How to hang string lights without drilling

Start at the top of that table. Straps around an existing railing are the strongest, cheapest and most reversible option available, and on a typical apartment balcony they are usually all you need. Reusable straps or plain cable ties both work; ties are cheaper and straps come off without cutting.

The freestanding pole is the answer nobody thinks of and the one that solves the hardest balconies. A pole set in a planter of soil or a bucket of sand gives you an anchor point where none existed, and two of them will carry a string across a space with nothing at all to attach to. It is also the only option here that survives a landlord who prohibits attaching anything whatsoever.

Adhesive hooks are the first thing people reach for and the option with the most caveats. Elsewhere on this site we are comfortable recommending adhesive indoors, so it is worth saying clearly why outdoors is different.

• Cold destroys adhesive performance. Bonds that hold indefinitely at room temperature let go in a hard frost. Apply well above freezing and expect to re-check in winter.
• Damp and texture both defeat it. Render, rough brick and anything with a film of algae will not hold. Smooth painted surfaces, glass and metal will.
• Use outdoor-rated strips. Indoor adhesive on an exterior wall is a short-term arrangement whatever the packet claims.
• Never adhesive alone over a walkway. A string falling on a patio is a nuisance; a string falling across a step is a trip hazard on a live circuit.

The removal technique - warm it, pull slowly parallel to the surface - is the same as indoors and is set out in no-drill lighting.

Let it sag. A string pulled tight has nowhere to go when the wind takes it, and all of that load lands on the fixings. A gentle drape between points absorbs movement, and it looks better.

Point the sockets down. The failure mode on an outdoor string is water sitting in an upward-facing socket, not a bulb burning out. Hanging the run so bulbs point downward keeps the sockets shielded.

Keep connections off the ground and out of the weather. Where the string meets an extension or a transformer, that junction wants to be sheltered and above any water that pools. If you are running power out from indoors, that cable route deserves the same care as any other - see how to hide a plug-in fixture cord for the routing rules, all of which apply more strictly outside.

A solar set removes the electrical half of this entirely, which is a genuine argument for one on a balcony with no outdoor outlet - the trade-offs are in solar vs plug-in.