Every cool season the city turns a riverside park over to flowers — beds of lilies, tulips, marigolds and orchids, lantern-lit walkways, food stalls and a stage that runs cultural performances at weekends. It is a local celebration first and a tourist attraction second, which is exactly what makes it worth going to. Most of the people wandering the beds at seven in the evening are from Chiang Rai.
The festival has been running for more than two decades. The 22nd edition opened on 26 December 2025 and closed on 18 February 2026, open daily from 07:00 to 23:00.
The city confirms each year's dates fairly late — usually around November, once the planting is judged to be on schedule. The pattern has been consistent, though: open in the week after Christmas, close somewhere in the second half of February. If you are planning a trip for January, you can book with reasonable confidence that the festival will be on.
Before you go: confirm the year's venue as well as the dates. Recent editions have been held at Hat Nakhon Chiang Rai Public Park, but earlier ones were staged at Suan Tung Lae Khom, and the location has moved before. Chiang Rai Municipality (053-715952) and the TAT Chiang Rai office (053-744674-5) both publish the current details.
Late afternoon, from about four o'clock. The heat has gone out of the day, the beds photograph well, and you can stay on as the lighting comes up after dark.
Early morning, just after opening. Cool, empty, and the gardeners are still working — a completely different feel to the evening crowds.
Saturday and Sunday evenings, and the New Year week. If you're there on a weekend, go early or go late.
Bring a light layer. Chiang Rai nights in January genuinely get cold by Thai standards, and a riverside park is the coldest place in the city.
ⓘ Dates and hours above are for the 22nd edition (2025/26), collected from published event listings — please confirm the current season locally before travelling.
The festival is an evening or an early morning, not a day. The cool season is also the best time of year for everything else in the province — clear skies over the Golden Triangle, comfortable walking weather at the White and Blue Temples, and the tea hills at Choui Fong looking their greenest. See things to do in Chiang Rai for the rest of it, and how to get around if you're working out how to reach the sights outside the city.
The flowers work best as an evening. If you're filling the daytime, a local operator runs a shared day tour of the main sights outside the city, with hotel pickup — you'd be back in good time for the park.
See how a full day in Chiang Rai usually runs