Loy Krathong Chiang Mai 2026

Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai in 2026 is on Tuesday, November 24, and the Yi Peng lantern events run around it, on the nights of November 24–25. Once a year, on the full moon, the city fills its river with candles and its streets with paper lanterns. It is a great time to be there, and a hard one to plan. Here is when it falls, where to go, what the lantern rules are, and how to build the rest of your days around it.

Loy Krathong

Nov 24

Tuesday, 2026, the full moon night

Yi Peng nights

Nov 24–25

Some programs start on the 23rd

Last flights in 2025

7 p.m.

About 160 flights moved or canceled

When is Loy Krathong in 2026?

Loy Krathong is on Tuesday, November 24, 2026, the night of the full moon of the twelfth month of the Thai lunar calendar. The date moves every year, so last year’s dates will not help.

Chiang Mai’s events run over about three nights around it, mostly November 24–25; some programs start on the 23rd. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the city publish the official program shortly before the festival, and it had not come out when this was written. Check it before you book anything that cannot be moved.

In Chiang Mai, two festivals land on the same nights. Loy Krathong, held all over Thailand, is about the water: people float a krathong, a small raft of banana leaf, flowers, incense and a candle, to let go of the year’s bad luck. Yi Peng is the north’s own festival of lights: temples and streets hung with Lanna lanterns, and paper lanterns sent up into the sky.

What happens, and where to see it

The free festival is in the old city and on the river: Tha Phae Gate, the Ping River and the parade route. The sky-lantern releases are a separate, ticketed thing outside town.

Tha Phae Gate. The festival opens at the old city’s east gate, with a ceremony, music and the gate lit by lanterns. It is the meeting point for the first evening and gets crowded early.

The Ping River at Nawarat Bridge. This is where people float their krathongs. Vendors along the river sell them for a small sum; light the candle and set it on the water from the steps by the bridge. The bridges are the best places to watch the river fill with candles, and the most crowded.

The parades. On the main nights, floats of giant krathongs and dancers in Lanna dress parade through the old city toward the river. Find a spot on Tha Phae Road an hour before it starts.

Farida Tania · Unsplash

The temples. Many temples in the old city hang hundreds of lanterns and light candles around their grounds. Wat Phan Tao, next to Wat Chedi Luang, is one of the loveliest, and one of the busiest.

Rob King · Unsplash

Can you release a sky lantern?

No, not in the city or near the airport. Releasing lanterns is banned inside the old city and in the air safety zone around Chiang Mai International Airport, which reaches about 11.5 miles beyond the ends of the runway and covers the whole old city. In 2025 the reported penalty was up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 200,000 baht (about $5,900), and more if a lantern starts a fire.

The photos of thousands of lanterns rising at once come from those ticketed events. They are private, they sell out, and listings put tickets at about 4,900 to 15,900 baht ($145 to $470). Buy only from the organizer’s own site or an agent you trust, since fake tickets are common.

The provincial order for 2026 comes out shortly before the festival, and the rules above are the ones in force in 2025. Read the new one, or ask your hotel.

How does the festival change your trip?

It makes everything more expensive, slower and busier, so book early and leave slack around it.

• Hotels. The old city and the riverside fill up months ahead, and prices for the festival nights climb sharply. Book as soon as you know the dates, with free cancellation in case they shift.
• Flights. Flights from Bangkok sell out and get expensive. In 2025 the airport ended flights by 7 p.m. on the main nights, and about 160 were moved or canceled. The 2026 arrangements had not been announced when this was written; if yours lands or leaves in the evening, check with the airline.
• Crowds. Getting across the old city takes much longer on the main nights. Walk where you can; songthaews and taxis get stuck.
• Timing. Arrive a day or two before the full moon and stay a day after, so a delay doesn’t cost you the festival.

What to do in Chiang Mai in the daytime

The festival happens at night, so the days are free. Use them for the sights, which are quieter in the mornings.

Start with Doi Suthep, the temple on the mountain above the city: take a red songthaew from near the zoo, then climb the 306 steps of the naga staircase, and allow two and a half hours. Back in town, Wat Phra Singh keeps one of the north’s most revered Buddha images, and Wat Chedi Luang is the great ruined chedi in the middle of the old city, a short walk away.

In this sample trip, the full-moon day is Tuesday, November 24: a Thai cooking class in the morning, five and a half hours free, then Loy Krathong by the Ping River at 7:00 p.m., at Nawarat Bridge. Traypass shows each day with its stops, its times and the day on the map, and the itinerary planner can fit the temples around the festival nights.

Etiquette and safety

• Choose a natural krathong. Banana trunk, banana leaf, flowers and bread float and break down. Foam ones pollute the river, and many vendors have stopped selling them.
• Don’t take someone else’s krathong off the water, even for a photo.
• Sky lanterns only at a licensed, ticketed event. Never in the city, near the airport or near trees and wires. At an event, let go only when the lantern pulls upward; never release one that tilts or is torn.
• Fireworks and firecrackers go off everywhere. Keep children close and stay back from the riverbank crowds.
• At the temples, dress modestly: cover your shoulders and knees.

For visas, money and plugs before you go, see Thailand before you land.