3 days in Chiang Mai: Yi Peng lanterns, Lanna temples & festival nights
Photo by Peter Borter on Unsplash
A 3-day culture itinerary built around the 2026 Yi Peng Lantern Festival (Nov 24-25): candlelit Old City temples, a craft village, the new Ton Lamyai main event, Loy Krathong on the Ping River, and the ticketed mass sky-lantern release. Chiang Mai's biggest week of the year, mapped out day by day.
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- Day 18:30 am – 8 pm · 6 stops
- 8:30 am1Wat Chedi Luang among the Yi Peng lanternsChiang Mai
The old Lanna capital's landmark: a 600-year-old brick chedi (once 82m tall, partially collapsed in a 1545 earthquake) wrapped in hanging Yi Peng lanterns. Come at opening to walk the grounds before the crowds, and look for the monk-chat tables where novices practice English.
3 min walk · 50 m - 10 am2Wat Phan Tao's candlelit wooden viharnChiang Mai
Right next door to Chedi Luang, this all-wood viharn is one of Chiang Mai's few remaining carved-teak temples. During Yi Peng week the garden becomes a candlelit lantern mosaic, and monks hold evening ceremonies open to the public.
8 min walk · 600 m - 11:15 am3Wat Phra Singh, the city's grandest watChiang Mai
Chiang Mai's most beautiful temple complex: the Viharn Lai Kham with its three-tiered Lanna roof houses the Phra Buddha Sihing. During festival week the weekend food market in the grounds is a great lunch fallback.
8 min by train or taxi · 2.0 km - 12:30 pm4Lunch and snacking at Warorot MarketChiang Mai
Chiang Mai's main local market: three floors of northern Thai snacks, sai oua sausage, fresh fruit, and fabric stalls. Eat where the vendors eat on the ground floor food section; the riverside street food strip outside runs from late afternoon.
19 min walk · 1.4 km - 5 pm5Three Kings Monument under the lanternsChiang Mai
The statues of Chiang Mai's three founding kings anchor the old city's main square, which Yi Peng decorates with hanging khom khwaen lanterns. It is also a good staging point for the night's lantern walk to Tha Phae Gate.
8 min walk · 600 m - 6:30 pm6Tha Phae Gate after dark on festival weekChiang Mai
The old city's east gate is the traditional heart of Yi Peng: stages for cultural performances, parades, and street markets all week. Note for 2026 the municipal main event area moved to the public park at Ton Lamyai Market, but the gate stays in the program and glows after dark.
- Day 28 am – 9 pm · 5 stops
- 8 am7Dawn at Wat Phra That Doi SuthepChiang Mai
The gold-plated chedi on Doi Suthep mountain is northern Thailand's holiest temple; legend says a white elephant chose the site. Go at opening to see the city waking up below, and the lantern decorations make the sunrise slot extra worthwhile in festival week.
12 min by train or taxi · 7.4 km - 12 pm8Lanna Folklife Museum: the culture behind the festivalChiang Mai
Inside a colonial-era courthouse by Three Kings Monument, this museum covers the Lanna kingdom's crafts, rituals, and festivals. The festival displays give useful context for what you are seeing on the streets this week.
8 min by train or taxi · 4.5 km - 2:30 pm9Baan Kang Wat craft villageChiang Mai
A leafy craft village of independent studios near Wat Umong: pottery, indigo dyeing, woodblock printing, and small cafes. Many workshops let you watch or join in, and the handmade lanterns on sale here beat the mass-market ones.
9 min by train or taxi · 5.7 km - 5:30 pm10Yi Peng main event at Ton Lamyai parkChiang Mai
For 2026 this riverside park is the municipal main event area for Yi Peng (Nov 23-25), moved from Tha Phae Gate. Expect lantern installations, performances, and the biggest free crowds in the city; arrive before dusk for a good spot.
6 min walk · 450 m - 7:30 pm11Float a krathong on the Ping RiverChiang Mai
Cross to the riverbank after the main event: locals float krathong baskets of banana leaf, flowers, and candles onto the Ping while lanterns rise overhead. Floating your own krathong is free and needs no ticket.
- Day 39 am – 10 pm · 4 stops
- 9 am12Wat Umong, the forest templeChiang Mai
A 700-year-old forest temple: brick tunnels under a chedi, a serene lake, and deer wandering the grounds. It is the quiet counterpoint to festival week, and the monk-led meditation talks here run in English.
8 min by train or taxi · 3.4 km - 11 am13The Silver Temple on Wualai RoadChiang Mai
The world's first silver temple: the entire ubosot is sheathed in hand-hammered silver by Wualai Road silversmiths (men only inside the ordination hall, a tradition of the craft guild). Festival week adds lanterns to the courtyard.
8 min by train or taxi · 1.9 km - 1 pm14Wat Lok Moli's lantern courtyardChiang Mai
A 14th-century temple just outside the north moat with a graceful Lanna chedi and famous lantern installations at Yi Peng. A calm midday stop before the evening's main event.
- 1:30 pm15Yi Peng Khomloy mass lantern release (ticketed)Chiang Mai
The official ticketed mass lantern release: shuttles leave from Maya Mall and CMIECC from around 12:30pm, with Lanna market stalls, a buffet dinner, krathong floating, cultural performances, and the simultaneous sky-lantern release near 8:15pm. Book official CAD tickets well ahead; Standard tiers run about 4,900 THB and sell out. Releases are banned inside the city itself, so this is the only legal route to a coordinated mass release.