Lantern Festival Thailand 2023: Date, Time, Location, Schedule, Facts, Ticket Price! The Lantern Festival is also celebrated in Thailand, typically as part of the Thai New Year celebrations (Songkran Festival), which take place in April. In Thailand, the festival is known as “Yi Peng” and is celebrated in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where thousands of lanterns are released into the sky creating a beautiful and mesmerizing display. The lanterns symbolize the release of negative thoughts and hope for the future. The festival also includes traditional cultural performances, food stalls, and other activities for visitors to enjoy.
Thailand Lantern Festivals, also known as the Thai Festivals of Lights, refer to two festivals in Thailand: Yi Peng Festival (also written as Yee Peng) and Loy Krathong Festival (also written as Loi Krathong). Both these festivals are known for creating beautiful displays of lights and take place on the same day.
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Yi Peng — Floating Lantern Festival in Chiang Mai
Yi Peng (or Yee Peng), known as Thailand’s floating lantern festival, is celebrated in Northern Thailand. It is a Lanna festival with the largest celebrations held in Chiang Mai (the ancient capital of the former Lanna Kingdom).
Yi means ‘two’ while peng means ‘full moon day’. It is an annual festival celebrated on the full moon in the second month of the Lanna lunar calendar and usually falls in the month of November. It is believed that Yi Peng originated in India with the legend of the candle-carrying bird which once visited the Gautama Buddha.
The highlight of this festival is the numerous sky lanterns that are released and ‘float’ up into the sky. So Yi Peng is also known as Thailand Sky Lantern Festival.
These sky lanterns are called khom loi in Thai, which means floating lanterns. The release of lanterns is believed to release negative energy and wish for good luck and good fortune in the coming year.
Chiang Mai CAD and Yi Peng Lanna International (Mae Jo) are two famous large Sky Lantern Mass Release events in Chiang Mai.
Ticket for Yi Peng Festival 2023 at Chiang Mai CAD
The tickets for Chiang Mai CAD are on sale now. Asia Highlights — Official Partner of Chiang Mai Arts and Design (CAD) since 2019.
Here are the prices for three kinds of tickets. Premium tickets are most recommended, as you will get closest to the stage and the chanting monks, receive priority shuttle transport with a business van, and have a buffet dinner for a special food zone.
- Premium ticket: US$ 199
- VIP ticket: US$ 179
- Standard ticket: US$ 139
Quick Facts about Thailand Lantern Festivals
- During the lantern festivals in Thailand, you will see two iconic scenes: swarms of sky lanterns flying into the night’s sky — that is Yi Peng Lantern Festival; thousands of lotus-shaped baskets with candles and flowers floating on the rivers at night — that is Loy Krathong Festival.
- The two Thai lantern festivals usually occur on the full moon day in November. In 2023, Loy Krathong will take place on November 28 and Yi Peng will take place on November 27–28.
- Loy Krathong Festival is celebrated nationwide while Yi Peng is only celebrated in northern Thailand, especially in Chiang Mai.
- Chiang Mai is the only place where you can see both Thailand’s lantern festivals on the same day.
