Of all the nights in the Thai calendar, none is quite as lovely as Loy Krathong. On the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, people across Thailand gather at the water’s edge after dark to float small candlelit offerings, and the sea, the rivers and the lagoons fill with drifting light. In Phuket it is a particularly beautiful thing to witness, because here the offerings float out onto the Andaman Sea. If you are on the island in November, this is the evening to plan around.
What Loy Krathong actually is
The name explains the ritual. Loy means to float, and a krathong is the small vessel that is floated, traditionally made from a section of banana trunk and banana leaves, folded into the shape of a lotus and decorated with flowers, a candle, incense and often a small coin. At dusk, people light the candle, make a wish or a quiet apology for the year behind them, and set the krathong onto the water.
The festival honours Phra Mae Khongkha, the goddess of water, in thanks for the year’s rains and harvests. It is also an act of letting go: the krathong is understood to carry away the past year’s misfortunes and ill feeling as it drifts out of reach. Folklore has it that if your candle stays lit until the krathong disappears from sight, the year ahead will be a fortunate one.
When it falls
Loy Krathong follows the Thai lunar calendar rather than the Western one, landing on the full moon of the twelfth lunar month. In practice that means November, on a date that shifts from year to year, which is why it is always worth confirming before you book flights around it.
In 2026, Loy Krathong falls on Wednesday 25 November.
Loy Krathong and Yi Peng are not the same festival
This is the point most visitors get wrong, and it is worth knowing before you arrive with the wrong expectation. The images of thousands of glowing lanterns rising into the night sky are Yi Peng, a northern Thai festival celebrated principally in Chiang Mai, which happens to fall at around the same time. Loy Krathong is the nationwide festival of floating offerings on water.
So in Phuket, expect candlelight on the sea rather than lanterns filling the sky. It is quieter, more intimate and, to many people, the more moving of the two. If sky lanterns are specifically what you are after, that is a trip to Chiang Mai, not to the islands.
How Phuket celebrates
Phuket marks the evening at the water: along the beaches, at lagoons and lakes, and at hotels and resorts across the island. Kata, Karon and Patong beaches all see gatherings, and the atmosphere is gentle and family-led rather than raucous. Vendors sell ready-made krathongs in the days beforehand, and many places will show you how to assemble your own, which is by far the nicer way to do it.
Arrive around dusk, when the light is going and the first candles are being lit. The hours immediately after sunset are the most beautiful, and on the beaches you can watch hundreds of small flames move out with the tide.
Floating a krathong thoughtfully
The festival has changed in one important respect in recent years. Traditional krathongs are made entirely from natural materials, but for a period many were made from polystyrene, which does considerable harm once it is in the water. Today the better practice, encouraged across Thailand, is to use only banana leaf, flowers and other biodegradable materials, and to avoid anything with foam or plastic in it.
If you are buying a krathong, ask what it is made from. A natural one honours both the ritual and the sea it is being offered to, which is rather the point of the evening.
Loy Krathong at Kata Rocks
Kata Rocks marks Loy Krathong each November on the cliffs above Kata Beach, with the Andaman Sea below and the full moon over the water. It is one of the loveliest evenings of our year, and our team can guide guests through the ritual and its meaning. Details of the current year’s celebration are listed with our other events and celebrations.
If you would like to be here for it, our oceanfront villas look out over the very sea the krathongs drift onto. November is a beautiful month on the island, and this is its most beautiful night.