Loy Krathong 2026 on Koh Phangan: Where to Float a Krathong

The night two very different festivals share

Loy Krathong 2026 falls on Tuesday 24 November — the full moon, the fifteenth waxing day of the twelfth lunar month. That is the one detail worth fixing in your calendar now, because the same full moon puts the Full Moon Party at Haad Rin on the same night. The official party schedule lists 24 November, and in a normal year the two things sit in the same twelve hours on an island fourteen kilometres across.

So Koh Phangan's gentlest, most domestic festival and its loudest night arrive together. That is not a disaster — they happen in different places and at different hours — but it changes how you plan the day.

Practically, it means: ferries on 23–25 November fill up, rooms tighten, the Baan Tai–Haad Rin road is heavy from late afternoon onwards, and taxi fares follow party logic rather than normal logic. If you have come for the candles rather than the bass, float early and stay west or north.

What the festival actually is

A krathong is a small float. Traditionally it is a slice of banana trunk dressed with folded banana leaf, flowers, three incense sticks and a candle. You light it at the water's edge, pause, and let it go — a gesture of thanks and apology to the water, and a way of releasing the year's bad luck. Some people tuck in a coin, a strand of hair, a nail clipping: something of yourself that leaves with the float.

It is a slow festival. Most of it happens between about seven and midnight, and the best part of it lasts ninety seconds and is over.

Where people float on Koh Phangan

Phangan has almost no rivers or ponds to speak of, so the sea does the work, and the gatherings form at piers and flat beaches.

Thong Sala pier. The most reliably busy spot for both Thai residents and visitors, with the town, the market and the food immediately behind you. Ten minutes from the island's interior hillsides, and the easiest place to arrive, park and walk.
Baan Tai pier. Often described as the island's main Loy Krathong hub, with stalls selling food and krathongs around the pier. It is also the closest of the gatherings to Haad Rin traffic, which matters this particular year.
Chaloklum and Mae Haad, in the north. Quieter, more local, further from everything happening in the south.

Haad Rin itself does float krathongs. On 24 November 2026, it will also be doing the other thing.

Island events here are usually announced a few days ahead, in Thai, on local Facebook pages and on the whiteboards outside shops — not in advance in English. If you want to know what your nearest temple or village is doing, ask at the market on the morning of the day.

Buying or making one, and what to avoid

Vendors appear near the piers on the day. Several guesthouses, yoga spaces and schools run krathong-making in the afternoon, which is the better option if you are travelling with children: an hour of folding banana leaf is half the festival.

Two things to steer away from. Foam krathongs still exist and are simply litter. Bread krathongs, once sold as the green alternative, have fallen out of favour — a few hundred loaves dissolving in one bay is not a kindness to it.

And a small piece of realism: a krathong released into the sea does not sail off into the horizon. Depending on the tide and the evening breeze, a good proportion wash back in within the hour. If yours returns, lift it out and bin the candle and pins. Locals and volunteers clean these beaches the following morning; leaving less for them is part of the gesture.

Sky lanterns: the honest answer is no

The sky full of floating lanterns that appears in every Loy Krathong photograph is Yi Peng, a northern tradition centred on Chiang Mai. It is not southern practice, though lanterns are sold here anyway.

Thai authorities issue the same warning every year: launching lanterns, balloons, rockets, drones or lasers inside the air-navigation safety zones around airports is an offence under aviation law, and airport operators ask the public directly to refrain. Koh Phangan has no airport, but Samui's is a short hop across the water and busy with evening arrivals.

The simpler argument is what comes down. Every lantern lands somewhere — jungle canopy, a roof, a reef — as wire and waxed paper. Float the candle on the water instead, where the point of the festival actually is.

Moving around on 24 November

Arriving or leaving that day: book the boat in advance. Tuesday's daytime crossings will be carrying party arrivals, and 25 November carries them away again.
Scooters: the road over the hill to Haad Rin is steep, and this is the worst night of the year to meet it for the first time. If you are going to Haad Rin, take a songthaew or a longtail from Baan Tai and leave the bike where it is.
Weather: late November is still firmly the wet season here. Expect warm rain, occasional heavy nights, and the possibility of rough sea affecting boats. Candles and downpours are an old conflict; go early in the evening rather than late. There is more on what those months are really like in our rainy season guide.

The quiet version of the night

Reach a pier for around half past six. Eat at the market while it is still light. Float at seven, when the water is covered in candles and the crowd is mostly families. Be back up the hill by nine, before the island's other festival reaches full volume.

From the hilltop above Maduawan the two things resolve into one view: a line of small lights on the water below Baan Tai, and a glow further east that has nothing to do with the moon.

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Villa Ullassa sleeps eight across four buildings above Maduawan, ten minutes from Thong Sala pier and far enough inland that 24 November sounds like rain on leaves. Book direct with Pearl Properties for the best rate.