Chiang Mai, Thailand, St. Valentine’s Day, 2026 —The beauty of Chiang Mai’s annual Flower Festival in Buak Hard Park each February is beyond spectacular. The beauty starts with a million plus flowers in bloom, but from my vantage point on Saturday, it also extended to the crowd which seemed to be universally overflowing with wonder, enchantment, and joy, and then also to the city around it. It was a lovely place to spend Valentine’s Day, and it made both Holly and I fall in love with the city all over again. It may have been the happiest place on Earth that day.
Sadly, the festival lasts just three days. But its home, the recently-renovated Buak Hard Park, is open year round, and even without the festival its orchids and other gardens and landscaping are all magnificent.
Here a few more pictures of from this year’s show.
