Loy Krathong 2026 in Phuket Town: Where Locals Float Their Krathong

Loy Krathong 2026 falls on Tuesday 24 November, the full moon of the twelfth Thai lunar month. In Phuket Town, most local families float their krathong at one of two places: the lake and seafront at Saphan Hin, where the big municipal gathering usually happens, or the lake at Suan Luang (King Rama IX Park), which is calmer and easier with children. People start arriving after sunset (around 6:15pm in late November), and the water is busiest from about 8pm to 10pm. Buy a krathong made of banana trunk, banana leaf or bread, not foam. Most Loy Krathong Phuket guides send you to Chiang Mai or to a beach in Patong. This one stays in Phuket Town, where the island's own residents go. It covers where to stand, what to buy, how to get there on a Tuesday night when everyone else is going to the same place, and an easy evening plan if you are starting from Boat Lagoon Marina in Koh Kaew. Think of it as the Loy Krathong Phuket guide for people who already live here. If you want the history first (the Sukhothai origins, the river goddess, how the rest of Thailand celebrates), our sister company Simba Sea Trips has written a full explainer on the Loy Krathong festival. We won't repeat it here.

Loy Krathong 2026 at a Glance

What	Detail
Date	Tuesday 24 November 2026
Why that date	Full moon of the 12th Thai lunar month (15th waxing day)
Public holiday?	No. It is a normal working day, so evening rush hour runs straight into the festival
Sunset	Around 6:15pm
Busiest time at the water	Roughly 8pm to 10pm
Main Phuket Town spots	Saphan Hin (lake and seafront), Suan Luang / King Rama IX Park (lake)
Krathong price	Usually 40–100 THB from a roadside stall
Sky lanterns	Don't. Releasing lanterns is restricted in Phuket because of air traffic

Because the date follows the lunar calendar, it moves every year. In 2025 it fell on 5 November.

Saphan Hin: Where Phuket Town Goes on Loy Krathong Night

Saphan Hin is the reclaimed headland at the southern end of Phuket Town, with a sports complex, a long seafront and a lake in the park behind it. In a normal year this is where Phuket City Municipality puts on the main event: food stalls, a stage, a krathong-making contest, and a crowd made up mostly of local families rather than visitors. Go for the atmosphere and the street food, not for quiet. By 8pm the paths around the water are shoulder to shoulder, and the edge of the lake is where everyone wants to be at the same moment. If you are carrying a small child, hold their hand at the water's edge. The steps get wet and crowded. The municipal programme (stage times, contests, any parade) is usually confirmed in the last week or two before the festival, and some years it is scaled back. Check the Phuket City Municipality announcements in the days before. The floating itself goes ahead whatever is on stage.

Suan Luang (King Rama IX Park): The Quieter Choice

Suan Luang is the large public park on the south-west side of Phuket Town, built around a lake with a walking path the whole way round. On Loy Krathong night the lake fills with small lights, and the crowd is thinner and more spread out than at Saphan Hin. This is the one we would pick with young children or older relatives. There's room to walk, more than one spot to reach the water, and you don't have to fight your way back to the car at the end. It has less of a fair atmosphere. Families come to light a candle, make a wish and go home.

How to Float a Krathong (and What Locals Actually Do)

1. Buy your krathong at the park gate or on the road in. Stalls line the approach roads from late afternoon. Expect 40–100 THB for a simple one, more for something elaborate.
2. Light the candle and the incense sticks once you reach the water. Lighters are useful; the wind off the lake is not.
3. Many people add something personal, like a coin, a trimmed fingernail or a strand of hair. The idea is that you send last year's bad luck away on the water.
4. Make a wish, or say thank you to the water, then set it down gently and let it go. Don't throw it.
5. Couples often float one krathong together. It's said to keep them together for the year ahead.

Nobody expects visitors to know any of this. Ask a stallholder to show you how to light it and they will usually be pleased you asked.

Eco Krathong: Banana Leaf, Bread, Not Foam

The traditional krathong is a slice of banana trunk wrapped in folded banana leaf, decorated with flowers. It breaks down in the water within days. Bread krathong are popular too, and the fish eat them. Foam krathong cost less and last longer on the shelf. That's the problem: they last for decades in the water and end up in the drains and on the shoreline. Many organisers and stallholders in Phuket now refuse to sell them, and you will see far fewer each year. If a stall only has foam, walk to the next one.

Material	Breaks down in	Our view
Banana trunk and leaf	Days	The traditional choice. Buy this
Bread	Hours; fish eat it	Good, especially on a lake
Foam	Decades	Avoid

Traffic and Parking on a Tuesday Night

This is what catches most people out. Loy Krathong is not a public holiday in 2026. Commuter traffic heading home overlaps with everyone driving into Phuket Town for the festival, and the roads around Saphan Hin slow to a crawl from about 6:30pm.

• Leave early. Aim to be parked by 7:30pm if you want to be at the water for the 8pm peak.
• Park further out and walk. The car parks nearest the water fill first. Ten minutes on foot saves forty in a queue.
• Consider a Grab or Bolt. Drop-off is easy, but expect surge pricing and a wait for the ride home after 10pm.
• Bring cash. Krathong stalls and food carts rarely take cards.
• Don't plan a late dinner in town afterwards without a booking. Restaurants near the parks are full.

An Easy Loy Krathong Phuket Evening From Boat Lagoon Marina

Boat Lagoon Marina sits in Koh Kaew, north of Phuket Town, which makes a Loy Krathong Phuket evening easy to plan around an early dinner. Suan Luang and Saphan Hin are both roughly 20–30 minutes away by car on a normal evening. Give yourself longer on festival night. Here is the plan we would suggest to a friend staying on this side of the island.

Time	What to do
3:00pm	Arrive at Soho Pool Club. Pool access is free with the purchase of any food or drink — no entry fee and no minimum spend
4:00pm	A Soho Wellness session if you want one: infrared sauna plus ice bath, 300 THB for both
5:30pm	Early dinner by the pool from the menu
6:45pm	Leave for Phuket Town, buying your krathong from a stall on the way in
8:00pm	Float your krathong at Suan Luang or Saphan Hin
9:30pm	Head home before the car parks empty all at once

To be clear, Soho is not holding a Loy Krathong event, and we don't sell krathong. The floating happens in town, and that's where you should go for it. What we can offer is a relaxed afternoon by the pool and an early dinner before you join the crowds, close enough to town that you don't spend the evening in the car.

A Note on Sky Lanterns

Loy Krathong photos from Chiang Mai are full of paper lanterns rising into the night (khom loi, part of the northern Yi Peng festival). Don't release them in Phuket. They are restricted here because of air traffic, they're a fire risk, and the wire frames end up in the sea. In Phuket, the tradition is the krathong on the water.

Spending Loy Krathong Like a Local

The best Loy Krathong evenings in Phuket are simple: a krathong bought from a stall, a few minutes by the water, street food and home before it gets late. You don't need tickets, a hotel package or a beach. You need to get there early and buy a banana-leaf krathong. Soho Pool Club is at 23 Boat Lagoon Marina, Soho Pool Club, Moo 2, Koh Kaeo, Ampur Mueang, Phuket 83000, Thailand. We are open daily 8am to 10pm, with the main kitchen from 11am, free parking and free Wi-Fi. Call or WhatsApp +66 81 787 7702, email sales@simbaseatrips.com, or get in touch here. For more on the island's festivals, read our guide to the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, or browse the Soho blog. Background on the wider tradition is on Wikipedia's Loy Krathong page.