Loy Krathong – Thailand Lantern Festival

What:  The Lantern fes­ti­val, Loy Krathong is Thailand’s spec­tac­u­lar mass release of lanterns and float­ing of Krathong’s to mark the 12^th pass­ing of the lunar moon and see’s rev­el­ers pay respect to the rivers, wave away the pre­vi­ous year’s mis­for­tunes and ask for wish­es for the fol­low­ing year with fire­works, float­ing bas­kets and the release of thou­sands of lanterns.

Com­bined with the Yi Peng fes­ti­val, Loy Krathong dates back at least to the 1800’s and through the float­ing of the banana trunk Kathrong’s which will be decked with flow­ers, banana leaves, can­dles and per­son­al pos­ses­sions encour­ages and sym­bol­is­es the let­ting go of anger for the year ahead, with the mass lantern release allow­ing peo­ple to write their hopes and dreams for the year ahead – with the hopes and dreams of thou­sands ascend­ing into the night sky, backed by a daz­zling fire­work show, mak­ing for a spec­tac­u­lar per­for­mance.

When: The fes­ti­val takes place on a sin­gle day although the exact date of the lunar month varies each year, but the fes­ti­val almost always hap­pen in mid-Novem­ber with the first releas­es begin­ning as dusk hits.

Where: While events take place all over Thai­land, the best expe­ri­ence and authen­tic expe­ri­ence is held in the south­ern town of Chang Mai – with it being rec­om­mend­ed to fol­low the Tha Phae Gate to the Nawarat Bridge where crowds will gath­er to release their lanterns.

For the pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­phers and for those want­i­ng to wit­ness the pic­ture per­fect per­for­mances, you’ll have to head to a paid dis­play with the per­for­mances at Yee Peng Doi Saket or Chi­ang­mai CAD both known to offer icon­ic moments for the fes­ti­val.

Tick­ets: There are two options for the fes­ti­val in Chang Mai – the first is the free event where crowds tend to gath­er at or around the Nawarat Bridge with lanterns pur­chasable from a num­ber of stalls on the jour­ney to the riv­er (expect to pay 50 baht) and offer­ing a place to release your lanterns in uni­son with oth­er rev­el­ers.

The sec­ond option is the paid events, which are more ordered and allow for those all-impor­tant Insta­gram shots, in these events crowds will be tak­en out­side the city (owing to less pol­lu­tion) and the lanterns will be released in the pres­ence of Bud­dhists who will bless the lanterns as they ascend – for this expe­ri­ence you can expect to pay at least $120 usd – and it’s advised to book in advance in Chang Mai a few days before to guar­an­tee your spot.

Dura­tion: The fes­ti­val lasts for one full evening – as the lantern releas­es take place in the evening it’s advised to head out to the bridge if attend­ing the free fes­ti­val around 6pm, with the releas­es hap­pen­ing at 7pm and 9pm – be warned that it does get very crowd­ed on the bridge as the fes­ti­val begins, and you can expect the occa­sion­al guard who will do their best to destroy lanterns as their being lit.

Need to Know: You can expect most of Chang Mai to be in the fes­ti­val mood a few days before, with lanterns out­side shops and homes and dis­played in the main square. The Krathong’s and lanterns will be on sale by street ven­dors in the hours lead­ing up to the fes­ti­val – so for the best expe­ri­ence it’s advised to bring a decent mark­er and lighter and take a leisure­ly stroll through Chang Mai past the Tha Phae Gate, pick up your lantern and head to the Nawarat Bridge to watch the lantern release.