Chiang Rai Lantern Festival 2026: A Quieter Alternative to Yi Peng

While Chiang Mai gets the crowds and the Instagram posts during Yi Peng and Loy Krathong, neighbouring Chiang Rai celebrates the same festivals with a fraction of the tourists and most of the magic. On the full moon of the twelfth lunar month — November 25 in 2026 — Chiang Rai’s temples, riverside areas, and the Kok River come alive with floating krathongs, candlelit ceremonies, and yes, sky lanterns rising above the northern mountains.

The main celebrations centre on the Kok River waterfront and Chiang Rai’s municipal park. Locals gather along the river to release krathongs — handmade banana-leaf boats carrying candles, incense, and flowers — while monks perform chanting ceremonies at riverside temples. Unlike Chiang Mai, where sky lantern releases are banned within the city, Chiang Rai’s smaller scale and distance from major flight paths means lanterns still drift above the town on festival night. The sight of scattered khom loi floating over the dark silhouette of the northern hills, reflected in the Kok River below, is genuinely beautiful — and you will not be fighting for elbow room.

The town’s temples hold wien thien (candlelit circumambulation) ceremonies throughout the evening, with Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Phra Singh among the most atmospheric. Food stalls line the waterfront selling northern Thai dishes — khao soi, sai oua sausage, and khanom jeen nam ngiao (rice noodles in spicy pork-tomato broth). Cultural performances, including traditional Lanna music and dance, are staged at the municipal park. The celebrations are decidedly local rather than tourist-oriented, which means more genuine interactions and fewer selfie sticks.

Chiang Rai is 3 hours north of Chiang Mai by road, or a 1.5-hour direct flight from Bangkok (from around 1,500 THB on AirAsia). If you are already planning to visit Chiang Mai for Yi Peng, consider spending the main festival night in Chiang Rai instead and catching Chiang Mai’s free temple celebrations on the other evening. Accommodation in Chiang Rai is significantly cheaper than Chiang Mai during festival season and rarely books out — though the best riverside guesthouses should still be reserved a couple of weeks ahead.