Sorry that I haven’t responded! Life got busy once we moved back home and got jobs again, and I’ve been ignoring my blog. I, too, saw that the lantern festival seemed to be canceled in 2015 – a few of my friends who still live in Chiang Mai posted about that on their Facebook. Sorry that your trip may have been a disappointment because of it! Were you able to at least go to the paid tourist lantern celebration?

You’re so helpful and I’m grateful for this! I’m in the middle of planning my 30th birthday to Thailand and i’m trying to plan it around the free Mae Jo lantern release event. Just as you mentioned above i guess they do not release that information so early on. I will be in Chiang Mai, Nov 22 and wanted to leave the 25 for the phuket full moon party. (willing to change the dates around a little if i can catch the free ceremony). Do you know where’s the official site they will post the date? If I cannot catch the free one do you know when is the tourist one and where I can buy tickets? Also, does the tourist one have a ceremony with monks as well?

Thanks again for an awesome blog!

The dates for the free lantern release probably won’t be released until at least September of this year. The folks that plan the free lantern release event at Mae Jo try to keep the date under wraps until very very last minute so it doesn’t get too packed with tourists. (We didn’t find out until the day beforehand last year!)

It does look like Loy Krathong is November 25th, which means that the PAID lantern release event will be sometime around that date… maybe as late as the 28th.

I recommend visiting the Thaizer Site for the Lantern Release frequently to see if a 2015 date has been posted yet.

The free event was on October 25th last year, which was earlier than anyone expected. Most of my expat friends in Chiang Mai were surprised to find out the date was so early. I actually found out last minute about it via the “I ♥ Chiang Mai Too” Facebook Group. You might consider joining a few Chiang Mai Facebook groups and watching for posts about it.

Good Luck!
-Melanie

We have booked flight to see the free event on the 24th Nov.
Enjoy Spain

Best regards
Pritesh

Thanks! I’m glad you’re planning to go to Yi Peng in 2015, it’s such a fun experience. If you go to the free, local version of Yi Peng, there’s usually not a whole lot else going on in the days before or after the festival.

However, if you decide to go for the Lantern Festival that is thrown specifically for tourists (the one that costs around $100), it usually coincides with the Loy Krathong festivities in Chiang Mai, so there is a lot of other stuff going on during that week. There are parades for Loy Krathong, there’s a beauty pageant, and people release floating “Krathong” rafts in the river. A lot of people also release sky lanterns around this time. There are fireworks, and on the actual night of Loy Krathong the whole town seems to be lit up with candles, lanterns, and lights.

The pros of the tourist festival are that the date is announced way beforehand (whereas we only found out about the local one a few days beforehand), and it usually coincides with Loy Krathong festivities. The major con is the price tag.

In 2014, the tourist lantern festival was November 8, and Loy Krathong was on November 6. In 2015, it sounds like Loy Krathong is November 25, but I don’t believe that the tourist lantern festival date has been announced yet. When it is announced, if you decide to go to that one, buy tickets early! They sold out last year!

Happy Travels!
-Melanie

PS – sorry for my delay in responding! We just moved to Spain and things have been crazy this week.

Also, we found that one of the least crowded spots to release a floating Krathong into the water is in this spot on Google Maps. I think it’s actually a police station, but you walk right in through the parking lot and can buy the little raft you can release into the river for just 20 Baht. It’s also nice to just hang out along the river, watch all the floating Krathongs, and watch the lanterns floating in the sky.

Oh last thing, there are fireworks tonight set to happen at 9:30 or 10pm or so!