Chiang Mai Flower Festival 2026: Parade, Gardens & Northern Blooms
Northern Thailand’s cool season turns Chiang Mai into a botanical showcase every February, and the Chiang Mai Flower Festival is the centrepiece. Running February 6-8 in 2026, the three-day event fills Suan Buak Hat Park — the public garden at the southwest corner of the Old City moat — with elaborate floral displays, orchid exhibitions, and landscaped competition gardens. It has been running since 1977 and draws around 200,000 visitors each year.
The Saturday morning parade is the main attraction. Dozens of floats decorated entirely with fresh flowers — roses, orchids, chrysanthemums, marigolds, and native Thai blooms — wind through the city centre from Nawarat Bridge along Tha Pae Road to Suan Buak Hat Park. Local beauty queens ride the floats in traditional Lanna dress, and marching bands, dancers, and cultural troupes fill the gaps between them. The parade starts around 8 AM and takes roughly two hours to pass any given point. Tha Pae Gate is the prime viewing spot, but it fills up early — arrive by 7 AM for a decent position.
Inside Suan Buak Hat Park, the festival grounds feature competitive garden displays by Chiang Mai’s districts and commercial nurseries, a flower market selling orchids, bonsai, and tropical plants at wholesale prices, and food stalls serving northern Thai specialties like sai oua (Chiang Mai sausage) and khao soi. Entry to the park is free. An orchid competition runs across all three days, and a beauty pageant for the Flower Festival Queen takes place on the final evening.
February is one of Chiang Mai’s most pleasant months — dry, sunny, and 18-30 degrees Celsius. The festival overlaps with Chinese New Year some years, adding extra colour to the city. Accommodation in the Old City books up for the parade weekend, so reserve at least three weeks ahead. For the best photos, position yourself along Tha Pae Road where the floats slow down near the gate, or inside the park where you can get close to the displays without the parade crowds.