Yi Peng Tickets

What is Yi Peng, and why the lanterns?

Yi Peng is the northern Thai (Lanna) festival of lights, held on the same full moon as Loy Krathong; in 2026 Chiang Mai's city festival runs from 23 to 25 November, with Loy Krathong night on Tuesday 24 November. Its name means the full moon of the second month in the old Lanna calendar. In Chiang Mai, people hang paper lanterns over the streets, light candles at the temples, float krathongs on the Ping River and, in the permitted areas, let lanterns go into the sky.

That's why Yi Peng tickets exist: the big sky releases, with everyone letting go together, happen at ticketed events outside the city.

Do you need tickets for Yi Peng?

You don't need tickets for Yi Peng in the city. The free Yi Peng festival runs from 23 to 25 November 2026, with the main site at the Tonlamyai Market park, moved from Tha Phae Gate, and krathongs on the Ping River on Loy Krathong night, Tuesday 24 November.

You need a Yi Peng ticket only for a ticketed lantern release. These are separate events, with their own dates, prices and transfers, set by each organiser.

Ask Tanner which one fits your group.

How do Yi Peng lantern tickets work?

A ticketed release is the night you see the whole sky fill with lanterns, everyone letting go together, at a permitted site outside the city. Yi Peng lantern festival tickets for 2026 are sold by each release's own organiser, or by the official seller the organiser names, and each ticket is for that one event: its date, its site and what's included are on the organiser's own page.

• Buy from the organiser: or from the official seller listed on the organiser's page.
• Check the date: each ticketed release sets its own night, so it may not be Loy Krathong night. Lanterns may only go up on 24 and 25 November 2026.
• Check what's included: the transfer, the lantern and the food differ by event.
• Book now: the 2026 releases are on sale, so buy once your flights are set.

Ask Tanner to plan the car and the night around your release.

What are the Yi Peng lantern rules?

The Yi Peng lantern release rules are the Chiang Mai lantern release rules all year: release a lantern only in a permitted area, only at the set time, and never in Chiang Mai city, where the city district asks people not to release lanterns at all. So the big releases happen at the permitted sites and the ticketed events outside the city.

For 2026, lanterns can go up on 24 and 25 November, from 7pm to 1am, in permitted areas only. Yi Peng itself runs from 23 to 25 November.

Every release needs its own permit. Organisers apply to Chiang Mai province through its Bampen app, and there is no official list of release sites. So ask your organiser if its release has a permit before you buy. Checked 7 Nov 2026.

• In the city: no lanterns; enjoy the hung lanterns, the parades and the river.
• Permitted areas: only on the nights and at the times in the province's notice.
• Ticketed releases: the organiser runs the release at its own permitted site.

What does a Yi Peng ticket include?

A Yi Peng sky lantern festival ticket covers one organised release on one night, at the organiser's permitted site outside the city. What else it covers changes from one organiser to the next, so check the ticket before you buy.

Ask Tanner to plan the night around your ticket.

Free or ticketed: which Yi Peng is for you?

Pick the free Yi Peng festival if you want the city: the parades, the streets hung with lanterns and the krathongs on the Ping River. Pick a ticketed lantern release if you want to see the sky fill with lanterns, all let go together.

• Free city festival: walk it, from your base in the city.
• Ticketed release: a set night, a permitted site and the organiser's transfer.
• Both: the city on Loy Krathong night, the release on its own night.

Read Yi Peng 2026 for the full festival. Ask Tanner.

How do you plan Yi Peng with your group?

Plan Yi Peng by booking the flight and your base first, then the ticketed release, then the car. The flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai takes about 1 hour 10 to 1 hour 20, Chiang Mai fills up on festival week, and flight times change on lantern nights.

• Your driver: a luxury van with a driver from ฿6,500 for 10 hours, for up to 4.
• Your base: a private pool villa from ฿18,500 a day.
• Arriving from abroad: airport fast track at Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang, ฿2,400 a person: a greeter meets you at the gate and walks you through the fast immigration lane.

Read Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai festivals and festival trips in Thailand. Plan it with Tanner.

Yi Peng tickets: what's the short version?

• Yi Peng 2026: 23 to 25 November; the city festival is free.

• Yi Peng tickets are only for ticketed sky lantern releases, sold by their own organisers; the 2026 releases are on sale now.
• No lanterns in Chiang Mai city; in permitted areas, lanterns go up on 24 and 25 November, 7pm to 1am.

Read Loy Krathong 2026 for the whole country, and khom loi for how a sky lantern release works.

Plan it with Tanner.