Hotels for Yi Peng Lantern Festival, Chiang Mai 2026

The night thousands of paper lanterns rise over Chiang Mai at once — the image on half the world's travel posters, real for two nights a year. Yi Peng's sky lanterns coincide with Loy Krathong's floating baskets on the Ping river, so the city glows from the water and the sky at the same time. The famous mass releases are ticketed events outside town that sell out months ahead; the free version — the old moat, the bridges, the temples — is gentler and needs nothing but an early evening walk. Book the old city and go on foot.