Loy Krathong 2026: where to go — 5 cities, the real dates, and Chiang Mai rooms down to 14 of 406 on 24 Nov

Short answer: Loy Krathong this year is Tuesday 24 November 2026 (confirmed on the Tourism Authority of Thailand's event listing, checked 30 September 2026). As of that check, two cities had published this year's dates on an official page — Chiang Mai (23–25 November) and Sukhothai (15–24 November). For Tak, Ayutthaya and Bangkok we found no 2026 announcement yet.

If you have to choose now, Chiang Mai is the city with the firmest dates and the fastest-disappearing rooms. Sukhothai runs the longest, ten days, so you can pick a night that avoids Loy Krathong itself. For the other three, wait for the announcement before booking anything non-refundable.

As of 30 September 2026 we found no official notice cancelling or changing the format of this year's Loy Krathong. If one is issued, follow the province and municipality announcements.

Chiang Mai Municipality announced on 23 September 2026 that this year's Yi Peng festival runs from 23 to 25 November 2026 at venues across the municipality, and that the grand krathong parade competition for the royal trophy takes place on 25 November 2026.

As a trip plan: the 24th is Loy Krathong by the calendar, and the 25th is the night of the grand parade. To see both you need at least two nights, the 24th and the 25th — exactly the nights when rooms disappear the most, as the next section shows.

One thing to know before you go: in the same announcement, Mueang Chiang Mai District asks that no sky lanterns be released anywhere in the city, for safety, and asks hotels to tell their guests. Most of the skies full of lanterns you see on social media are ticketed events held outside the city. We do not recommend any ticket seller.

We first listed every stay within 5 km (straight line) of Tha Phae Gate — 406 of them — then priced that same set night by night: 2 adults, 1 room, 1 night, pulled on 30 September 2026. On normal nights 372–379 could be booked. On 23 November, 175. On 24 November, 14. On 25 November, 143.

Counting only stays that clear our bar (a score of 8.5 or more from at least 500 reviews), of which there are 112 in the same circle: 103–109 bookable on normal nights, 46 on 23 November, 4 on 24 November and 37 on 25 November.

We checked this a second way that does not rely on our list: an ordinary search by city name, counting only results inside the 5 km circle. Same picture — 99 on 17 November · 54 on 23 November · 12 on 24 November · 69 on 25 November · 101 on 1 December. Every figure is what was left on the day we pulled the feed, not a forecast, and it can fall further any day.

We compared the same hotel on both nights, kept the weekday identical, and took the median of the ratios. Monday 23 November against Monday 16 November: 171 matched stays, median 1.40×. Against Monday 30 November: 163 matched stays, median 1.50×.

Wednesday 25 November against Wednesday 18 November: 140 matched stays, median 1.44×. Against Wednesday 2 December: 138 matched stays, median 1.52×. For 24 November we could only match 13 and 12 stays — too few to report a median under our rule (no median below 100 pairs), so we give no price figure for that night.

The practical takeaway: around the festival Chiang Mai does not just run out of rooms — the rooms still left on the 23rd and 25th really do cost about 1.4–1.5 times the same weekday in an ordinary week.

We split the bar-clearing stays by the area circles in our system. The Old City's centre is 0.85 km from Tha Phae Gate, Ping Riverside's is 1.12 km and Nimman's is 3.09 km (all straight lines, not walking distance).

The Old City has the most bar-clearing stays, 44, but none were left for 24 November and 9 for the 25th. Ping Riverside has 15, with 2 left for the 24th and 4 for the 25th. Nimman has 25, with 1 left for the 24th and 11 for the 25th.

If you want to walk to the festival, look at the Old City or Ping Riverside first. If those are gone, Nimman had the most bar-clearing rooms left for 25 November — but allow time for a ride into the Old City, and traffic is heavier than usual on festival nights.

The Fine Arts Department lists Sukhothai's Loy Krathong candle and fire festival for 2026 as 15–24 November 2026 at Sukhothai Historical Park. The government page (thailand.go.th) lists a light-and-sound show every night over the same dates at 19:00, with an extra show on 24 November at 20:30.

Our feed has 65 stays within 20 km of Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai, 36 of them within 3 km. For 24 November, 11 across the whole circle could still be booked, against 54 on 17 November and 59 on 1 December. Within 3 km only, 2 were left for the 24th, against 28 and 32 on the two control nights.

Because Sukhothai's festival runs for ten days, the easier way to get a room is to go on a night before Loy Krathong itself, when the show still runs. All figures pulled on 30 September 2026, 2 adults, 1 room, 1 night.

Tak is known for its Loy Krathong Sai festival of 1,000 floating lights on the Ping River, which the Tourism Authority of Thailand listed as an annual event in 2024. As of 30 September 2026 we found no official announcement of the 2026 dates, so this page gives none.

Our feed does not yet have area circles for Tak, so we did not measure rooms left in this city. If you have Tak in mind, book something refundable until the dates are announced.

Last year Ayutthaya Province announced its main venue at Wat Phra Ram in the Ayutthaya Historical Park, 2–6 November 2025, organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, with further krathong spots around the island city. As of 30 September 2026 we found no announcement for 2026.

Ayutthaya is close enough to Bangkok for a day trip, unlike Chiang Mai and Sukhothai where you need to stay the night. We did not measure rooms in Ayutthaya this round.

As of 30 September 2026 we found no 2026 list of Loy Krathong spots from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, so this page names no venues. In past years many of Bangkok's public parks opened for Loy Krathong — wait for this year's announcement before planning.

Of the five cities, Bangkok has the most November rain, averaging 82 mm across 11 rain days. If you are floating a krathong in a park, bring an umbrella.

Across the 2016–2025 mean (ERA5), November is when rain falls away sharply from October in all five cities. Chiang Mai 68 mm, 9 rain days, mean high 28.6°C and low 20.2°C · Sukhothai 59 mm, 8 rain days, 30.9/22.7°C · Tak 67 mm, 9 rain days, 29.7/22.0°C · Ayutthaya 60 mm, 9 rain days, 31.4/23.7°C · Bangkok 82 mm, 11 rain days, 31.1/23.7°C.

These are whole-month averages, not a forecast for festival night. Any single year can differ a lot from the mean, so check a real forecast close to your trip.

In the order to do them, if you are going for the festival

• Pick the night before the city — in Chiang Mai, seeing both Loy Krathong night and the grand parade means staying on 24 and 25 November.
• Check rooms for your actual nights now. The figures on this page are from 30 September 2026 and can fall any day.
• If the city you want has not announced its dates yet, book something refundable.
• Do not release sky lanterns within Chiang Mai city, as the district has asked, and do not buy tickets from sellers you cannot verify.
• Open the official event page again before you leave — schedules and venues can change.

Stated plainly, here is what this page does not guarantee

• It is not an official festival calendar. Every date comes from the official pages linked below, checked on 30 September 2026.
• It sells no festival tickets, recommends no tours, and recommends no sky-lantern ticket seller.
• Room counts and price ratios are from the day we pulled the feed — not a forecast, and not the price you will get.
• Tak, Ayutthaya and Bangkok have no 2026 dates on this page because none have been announced. We do not guess.