Thai Festivals 2026: Chiang Mai's Yi Peng, 24-25 Nov

Of all the Thai festivals 2026 still to come, one fortnight matters more than the rest for anyone booking a trip: Loy Krathong and Chiang Mai's Yi Peng fall on 24–25 November 2026. That is the week hotel rates in the old city double, internal flights sell out, and the sky over the Ping River fills with light. It is also the week with the most confusing information circulating online, so here is what is actually settled, what is not, and what it costs.

The short version: the dates are fixed, the free celebrations are excellent, the famous mass lantern releases are ticketed commercial events held outside the city, and Chiang Mai's airport will almost certainly move flights around. Plan accordingly.

Thai festivals 2026: the dates are fixed, the timetable is not

Loy Krathong follows the full moon of the twelfth Thai lunar month, which is why it drifts between late October and late November. In 2026 it lands on 24 November, with Chiang Mai's Lanna festival of Yi Peng running alongside it across 24 and 25 November.

What has not been published yet is the detail: the parade schedule, the official lantern-release windows, and the airport's adjusted flight list. Chiang Mai confirms these a few weeks out, not months. Treat the two dates as bookable and everything else as provisional — that single distinction will save you money and disappointment.

Two festivals, not one

Most listings of Thai festivals 2026 treat these two as a single event. They coincide, but they are different traditions, and knowing which is which changes where you should stand.

• Loy Krathong is national. You float a krathong — a banana-leaf raft with a candle and incense — on a river, canal or lake. Bangkok, Sukhothai and Ayutthaya all stage significant versions.
• Yi Peng is northern, Lanna, and centred on Chiang Mai. It is the one with the khom loi sky lanterns, and the reason photographers book flights a year ahead.
• The parades are the underrated part: illuminated floats, Lanna costume and drum troupes moving through the old city on both evenings, free to watch from any kerb.

Doing it free: the 20-baht version

This is the part of Thai festivals 2026 that costs almost nothing. You do not need a ticket to have the better night. Chiang Mai's public celebrations cost nothing beyond the price of a float, and street vendors sell ready-made krathong for roughly 20–30 baht.

• The Ping River between the Iron Bridge and Nakhon Ping Bridge — the main stretch for floating, busiest between about 7pm and 10pm.
• Nawarat Bridge — the classic viewpoint, and the easiest place to watch lanterns and floats at the same time.
• Tha Phae Gate — stage performances and the parade route, and the best single spot if you only have one evening.
• The old city moat — candlelit, quieter, and where locals actually go.

Bring small notes, wear shoes you can get wet, and buy a krathong made of banana leaf and bread rather than polystyrene; the city fishes thousands of floats out of the river the next morning.

Thai culture beyond the lanterns

The fortnight is also the best window of the year for Thai culture at walking pace. Wat Phan Tao opens its grounds for candlelit evenings, the temples along Ratchadamnoen hold their own smaller releases, and the northern food stalls that appear for the festival are a different proposition from Bangkok street food — think khao soi, sai ua sausage and sticky rice steamed in banana leaf, most of it under 80 baht a plate.

What the ticketed lantern releases really cost

The images that sell this festival — a thousand lanterns lifting in unison — come from ticketed events staged at venues outside Chiang Mai, not from the city centre. Releasing a lantern inside the city or near the airport is prohibited on aviation-safety grounds, and the penalties are not nominal.

• CAD Khomloy Sky Lantern Festival — roughly 4,880–15,900 baht per person depending on seating tier.
• Yee Peng Lanna International — roughly 4,800–12,500 baht.
• Smaller organised releases (Horizon Village and similar) — roughly 2,500–4,900 baht.
• What a ticket usually includes — return transport from the city, a meal, two lanterns and a krathong. Read the inclusions before you pay; they vary widely.

None of it is compulsory. Plenty of visitors do one free evening on the river and skip the ticket entirely, and there is no wrong answer here — only a badly informed one.

The flight trap nobody warns you about

This is the most useful piece of Thailand travel news in the whole article. No other entry on the calendar of Thai festivals 2026 moves an airport timetable. Because sky lanterns and aircraft do not mix, Chiang Mai International Airport reshuffles its schedule around the festival every year. In recent seasons that has meant well over a hundred flights cancelled or retimed across the two nights, with an effective evening curfew while releases are under way.

The 2026 adjustments had not been published as of 30 September. If you are flying into or out of Chiang Mai on 24 or 25 November, book a flexible fare, check with your airline in early November, and do not schedule a tight onward connection on either evening. An overnight train or a bus from Bangkok is a genuinely sensible fallback.

Fitting it into a Thailand itinerary

Late November is the sweet spot of the Thai year and the busiest corner of the Thai festivals 2026 calendar: the monsoon has withdrawn, the air is dry and the high season has started. That makes this fortnight easy to build a wider Thailand itinerary around.

• Before — two or three nights in Bangkok, then the overnight train north. It arrives in time for the parade and costs a fraction of a festival-week flight.
• After — fly south for warm water. The Andaman Thailand islands are at their best from late November, and Koh Samui is winding down its wet spell.
• Two hours from Bangkok — the list of things to do in Pattaya is longer than its reputation suggests, and the 30-baht ferry to the Koh Larn beaches takes about 45 minutes. Our Pattaya and Jomtien guide has the detail.
• Quieter sand — Koh Kood travel through Trat rewards anyone happy to add a longer transfer for near-empty beaches.
• Nearby — see our Chiang Mai travel guide for what to do in the city either side of the festival.

Practical tips for Yi Peng 2026

• Book accommodation now. Old-city rooms for 24–25 November sell out months ahead and prices roughly double.
• Stay inside or just outside the moat. Everything worth seeing is walkable from there, and taxis crawl on both nights.
• Budget 20–30 baht for a krathong, and about 100 baht for a lantern if you buy one at an authorised release.
• Do not release a lantern in the city. It is illegal, it is dangerous, and it is the single fastest way to ruin a trip.
• Check the airport. Confirm your Chiang Mai flight in early November once the adjusted schedule is out.
• Arrive by 6pm for a parade spot on Ratchadamnoen; by 7pm you are watching over heads.
• Carry cash. Vendors, tuk-tuks and krathong stalls are cash-only, and ATM queues get long.
• Leave the next morning free. Both nights run late, and the city wakes up slowly.

Of everything left on the calendar of Thai festivals 2026, this is the one worth reshaping a trip for. If you are still shaping your Thailand vacation planning for this high season, this is the fortnight to build the trip around. Everything else — beaches, temples, the long list of reasons to travel to Thailand in the dry months — arranges itself neatly on either side of it.