Shilin is good in all seasons but best in spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November). Spring brings wildflowers among the stones; autumn has clear skies and comfortable temperatures. The summer monsoon (June to September) keeps the vegetation lush but also brings afternoon thunderstorms. The park is most crowded during Chinese national holidays — Golden Week in early October and the Lunar New Year period — when tour buses arrive in convoys and the main paths become genuinely congested.
The Torch Festival, the major Yi ethnic festival, takes place in Shilin every year in late July or early August (the exact date follows the lunar calendar, usually the 24th day of the sixth lunar month). Yi people from the surrounding villages converge on the area for three days of dancing, bullfighting, horse racing, and the lighting of enormous torches at dusk. It is worth timing a visit around if the dates align.