Loy Krathong
- 🏮 Floating lights
- 🎭 Nationwide
- 📸 Photogenic
- 👨👩👦 Family friendly
On one night each November, Thais carry small candle-lit baskets down to the nearest water and let them go. The krathong takes bad luck and grievance with it; the candle is a wish. It happens on every river, canal, lake, reservoir and hotel pool in the country on the same evening, which makes Loy Krathong the most widely observed festival in Thailand and one of the easiest for a visitor to join in with.
Loy Krathong is not the sky lantern festival
This trips up almost everyone. Loy Krathong is the floating basket festival, observed nationwide. Yi Peng is the northern Lanna tradition of releasing paper lanterns into the sky, centred on Chiang Mai, and it falls on the same nights.
The photographs that sell Thailand to the world — thousands of glowing lanterns rising together against a black sky — are Yi Peng, not Loy Krathong, and most of them are taken at ticketed private events rather than in the street. If that image is what you are coming for, read our Yi Peng guide before booking anything.
In Chiang Mai the two run together, which is why the city is so heavily oversubscribed on these dates. Everywhere else in Thailand, Loy Krathong means water, not sky.
When it happens
Loy Krathong falls on the full moon of the twelfth month in the Thai lunar calendar, which puts it in November and moves it by up to three weeks between years.
| Year | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 16 November | — |
| 2025 | 6 November | — |
| 2026 | 25 November | Chiang Mai events run 24–26 November |
| 2027 | 14 November | — |
It is a one-night festival, though the surrounding days carry parades, beauty contests and markets in the cities that make the most of it. In Chiang Mai the official 2026 programme runs 24–26 November, with the main night on the 25th.
Where to go
Sukhothai is the purist's answer. The festival is said to have originated here, and the celebration takes place inside the historical park with krathongs floating on the ponds between thirteenth-century ruins, lit by candles rather than floodlights. It is the most beautiful version of the night and the least crowded by foreigners.
Chiang Mai is the biggest draw, because you get Loy Krathong and Yi Peng together, plus parades along Tha Pae Gate and lantern-lit temples at Wat Phan Tao and Wat Chedi Luang. It is also the most expensive and most crowded option by a wide margin.
Bangkok is the easiest if you are already there. The Chao Phraya fills with krathongs and most riverside hotels, piers and restaurants run their own floating points. Asiatique and the area around Wat Arun are the obvious spots; any pier will do.
Smaller towns are often better than any of them. A provincial riverbank with a few hundred local families is closer to what the night is actually for than a packed tourist promenade.
Worth knowing before you book
Loy Krathong is <strong>not</strong> the sky lantern festival. The floating baskets are Loy Krathong; the paper lanterns released into the sky are <strong>Yi Peng</strong>, a Lanna tradition centred on Chiang Mai that happens on the same nights. Most photos sold as "Loy Krathong" are actually Yi Peng.
Hotel rates in Chiang Mai and Sukhothai rise steeply for these dates and the best places sell out months ahead. Book early or base yourself somewhere less in demand.
Buy a krathong made from banana trunk, leaves and flowers rather than polystyrene. Thai authorities now collect tens of thousands of them from the water the next morning, and the biodegradable ones are the whole point.
How to take part
Buy a krathong from one of the stalls that appear near every body of water on the day — they cost very little. Traditional ones are built on a slice of banana trunk, folded banana leaves, flowers, three incense sticks and a candle. Some people add a coin, a fingernail clipping or a strand of hair, so that something of themselves goes with it.
Light the candle and incense, hold the krathong for a moment, make your wish or let go of whatever you are carrying, and set it on the water. That is all there is to it. Nobody will mind a foreigner joining in; it is a generous, unselfconscious festival.
One practical note: if the water is still, your krathong will not go far, and in a busy spot the candles are usually blown out within minutes. This is not a failure. Nobody stands and watches theirs disappear into the distance.
Getting there
From Bangkok: Any riverside pier on the Chao Phraya — Asiatique, Wat Arun and the Phra Athit area all run krathong floating. Take the BTS to Saphan Taksin and the river boat from Sathorn pier. Citywide.
From Chiang Mai: The Ping River banks and Nawarat Bridge, plus the moat around the old city. Walkable from anywhere in the centre. Walkable.
From Sukhothai: Sukhothai Historical Park runs the country's most atmospheric celebration among the ruins. Fly to Sukhothai or Phitsanulok, then a short drive. 1 hr from Phitsanulok.
What it costs
A krathong costs very little from the stalls that appear beside every stretch of water on the day. Beyond that the festival itself is free, wherever you choose to float it.
The expense is timing. Loy Krathong falls in November, at the start of high season, and the cities that make the most of it — Chiang Mai above all, and Sukhothai — raise rates sharply and sell out months ahead.
Bangkok barely moves in price for it, because the city is busy in November regardless. If budget matters more than spectacle, floating a krathong on the Chao Phraya costs almost nothing and is every bit as much the real festival.
Why go
Because it is the rare large festival that asks something small and personal of you rather than just staging a spectacle. You buy a basket, you light a candle, you let it go. The whole country does it at once, on the same night, and for an hour the rivers carry more light than the streets do.
If you want the sky full of lanterns as well, go to Chiang Mai and plan properly. If you want the festival itself, go almost anywhere else and walk to the nearest water.