Yi Peng Chiang Mai

Yi Peng in Chiang Mai – how to celebrate Thailand’s magical lantern festival 2025 (Article from Go Thai Be Free)

LGBTQ+ entertainment during the festival

Once the candles burn low and the waterways quieten, Chiang Mai’s queer nightlife scene takes over, and it’s every bit as dazzling as the lanterns you spent the evening photographing.

Then there’s Adam’s Apple Club, a name that’s become legendary in Chiang Mai. For more than three decades, this proudly queer institution has been the go-to spot for dazzling cabaret and electrifying go-go performances. It’s loud, it’s proud, and it’s an unmissable part of the city’s after-dark scene.

If you’ve spent any time scrolling through travel content around November, chances are you’ve paused in awe at images of glowing lanterns drifting skyward, filling the night with light and wonder. Year after year, those scenes flood Instagram feeds, leaving many of us vowing that next year, we’ll finally be there in person. Well, maybe this is the year to stop double-tapping from afar and step into the magic yourself, because no photo or video can capture the atmosphere of Yi Peng in Chiang Mai quite like being in the middle of it.

With this year’s festivities fast approaching, here’s everything you need to know to join in respectfully, joyfully, and with a touch of queer sparkle.

What Yi Peng is all about

Yi Peng (sometimes written Yee Peng) is one of Northern Thailand’s most beautiful and spiritually significant traditions. Rooted in Lanna culture, the festival falls on the full moon of the twelfth lunar month – usually in November – and is celebrated in tandem with Loy Krathong, the nationwide Festival of Lights. While Loy Krathong centres on floating baskets called krathongs along rivers and canals, Yi Peng is defined by the release of glowing sky lanterns, known as khom loi, into the night sky.

The act is more than just a picture-perfect spectacle. Each lantern carries with it a wish for the future, while symbolically letting go of misfortune and negativity. Historically, the ritual has been about renewal, merit-making, and inviting prosperity for the year ahead.