Thailand, when it comes alive
Plan your trip around
something worth being there for.
Water fights, floating lights, street parades. Find what’s on during your visit—and what a few extra days could unlock.
Choose a departure on or after your arrival.
We match confirmed dates, including events already underway. Monthly events appear with a reminder to check their exact schedule.
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Browse the usual festival month, even where dates are still TBC. Monthly events appear in every month.
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| Year | Dates | Status / note |
|---|
No future occurrences are recorded yet. Check the guide for the organiser’s latest announcement.
Explore the festivals
26 festivals
Choose a guide to see dates, traditions and practical advice.
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JanuaryBo Sang Umbrella Festival
Freeเทศกาลร่มบ่อสร้าง
Chiang Mai
Third weekend of January (TBC)
Fixed by the rule; confirmed locally each year
The umbrella-making village of Bo Sang hangs itself with hand-painted parasols for one weekend each January.
Lanna craftExtremely photogenicWorkshopsDay tripRead the festival guide →
Photo: Grossbildjaeger · CC BY-SA 3.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
Bo Sang umbrella craft; contextual photograph
FebruaryChiang Mai Flower Festival
Freeงานมหกรรมไม้ดอกไม้ประดับเชียงใหม่
Chiang Mai
5 Feb 2027 – 7 Feb 2027
Parade on the Saturday morning
Enormous floats built entirely from flowers parade through Chiang Mai on the first weekend of February.
Flower floatsVery photogenicFamily friendlyLanna northRead the festival guide →
Photo: FredTC · CC BY-SA 3.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
FebruaryChinese New Year in Bangkok
Freeตรุษจีน เยาวราช
Bangkok
6 Feb 2027 – 7 Feb 2027
Bangkok's Chinatown closes its main road for lion dances, red lanterns and three days of eating.
Lion dancesStreet foodRed lanternsEasy city accessRead the festival guide →
Photo: Lerdsuwa · CC BY-SA 3.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
MarchMotoGP Thailand
โมโตจีพี ไทยแลนด์
Buriram
Late February or early March (TBC)
Confirmed with the provisional MotoGP calendar
The Thailand Grand Prix brings MotoGP to Buriram in Isaan, usually as the season opener.
MotoGPRace weekendIsaanBuriramRead the festival guide →
Photo: Box Repsol · CC BY 2.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
MarchPoy Sang Long
Freeปอยส่างลอง
Mae Hong Son
Late March to mid April (TBC)
Each temple sets its own dates; Wat Pang Lo and Wat Hua Wiang are the main ones
Shan boys are dressed in jewels and silk and carried shoulder-high through Mae Hong Son before entering the monkhood.
Shan traditionOrdination riteAstonishing colourRemote northRead the festival guide →
Photo: Mr.Niwat Tantayanusorn,Ph.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
MarchWorld Wai Kru Muay Thai Ceremony
Freeไหว้ครูมวยไทยโลก
Ayutthaya
Mid-March (TBC)
Held around National Muay Thai Day, 17 March
Muay Thai practitioners from dozens of countries gather in Ayutthaya to pay respects to their teachers in mass ceremony.
Muay ThaiRitual ceremonyTemple ruinsDay tripRead the festival guide →
Photo: Bienvenue en Thaïlande · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
Ayutthaya temple setting; contextual photograph
AprilPhra Pradaeng Songkran
Freeสงกรานต์พระประแดง
Samut Prakan
The weekend after 13–15 April (TBC)
Set by the district each year
The Mon community of Samut Prakan keeps an older, quieter Songkran the weekend after the national holiday.
Mon heritageGentler SongkranTraditional dressDay trip from BangkokRead the festival guide →
Photo: Htawmonzel · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
AprilS2O Songkran Music Festival
เอสทูโอ
Bangkok
11 Apr 2027 – 13 Apr 2027 (TBC)
Dates and venue announced annually
A ticketed EDM festival in Bangkok that turns Songkran's water into a stage production.
EDM lineupWater cannonsTicketedBangkokRead the festival guide →
Photo: NoFameAgency · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
AprilSongkran
Freeสงกรานต์
Nationwide
13 Apr 2027 – 15 Apr 2027
Public holiday; the dates never move
Thai New Year, three days in April, when the entire country takes to the streets with buckets and hoses.
Nationwide water fightBiggest festivalThai New YearEveryone takes partRead the festival guide →
Photo: Takeaway · CC BY-SA 3.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
AprilWan Lai (Pattaya Songkran)
Freeประเพณีวันไหล
Pattaya
16 Apr 2027 – 19 Apr 2027
Bang Saen around the 16th–17th; Naklua and Pattaya the 18th–19th
Chonburi province runs its own Songkran days after the national holiday ends, finishing with Pattaya's Beach Road on 19 April.
Songkran, extendedBeach RoadSeasideLocal traditionRead the festival guide →
Photo: MohithAgadi · CC BY-SA 3.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
Pattaya Songkran; the source does not confirm the specific Wan Lai day
MayBangkok Pride
Freeบางกอกไพรด์
Bangkok
28 May 2026 – 1 Jun 2026
Main parade on Sunday 31 May; turnout passed 500,000
Half a million people march a five-kilometre route from Silom to Siam in Southeast Asia's largest Pride celebration.
Half a million peopleSilom to SiamMarriage equalityHuge paradeRead the festival guide →
Photo: Chainwit. · CC BY 4.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
MayBun Bang Fai Rocket Festival
Freeบุญบั้งไฟ
Yasothon
Mid-May (TBC)
Yasothon announces dates closer to the time
Isaan fires homemade rockets several metres long into the sky each May to demand rain from the sky god.
Homemade rocketsIsaan traditionGenuinely wildSpectacularRead the festival guide →
Photo: Takeaway · CC BY-SA 3.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
JunePhi Ta Khon Ghost Festival
Freeผีตาโขน
Dan Sai
June or early July (TBC)
Announced only a few months ahead by the village spirit medium
Villagers in Dan Sai wear towering carved masks and parade as spirits through three days of music, mischief and merit-making.
Carved masksUnforgettableMerit-makingGleefully rudeRead the festival guide →
Photo: Surakrit · CC BY-SA 3.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
JulyUbon Ratchathani Candle Festival
Freeประเพณีแห่เทียนพรรษา
Ubon Ratchathani
18 Jul 2027 – 19 Jul 2027 (TBC)
Tied to Asalha Bucha and Khao Phansa; city programme confirmed closer to the date
Vast carved beeswax floats are paraded through Ubon Ratchathani to mark the start of Buddhist Lent.
Carved beeswaxBuddhist LentExtraordinary craftFamily friendlyRead the festival guide →
Photo: PhiPhiUbon · CC0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
OctoberBangkok Vegetarian Festival
Freeเทศกาลกินเจ เยาวราช
Bangkok
10 Oct 2026 – 18 Oct 2026
Yaowarat street event runs 9–18 October
Nine days when Bangkok's Chinatown goes fully vegan — over a hundred jay food stalls on Yaowarat, shrine ceremonies and a deity procession.
Fully veganStreet foodShrines & processionEasy city accessRead the festival guide →
Photo: Marcin Konsek · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
OctoberNaga Fireballs
Freeบั้งไฟพญานาค
Nong Khai
26 Oct 2026
Nong Khai town programme runs 22–28 October
On one night each October, silent glowing orbs rise out of the Mekong river. Nobody has satisfactorily explained why.
Unexplained lightsOk PhansaMekong riverIsaanRead the festival guide →
Photo: J A Forbes · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
OctoberPhuket Vegetarian Festival
Freeประเพณีถือศีลกินผัก ภูเก็ต
Phuket
10 Oct 2026 – 18 Oct 2026
Go Teng pole raised 9 Oct; send-off at Saphan Hin on the 18th
Nine days of trance processions, body piercing and firewalking in Phuket Town, alongside the strictest vegan eating in Thailand.
Trance processionsFully vegan foodExtraordinary to watchNot for everyoneRead the festival guide →
Photo: Kirill Kay · CC BY-SA 3.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
NovemberLoy Krathong
Freeลอยกระทง
Nationwide
25 Nov 2026
Chiang Mai events run 24–26 November
On the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, Thailand sets millions of candle-lit baskets adrift on its rivers, canals and lakes.
Floating lightsNationwidePhotogenicFamily friendlyRead the festival guide →
Photo: Visions of Domino · CC BY 2.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
NovemberMonkey Buffet Festival
Freeเทศกาลโต๊ะจีนลิง
Lopburi
29 Nov 2026
Lopburi lays several tonnes of fruit and sweets across ancient temple grounds and lets two thousand macaques loose on it.
2,000 macaquesGenuinely strangePhotogenic chaosDay trip from BangkokRead the festival guide →
Photo: Supercarwaar · CC BY-SA 3.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
NovemberPattaya International Fireworks Festival
Freeเทศกาลพลุนานาชาติพัทยา
Pattaya
27 Nov 2026 – 28 Nov 2026
International pyrotechnics teams compete over Pattaya Bay across two nights, watched from the length of Beach Road.
International teamsBeachfrontFree to watchEasy from BangkokRead the festival guide →
Photo: pockethifi · CC BY 2.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
NovemberRiver Kwai Bridge Week
Freeงานสัปดาห์สะพานข้ามแม่น้ำแคว
Kanchanaburi
Late November into early December (TBC)
Confirmed by Kanchanaburi Province closer to the date
Eleven nights of light, sound and pyrotechnics at the Death Railway bridge, telling the story of its construction and destruction.
Light & sound showWWII historyNight marketEasy from BangkokRead the festival guide →
Photo: calflier001 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
The River Kwai bridge; contextual daytime photograph
NovemberSurin Elephant Round-Up
งานช้างสุรินทร์
Surin
19 Nov 2026 – 21 Nov 2026
Elephant breakfast buffet on the opening day
Hundreds of elephants gather in Surin each November for processions, a famous breakfast buffet and stadium shows.
Hundreds of elephantsKui mahout heritageElephant breakfastBig spectacleRead the festival guide →
Photo: Love Krittaya · Public domain
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
NovemberYi Peng Lantern Festival
Freeยี่เป็ง
Chiang Mai
24 Nov 2026 – 25 Nov 2026
City programme runs 24–26 November
The Lanna sky lantern festival in Chiang Mai — the source of Thailand's most famous photograph, and the one most often misunderstood.
Sky lanternsThe famous shotLanna traditionTemple ceremoniesRead the festival guide →
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
Chiang Mai lantern-festival procession; this photograph does not show sky lanterns being released
DecemberNew Year Countdown in Bangkok
เคาต์ดาวน์ปีใหม่
Bangkok
31 Dec 2026
Bangkok sees in the new year with fireworks along the Chao Phraya and a street party at CentralWorld.
River fireworksSeveral venuesStreet countdownFree optionsRead the festival guide →
Photo: PEAK99 · CC BY 3.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
DecemberWonderfruit
วันเดอร์ฟรุ๊ต
Pattaya
3 Dec 2026 – 7 Dec 2026
A four-day music, art and food festival built from bamboo on farmland outside Pattaya.
Music & artSerious foodFour daysCampingRead the festival guide →
Photo: Sdegennaro · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
MonthlyFull Moon Party
ฟูลมูนปาร์ตี้
Koh Phangan
Monthly, on the full moon
Check Haad Rin listings before booking
Tens of thousands of travellers fill a single beach on Koh Phangan every month for Thailand's most famous party.
MonthlyHaad RinBeach sound systemsAll nightRead the festival guide →
Photo: Per Meistrup · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source photograph · Licence · Resized; cropped for card display.
A few days could make the difference
Just outside your trip
Confirmed festivals within seven days of your travel dates.
The nearest confirmed dates
These need a bigger change to your plans than seven days.
TBC means provisional. Dates marked confirmed reflect the guide’s records; check the organiser before booking. Some festival dates move between years.