History & heritage · 24 September 2026 · 11 min read
Yi Peng and Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai, 2026
Lanterns in the temples, krathongs on the Ping, one full moon. How to plan 2026, and what is still unconfirmed.
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What visitors often call the Chiang Mai lantern festival is actually two celebrations sharing the same full moon each year, usually in November: Yi Peng and Loy Krathong. For Yi Peng, the northern festival, temples and houses put up hanging lanterns and light small clay lamps. At the same time the riverbanks fill with people floating krathongs, the small candle-lit rafts of Loy Krathong, which the whole country celebrates. For about three nights, the old city and the Ping River are at their brightest and most crowded.
This guide is for planning that trip: when to come, what you will actually see, what needs a ticket, and what the rules on sky lanterns mean for you. Some of the 2026 programme has not been published yet, and we say so wherever it applies.
2026 at a glance
Full moon
Tuesday 24 November 2026. The date is fixed by the Thai lunar calendar.
Public city celebrations
Planned for 23 to 25 November, according to the municipality's planning meeting on 23 September. The detailed programme has not been published.
Grand Krathong Parade
Planned for 25 November. No official time or route yet.
Private mass lantern releases
Separate ticketed events outside the city. Several have announced 24 and 25 November.
Sky lanterns in Chiang Mai city
Do not release them. The Mueang Chiang Mai district office has asked for no releases in the city. The formal 2026 provincial rules are not yet published.
Last checked
24 September 2026
The 30-second answer
Plan around 24 November 2026, the full moon. The city's own celebrations are planned for 23 to 25 November, so three nights covering those dates is the window we suggest until the detailed programme appears.
You do not need a ticket for Chiang Mai's public city celebrations. The mass lantern releases outside the city are separate private, ticketed events. Most of the famous pictures of thousands of lanterns rising together come from those events, not from the streets of central Chiang Mai.
Stay somewhere you can walk to the old city's east side, and keep evening flights off 24 and 25 November if you can.
1. Two festivals, one full moon
Yi Peng is a Lanna festival, from the northern kingdom whose culture still shapes Chiang Mai. The name means the full moon of the second month. The old northern calendar counts its months two ahead of the central Thai one, so its second month lands on the central calendar's twelfth, usually in November.
Much of Yi Peng happens at the temple, as merit-making, and light is its most visible offering. Hanging lanterns (khom) go up in temple grounds and over doorways, and small clay lamps called phang prathip are lit along walls and steps. Sky lanterns (khom loy, "floating lanterns") are now strongly associated with Yi Peng, and they are also its most restricted element.
A sky lantern (khom loy) held up before release.
Loy Krathong is celebrated across Thailand on the same full moon. "Loy" means to float. A krathong is a small float, traditionally a slice of banana trunk dressed with folded banana leaves, flowers, a candle and incense. People float one to honour the water and ask its forgiveness, and many also see it as letting misfortune float away.
Loy Krathong: a krathong set afloat after dark.
In Chiang Mai the two fall together, and most visitors experience them as one festival period. They are still different traditions. Loosely, Yi Peng is light in the temples, the streets and the sky, and Loy Krathong is light on the water.
The city celebration is spread out rather than staged in one place. What you will meet in the streets:
Hanging lanterns. In the days before the full moon, many temples in the old city hang lanterns in their courtyards. They are at their best after dark, when they are lit, and on foot you can see several temples in an evening.
Clay lamps. Clay lamps are lit along temple walls and around shrines. For 2026 the municipality has invited residents and visitors to join in lighting them.
Krathongs on the Ping. On the main nights the riverbanks fill with people launching krathongs from the landings. Stalls sell ready-made krathongs, and some people make their own.
Merit-making. Temples hold chanting and ceremonies. These are religious events that visitors are welcome to watch quietly, not performances.
The parade. The municipality's Grand Krathong Parade of large decorated floats is planned for 25 November.
A decorated float during the Loy Krathong parade in Chiang Mai.
Noise. In past years, firecrackers have been common in the lanes around the festival.
None of this needs a ticket, and none of it depends on a single stage or timetable. That is also why the city side of the festival is hard to schedule precisely: it is a city dressed and lit for several nights, not one show.
3. Planning 23 to 25 November 2026
What follows is what is known now. The city's detailed programme (times, stages, ceremony times and the parade route) has not yet been published. We will update this section when it is.
A Chiang Mai Municipality contingent in the Loy Krathong parade.
Monday 23 November. The planned first day of the city celebrations. Temple lanterns are usually up by then. It is a good evening to walk the old city before the peak crowds.
Tuesday 24 November. The full moon and Loy Krathong day, and one of the two main nights on the river. It is also the first of the two nights announced by the private lantern events outside the city.
Wednesday 25 November. The planned date of the Grand Krathong Parade, and the second of those two nights.
Performers on a float during the Loy Krathong parade.
One caution about older coverage. The 2025 festival was deliberately scaled back after the death of Queen Mother Sirikit in October 2025: fewer loud events, and decorations changed to suit a period of mourning. Reports and photographs from 2025 are not a good guide to what a normal year looks like.
4. The famous mass lantern release is a different event
The image most people have of Yi Peng is thousands of lanterns rising together into a dark sky. Those images come from organised events outside central Chiang Mai. They are not the city celebration, and there is no mass release in the old city or along the river.
An organised mass lantern release. Events like this are ticketed and held outside central Chiang Mai.
What sets them apart:
They are ticketed and run by private organisers. At least three have announced 24 and 25 November 2026, in Mae On, Doi Saket and Mae Taeng districts. Their plans still depend on the province's 2026 rules.
They take place outside the city, at set times. In 2025, the province set the hours when releases were allowed.
Lanterns rising together at a mass release.
You do not need one to see Yi Peng. The hanging lanterns, clay lamps, temples and river in the city are all part of the public festival, and they are free. The private events also fall on the city's two main nights.
They are sold through many resellers. Several websites present themselves as the "official" ticket seller, and it is not always clear who is behind them. Before paying, find out who the organiser is, buy as close to the organiser as you can, and read the refund terms before you pay.
We do not recommend or rank particular events. Whether one is worth it for you depends on what you want from the evening. Section 10 covers that decision.
Want to attend a mass lantern release?
Private ticketed events outside the city
These events are separate from the free festival in the city. GetYourGuide lists several, run by different organisers and departing from Chiang Mai: a range to compare, not our selection. GetYourGuide is itself a reseller, so check each listing for the organiser's name, compare with the organiser's own site, and read the refund terms. Seats are limited. The organisers' plans still depend on the 2026 provincial rules: if you book ahead, choose a listing you can cancel.
Links to GetYourGuide on this page are affiliate links. Booking through them costs you nothing extra and funds this site.
5. Where to go in Chiang Mai
These are the places that have mattered to the festival in past years. None of them is a confirmed 2026 venue with a published programme. Use them to orient yourself, not as a promise of what will be staged where. Tha Phae Gate, the Three Kings Monument and the Riverside area are on our Chiang Mai map.
Tha Phae Gate and the east side of the old city. Traditionally a focus of the festival, with lantern displays and crowds. Tha Phae Road, running east from the gate towards the river, links the old city to the Ping.
The Ping River, around the Nawarat and Iron bridges. Krathongs go into the water from landings along this stretch. The bridges give a view over the river, but on the main nights they are among the most crowded spots in the city.
A bridge in Chiang Mai hung with lanterns on the evening of Loy Krathong.
The moat. In 2025 the municipality concentrated its lighting around the moat and along the Ping.
The Three Kings Monument. In the centre of the old city, it has hosted a community evening of clay-lamp lighting in recent years. In 2025 this took place two days before the full moon, so in 2026 it may fall before the main nights.
The temples. Many temples in the old city decorate. Walk between two or three after dark.
On the river, float your krathong from a landing, not by dropping it off a bridge. In 2025 the municipality set aside seventeen landings for krathongs, with safety staff at each. The banks can be dark, slippery and crowded, so keep children close near the water.
Our recommendation is three nights, covering 23, 24 and 25 November, and leaving on the 26th. That is an editorial judgement, not an official schedule. Three nights take in the full moon (the one fixed date), the planned parade night and a quieter first evening. If the programme shifts by a day, you are still covered.
For a festival you mostly experience on foot, location matters more than usual. Two areas make the most sense:
The Old City, ideally its eastern half near Tha Phae Gate, puts the temples and the main crowds within walking distance.
Riverside puts you close to the Ping and the krathongs, about fifteen minutes' walk from Tha Phae Gate across the river.
Staying further out, in Nimman for example, is fine for the rest of your trip. It will mean a ride in and out through heavy festival traffic.
November is already high season, and festival nights are among the most booked. Book early, and while the programme is still pending, favour rates you can cancel.
7. Traffic, walking and getting back to your hotel
On the main nights, central Chiang Mai slows almost to a stop. Roads around Tha Phae Gate, the east side of the moat and the river crossings clog up, and in past years some have closed for the parade.
A festival crowd under illuminated street arches.
Walk. Between the old city and the river it is usually faster than any vehicle on festival nights. From Tha Phae Gate to the Nawarat Bridge is roughly a kilometre along Tha Phae Road.
Expect ride-hailing to struggle. Grab and Bolt still work, but prices can rise and drivers may not be able to reach you. Walk a few streets away from the crowds before booking a pickup. The getting-around section of our practical guide covers the options.
Agree a meeting point if you are in a group, somewhere away from the bridges.
Go early or late. The riverbanks are usually calmer early in the evening and again late at night.
Sky lanterns are the most regulated part of the festival, because they are a fire risk and Chiang Mai International Airport sits about four kilometres from the old city.
The open flame that lifts a sky lantern.
What is known for 2026. At the municipality's planning meeting on 23 September, the Mueang Chiang Mai district office asked that no sky lanterns be released in the city, and hotels were asked to warn guests about the dangers. This is a request for cooperation, not the formal 2026 provincial order. For a visitor the practical rule is simple: do not release a sky lantern in the city. The request is about sky lanterns, not hanging lanterns, clay lamps or krathongs.
Last year's model, not this year's rules. In 2025, the province used no-release zones, including the whole city district, and permit rules outside those zones.
What is still awaited. The formal 2026 provincial order has not been published. Its zones, hours and permit rules may differ from 2025. Until it appears, do not rely on last year's details.
Flights. On 5 and 6 November 2025, Chiang Mai airport ended flight operations by 7 pm to avoid the lantern-release period, and the airport said 161 flights were cancelled or rescheduled. No arrangements have been announced for 2026. Past disruption is still a good reason to avoid evening flights on 24 and 25 November, to arrive in daylight, and to check your booking with the airline in the weeks before you travel. The airport section of our practical guide covers the journey into town.
Your krathong. Choose one made of banana trunk, leaves or bread over one made of foam. Everything that goes into the Ping has to be cleared out again.
Yi Peng still carries distinctly Lanna markers, from its name and calendar to the hanging lanterns and clay lamps associated with the festival. Loy Krathong is celebrated across Thailand and, in Chiang Mai, the two now share the same festival period. Our piece on what Lanna is explains the wider background. If you have time, walk into a temple compound during the festival and watch how it is used, not only how it is decorated. Our temple guide covers the basics of dress and behaviour.
One evening only. Come on 24 November, the full moon, or 25 November, the planned parade night. Walk two or three temples after dark, then float a krathong from a landing on the Ping.
Three nights of the public festival, 23 to 25 November. This is the planning window we suggest. It gives you the temples, the clay lamps, the river on both main nights and the parade, with no ticket and no transfer, and a first evening before the peak crowds.
Add a ticketed mass release only if that image is a major reason for your trip. The private events have announced 24 and 25 November, so a ticket takes one of the two main city evenings. Expect a fixed schedule, transfers and a late return. If you choose a ticketed release on the 24th, keep the 25th for the city and the planned parade. If you choose the 25th, keep the 24th for the full moon and the river.
A lantern held up before release at an organised event.
Whichever you choose, come for the full moon on 24 November, give yourself the nights on either side, and check back here for the city's programme once it is published.
