Chiang Mai's Major Festivals

Yi Peng

Yi Peng is a Northern Thai lantern festival, distinct to the Lanna region, where thousands of khom loi — paper sky lanterns lit by a small flame — are released into the night sky. Chiang Mai hosts some of the country's largest and most famous mass lantern releases, which have become genuinely iconic images of the city. Yi Peng typically coincides with Loy Krathong, though they're technically separate traditions.

Loy Krathong

Loy Krathong is celebrated across Thailand, and involves floating a krathong — a small, traditionally banana-leaf and flower float, often holding a candle and incense — on a river or body of water, as a way of releasing bad luck and paying respect to the water. In Chiang Mai, this happens throughout the city along the Ping River and various temple ponds, alongside the lantern releases associated with Yi Peng.

When they happen

Both festivals follow the Thai lunar calendar and typically fall in November, but exact dates shift year to year — confirm specific dates for your travel year well in advance, since this is one of the busiest, most heavily booked periods for flights and hotels in Chiang Mai.

Songkran

Songkran, Thai New Year, is celebrated in mid-April with city-wide water fights — genuinely fun and a real cultural experience, but worth planning around if you need to move through the city with dry luggage or electronics on travel days during the festival.