Special Events

Bo Sang Umbrella Festival
January
Held at the Bo Sang Handicraft Centre, the festival features paper products, particularly painted paper parasols, cultural shows, beauty contests and a parade showing traditional ways of life.

Flower Festival
February
This 3-day event, held on the first Friday and weekend of February, coincides with the blossoming of Chiang Mai’s temperate and tropical flowers. Festivities include a parade of floral floats, ornamental garden flower contests, beauty pageants, music an dancing. The parade begins at Chiang Mai Railway Station, passes over Nawarat Bridge and ends at Nong Buak Hat Park.

Songkran Festival
April 13-15
The Thai New Year is celebrated with particular gusto in Chiang Mai. Among the events are a parade of the revered Phra Phutthasihing Buddha image around Chiang Mai town for ritual bathing, sand pagoda-making, blessing of elders, and water> splashing.

Doi Suthep Pilgrimage
May
The Buddhist festival of Visakha Puja is celebrated with a candlelit procession to the temple on Doi Suthep.

Yi Peng Festival
Late October / Early November
Coinciding with the Loi Krathong Festival on the full-moon night of the 12th lunar month, the event features the release of lanterns into the sky to worship the gods. There are also fireworks, lantern contests, and beauty pageants.