Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for determining a multicast path, a method for receiving a data packet, and a router. The method for determining a multicast path includes: receiving, by a multicast address translation router, a first multicast join request packet, where the first multicast join request packet is an IPV4 packet, or the first multicast join request packet is an Internet Protocol version 6 IPV6 packet and a multicast address of the first multicast join request packet is an IPV6 multicast address obtained by performing Internet Protocol version translation on an IPV4 multicast address; and determining a shorter path between a first path and a second path. The multicast address translation router may determine the shorter path between the first path and the second path, thereby implementing a method for selecting a shorter path from the paths of different network types, which improves multicast efficiency.