Loy Krathong 2026 in Bangkok: The Night the City Comes to the Water

On Tuesday 24 November 2026, the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, Bangkok goes down to the water. Along the Chao Phraya, on the canals and around the lakes of the parks, people kneel with a small boat of banana leaf and flowers, light its candle and three sticks of incense, and let it go. By midnight the river is a field of small flames. It is the gentlest of Thailand's festivals, it is free, and anyone can take part.

This guide is for the night in Bangkok: what Loy Krathong means and how to do it properly, the places to float a krathong from the old-town forts to the riverside malls and the parks, the city’s official programme from 17 to 29 November, the rules on the water, and what else the river is doing that week. For the lantern festival in the north, Yi Peng, which falls on the same full moon, see our Yi Peng guide.

What Loy Krathong Means

Loy is to float; a krathong is the small vessel, traditionally a slice of banana trunk dressed in folded banana leaves, flowers, a candle, three incense sticks and often a coin. It is set on the water on the night of the full moon that closes the rains, when the rivers are at their highest and the rice is coming in. The offering goes to Phra Mae Khongkha, the goddess of water, in thanks for the year’s water and in apology for what people have done to it. Many also treat it as a letting go: the candle carries off the year’s misfortune, and some add a nail clipping or a strand of hair to make the point.

The story most often told gives the first krathong to Nang Noppamat, a court lady of Sukhothai seven centuries ago. Historians read that text as a much later work, from the early Bangkok period, and trace the custom itself through older Brahmin water rites. The legend lives on anyway, in the Noppamat pageants held across the country that night. In Bangkok the children’s version is part of the city’s own event at Mahakan Fort.

What matters at the water is simpler. Buy a krathong made of natural materials, light it, hold it a moment, and set it down gently. Keep your voice down near people who are praying, and do not photograph strangers at the water’s edge without a smile and a nod first. It is a religious moment for many of the people around you, and a family evening for most.

The Night, Step by Step

Date

Tuesday 24 November 2026. The moon is full at 9:53 PM Bangkok time and rises over the city at about sunset, a little before 6 PM.

The season

The city's official events run from 17 to 29 November, most of them on 23, 24 and 25 November. Many people float a day early or a day late to miss the crowd.

Buy

A krathong from a street stall near any pier or park, from the afternoon. Banana trunk, banana leaf and flowers; from about ฿30 for a small one. No foam, and nothing made of bread for the park ponds.

Go

Be at the water by 7 PM for a place at the edge. The piers and the parks are fullest from 8 PM to 10 PM.

Float

Light the candle and the incense, make your wish, and set the krathong on the water at a step or a floating lane. Do not throw it, and keep children by the hand.

After

City boats collect the krathongs overnight; last year's count was 391,027 by dawn, 83 percent of them made of natural materials. Leave by rail: the roads around the river jam until midnight.

The Official Programme, 17 to 29 November

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration announced its venues on 31 October and the Ministry of Culture its own on 28 October. The dates below are theirs; the detailed programmes, the stage times and whatever the riverside malls add are still to come, and we will update this page as they are published.

Wat Saket (the Golden Mount)

17 to 29 November. The city's opening event, with the temple's fair and the ceremonies for the relics on the Golden Mount from 17 to 26 November.

Rama VIII Bridge

17 to 29 November, in the riverside park on the Thonburi side, with the Bang Phlat district.

Phra Sumen Fort

23 to 25 November, in Santichaiprakarn Park, with the Phra Nakhon district.

Mahakan Fort

23 to 25 November, 5 PM to 10 PM. The Enchanting Waterways of Rattanakosin: khon, likay, lam tat singing and puppetry, krathong and garland workshops, free Thai costumes, a period market of eight shops on land and water, a children's Noppamas pageant, a large krathong on the canal and an exhibition on the city's waterways, linked with Wat Saket, Wat Ratchanatdaram and Wat Thepthidaram.

Prem Prachakorn canal

23 to 25 November at two points, Wat Samian Nari in Chatuchak and beside the Don Mueang police station, run by the northern districts. Local evenings, far from the tourist river.

Wat Arun

23 and 24 November, the Ministry of Culture's national event, under this year's theme of passing the tradition to a new generation.

Song Wat Road

23 November, the ministry's digital Loy Krathong for a younger crowd, on the riverside lane behind Chinatown.

The riverside malls

ICONSIAM's River Park and Asiatique have each run a large Loy Krathong event in past years, ICONSIAM with floating lanes in the river and a pageant, Asiatique as part of the Bangkok River Festival. Neither had announced its 2026 programme on 1 November.

The Rules on the Water

Natural materials only. Foam krathongs are banned in Bangkok. The city also asks you not to float bread in the parks, whose ponds are closed water, and promotes one krathong per family rather than one per person. The share of natural krathongs collected has climbed every year and reached 83 percent in 2025.

No fire in the sky. Sky lanterns, fireworks and firecrackers are banned in the city’s parks, and lantern releases are restricted across Bangkok because of the airports. The lanterns you have seen in photographs are Yi Peng, in the north, on the same nights.

Mind the edge. The steps and piers are wet, crowded and unlit in places. Use the floating lanes and the staffed steps at the official venues, keep children by the hand, and do not wade in after a krathong that has drifted.

Dress for where you are. Most of the best spots are temples. Shoulders and knees covered, shoes that come off easily, and the Thai dress that the ministry is encouraging this year is welcome everywhere.

Getting There, and Home Again

The night is a rail night. MRT Itsaraphap is the station for Wat Arun; MRT Sanam Chai for Tha Tien and the ferry across to it; MRT Sam Yot and the Khlong Saen Saep boat to Phan Fa for Mahakan Fort and the Golden Mount; MRT Bang Yi Khan for the Rama VIII park; the BTS Gold Line for ICONSIAM; BTS Saphan Taksin for the shuttle boats to ICONSIAM and Asiatique; MRT Si Lom for Lumphini and MRT Queen Sirikit Centre for Benjakitti. Santichaiprakarn Park has no station; walk from Khao San or take a taxi to Phra Athit Road before 6 PM.

The roads along the river and around the old town jam from early evening until after midnight, and the shuttle-boat queues at Sathorn pier run to an hour after 9 PM. Go early, float, and walk ten minutes away from the water before you look for a car.

The River That Week

Loy Krathong falls in the middle of the busiest month the Chao Phraya has. Vijit Chao Phraya lights its landmarks from the Rama VIII Bridge to the Krung Thep Bridge every night from 7 PM to 9:30 PM, so the riverside behind your krathong will be lit in colour. The official programme has a drone show over Wat Arun the next night, Wednesday 25 November, fireworks at the Rama VIII and Krung Thep bridges on Friday 27 November, and fireworks at the Memorial Bridge on the weekends either side, 21 and 22 and 28 and 29 November. The Royal Barge Procession has sailed by then, on 6 November.

In the north, Chiang Mai’s Yi Peng runs from 23 to 25 November, lanterns in the temples and parades in the old city, with the mass sky-lantern releases at ticketed grounds outside it; the Sky of Wishes release on 24 and 25 November is one of them. If your dates are flexible, Loy Krathong in Bangkok on the 24th and a flight north the next morning gives you both festivals on one full moon.