A method and a device for manufacturing lactide, whereby crude lactide, being prepared by means of depolymerization of lactic acid oligomers, is purified by means of a distillation step. The prepared crude lactide is maintained for a period of at least 5 hours in a reaction vessel at a temperature between 97° C. and 200° C. prior to the distillation step. Keeping the lactide during a period of time in a reaction vessel leads to a decrease of the lactic acid content and an increase of the lactic acid oligomer concentration, so that the resulting crude lactide can be more efficiently purified during subsequent distillation. A pre-distilling step gives additional advantages.