and to invite visitor participation.
Background — why they want to make the kite festival an annual fixture
Gia Lai province, to which Quy Nhon belongs, was formed when a 2025 administrative reorganization merged a coastal area and the Central Highlands into a single province. "National Tourism Year Gia Lai 2026" is a year-long effort to promote the wide-ranging tourism resources of a region that holds both sea and mountains. Within that year-round program, the Artistic Kite Festival is positioned with the aim of "holding it every year as a signature tourism product of Quy Nhon."
Rather than a one-off event, repeating it in the same place at the same time every year adds one more reason to visit. Just as Da Nang has its fireworks festival and Hue its festivals, each central city is trying to cultivate a flagship event that can draw people at a specific time of year. For Quy Nhon, the kite is the first step in building its own flagship. It's also worth noting how the land's conditions — a broad sandy beach and steady sea breezes — mesh perfectly with kites as a theme.
The festival in numbers
Here are the main figures we could confirm. All of them are consistent across the organizers' announcements and multiple local news reports.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Participating teams | 12 teams (from within and beyond the province) |
| Number of kites | About 350 |
| Kite festival dates | June 19–21, 2026 |
| Judges | 7 kite artisans |
| Food event dates | June 19–25, 2026 |
| Number of stalls | 61 (northern, central and southern cuisine) |
The point to note is that while the kite festival itself ran for three days, the food program continued through June 25, a full week. Its venue was the parking area on Nguyen Thiep Street. Alongside dishes from the northern, central and southern regions, locally certified specialty products under the "OCOP" label were also on offer. It was designed to leave a reason to stay in town even after the kites were done.
How locals and those involved received it
Local reports and visitors' comments convey a broadly positive reaction. Three points, paraphrased:
- The organizers have stated outright that they "want to grow kite flying into a year-round tourism product for Quy Nhon," looking beyond a one-off event toward making it a regular fixture.
- Among those who visited, one comment stood out: "You can watch it for free, and the lit kites at night were more magical than I imagined." People appreciate how easy it is to drop by on the beach.
- On the food stalls, one voice noted that "being able to taste and compare dishes from all three regions in one place is fun," and people who weren't there for the kites came for the food.
By designing the event around a competition of creativity, beauty and performance, it became something spectators find easy to understand and easy to photograph and share. You could call it an operation mindful of reproducibility as a tourism product.
What it means for Japanese travelers
Quy Nhon's greatest appeal is that it isn't crowded. While Da Nang and Nha Trang bustle as international resorts, Quy Nhon has few foreign visitors and keeps its quiet beaches just as they are. Bai Xep, about 20 minutes south of the city center, retains the atmosphere of a fishing village, and Ky Co Beach is a little-visited cove surrounded by green hills and rocky outcrops. This town suits Japanese travelers who "want to avoid crowded resorts but still want the sea and a photogenic experience."
Onto that quiet beach, once a year, a sky full of kites layers something out of the ordinary. That matters when you're planning an itinerary. Even a town you'd normally visit for rest and recovery can have one clear highlight slotted into your stay if you time it with the June kite festival. Conversely, if you want to avoid crowds, it's just as easy to decide to skip the festival period. The fact that the event dates are published is itself useful information for travelers.
It's also worth keeping the travel logistics in mind. There are no direct international flights to Quy Nhon; the standard route is a domestic flight to Phu Cat Airport (UIH) via Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. It's about 45 minutes to an hour from the airport to the city center. Without the ease of Da Nang, where you can head straight from an international airport to the beach, that inconvenience is arguably what protects the town's tranquility. If you're planning a tour of central cities, an itinerary that takes in both central culture and the sea — pairing it with the imperial citadel and evening shows in Hue — is realistic. For the highlights on the Hue side, the article onA show set at Hue's Imperial CitadelandAn evening event themed around lotus flowersis also worth a look.
Ripple effects on tourism and the local economy
The structure of running the kite festival and the food event side by side reveals an aim to broaden the range of money spent locally. The kites gather people as a free crowd-drawing device, and the 61 adjacent food stalls capture that spending. The OCOP specialty products were laid out so that profit reaches not just on-the-spot dining but the region's producers too. The idea of connecting a tourism event to sales channels for local industry is spreading across Vietnam.
In the Central Highlands side of Gia Lai province, the same province as Quy Nhon, farm products led by coffee are beginning to link up with tourism. Whether the coastal kites and the highland farm products can be tied together as a single provincial tourism story will decide the true worth of Gia Lai 2026. On developments in the Central Highlands, the case ofA mobile café out of Gia Laimakes an interesting comparison as an attempt to turn local resources into tourism experiences.
Practical information — what to know if you go
- Venues: along Xuan Dieu Street beach in Quy Nhon and Nguyen Tat Thanh Square (kites) / the parking area on Nguyen Thiep Street (food).
- 2026 dates: the kite festival runs June 19–21, the food event June 19–25. Since the plan is to make it an annual June fixture, if you visit in a future year, check the latest dates via announcements from the local tourism authorities.
- The lit night kites were displayed on the opening day. If you're after the nighttime scene, check the first day's schedule.
- Access: a domestic flight to Phu Cat Airport (UIH) via Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. It's 45 minutes to an hour from the airport to the city center.
- Planning your stay: for rest and quiet, choose the fishing-village feel of Bai Xep or the little-visited Ky Co Beach; if you're there for the event, a beachfront hotel in the city center is convenient.
Summary — a trip that takes in both "quiet" and "photogenic"
Quy Nhon's kite festival is an attempt to add one clear, annual highlight to a beach town that has been chosen for its calm rather than its fame. Twelve teams, some 350 kites, lit night kites, a 61-stall food event — all of it easy to enjoy on the beach with no special preparation. If you're thinking about your next Vietnam beach trip, step one notch away from the go-to picks of Da Nang and Nha Trang and put Quy Nhon on your list. Time it with the June festival, or deliberately skip it and commit to pure rest. That you get to choose is itself a measure of this town's depth.
