Loy Krathong and Yi Peng

The three evenings

Chiang Mai combines two festivals that fall on the same full moon. Loy Krathong is the national one: candlelit krathongs set afloat on rivers, lakes and canals. Yi Peng is the Lanna one, centered on Chiang Mai and known for paper sky lanterns, the khom loi. In the city you get both, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand's schedule for 2026 stretches them over three evenings, 24 to 26 November. The festival follows the lunar calendar, so the dates move each year, and the programme usually looks similar from one year to the next.

The calendar sources do not agree on the exact full-moon night, which they put on 24 or 25 November. The programme itself is clearer. On the 24th the opening ceremony is at 6pm at the Three Kings Monument, with Lanna dance, and candle trays are lit at the monument from 7pm to 11pm and around the city moat from 7:30pm to 11pm. On the 25th the Yi Peng opening ceremony is at 6pm at Tha Pae Gate, and a children's contest follows at 7pm at the municipality office. The Mister and Miss Yi Peng contest fills Tha Pae Gate from 7pm to 11pm on both the 24th and 25th, and Lanna dance performances run from 7pm to 10pm on those two nights. The 26th is the river night.

If you can only stay one night, take the 26th for the river and the fireworks, or the 24th for the moat. If you have the three, you see the festival at the gate, the moat and the Ping River without choosing.

The moat and the Three Kings Monument

The first evening is the quiet one. The Three Kings Monument is the ceremony site, and the candle trays that surround it burn for four hours. Around the old city moat the trays are lit from 7:30pm to 11pm. This is also the evening for dance: the Lanna performances start at 7pm.

Tha Pae Gate

Tha Pae Gate is the east gate of the old city, and the programme treats it as the Yi Peng stage. The opening ceremony is at 6pm on the 25th. The pageant contest runs there on two nights, so the gate is busy until 11pm on the 24th and the 25th. If you want to be there at the opening, arrive before 6pm.

The Ping River and the krathongs

The krathong floating is on the evening of the 26th, from 7pm on the Ping River in front of the municipality office. Fireworks go off at 7:30pm and 9:30pm. If you would rather make your own krathong than buy one, a krathong-making contest runs that day from 9am to 3pm, and a worship ritual takes place at Sri Khong Pier from 8am to 10:30am.

A krathong is a small float carrying a candle. The contest on the 26th is where you can watch them being made, and the programme gives the time and place of the floating, which is what the evening depends on.

Sky lanterns: what is allowed

This is the part of the festival that has changed most. The reason is flight safety. In 2025 the province set six surveillance zones where launching anything that flies, sparks or explodes was off limits: Hang Dong, Saraphi, San Sai, Mae Rim, San Patong and Muang Chiang Mai, plus a flight-safe area 15 km north and south of Chiang Mai Airport. Releases stayed legal at officially approved events, such as the CAD Yi Peng Sky Lantern Festival, under safety rules. Personal lanterns were allowed only if they were made of materials that vanish within a year.

The penalty is steep: up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 200,000 baht, and about double if a lantern starts a fire. Do not buy a lantern from a street seller and launch it from your hotel roof. If you want to release one, book an approved event.

The province issues a new order each year, and Time Out's report on the 2025 one appeared on 10 October. Read the 2026 order and the organiser's terms before you pay for a lantern ticket.

Getting around

Inside the old city the sights are walkable: the Three Kings Monument and Tha Pae Gate are both within it, and the moat runs around it. Outside the moat, plan on taxis or songthaews on the three evenings.

Visa-free stays are shorter than they were: Thailand cut them from 60 to 30 days on 15 September 2026. The page on Thailand entry rules covers who is affected and the digital arrival card.

Where to sleep

The old city puts you on foot to the Three Kings Monument and Tha Pae Gate, which hold the opening ceremonies on the 24th and 25th. East of Tha Pae Gate the streets lead toward the Ping River, where the programme ends on the 26th. Outside the moat you are further from the gate programme, and you rely on taxis or songthaews when the old city fills. Book for the three nights as soon as your flights are set.

What it costs

Watching the ceremonies, the candle trays and the river is free. Approved lantern events are booked separately with their organisers.

For the rest of the trip, the best time to visit Thailand page has the regions by month, and Chiang Mai to Pai covers the mountain road if you want to leave the city after the festival.