Bangkok Events - November 2026

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November is the month the whole calendar points to: Loy Krathong, the festival of lights on the water, falls on the full moon of the twelfth lunar month. In Bangkok the Chao Phraya and the riverside temples are where it happens.

Festivals and listings

Loy Krathong

Tuesday 24 November 2026, from about 6pm

Thais float krathong - banana-leaf vessels carrying a candle and incense - on the water to thank the water goddess and let go of the past year. In Bangkok the main setting is the Chao Phraya: the riverside promenades, the Wat Arun side, ICONSIAM, Asiatique and every temple landing stage. It is not a public holiday, so the celebrating is concentrated into a single evening.

Where: Chao Phraya River and riverside temples, Bangkok

Tickets: Free to float a krathong; organised river cruises and hotel dinners are ticketed and book out early

Why go: One night only, and nowhere in the city shows it better than the river, with the temples lit and the krathong drifting downstream.

Sources: Destination Thailand - Loy Krathong 2026, Amaya Escapes Loy Krathong guide

Yi Peng (Chiang Mai lantern festival)

24-25 November 2026 - northern Thailand only

The same full moon carries a separate northern festival in Chiang Mai, where sky lanterns are released alongside Loy Krathong. It is not a Bangkok event; noted here so travellers are not told the two are the same thing.

Sources: Destination Thailand - Loy Krathong and Yi Peng 2026, Thai Holiday Guide - November lunar calendar notes

Also this month

The Sukhothai Loy Krathong and candle festival runs 15-24 November at Sukhothai Historical Park, upstream of Bangkok on the same river system - worth a night away if you want the historic-ruins version of the festival.

Sources: Thailand.go.th - Sukhothai Loy Krathong, Amaya Escapes Loy Krathong guide

The River of Thailand

The river stretches from the north all the way into the Gulf of Thailand, with the Chulachomklao Fort being placed near the end where it joins with the sea.

Starting quietly in the hinterlands the river is formed from the confluence of two smaller rivers, the Ping and the Nan. Together at Nakhon Sawan (also called Pak Nam Pho) they come together quietly in a rual setting some 200km north of Bangkok.

Due to the winding course of the river it takes almost 350km for it to reach the city and the sea.

Many tributaries and canals intersect the alluvial plain that is created by the Chao Phraya river, and the Tha Chin river which starts from it and runs parallel into the sea.


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