Central Thailand Events

The central plain sets the national festival calendar, and Bangkok stages the largest version of almost everything.

Songkran — 13 to 15 April

The Thai new year, and the biggest event of the year. Its origin is gentle: water poured over Buddha images and over the hands of elders as a blessing, and a thorough spring clean of house and temple. What it has become in Bangkok is three days of city-wide water fighting, with Silom and Khao San roads closed and turned over to hoses and water pistols. Traffic stops, much of the city goes home to the provinces, and anything electronic needs waterproofing.

Loi Krathong — November

On the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, small rafts of banana leaf and flowers carrying a candle and an incense stick are floated on the rivers and canals to carry away the past year’s bad luck. The Chao Phraya and the Bangkok canals fill with lights, and the temples along the river hold fairs. It is quieter and more affecting than Songkran.

Royal and Buddhist observances

Makha Bucha in February and Visakha Bucha in May bring candlelit circumambulations of the temples after dark, and both are alcohol-free public holidays. Buddhist Lent from July to October is a period of retreat, marked at its start by candle processions.

Local festivals

The Ayutthaya World Heritage Fair in December lights the ruins and stages historical performances. Lopburi holds an annual monkey banquet in November, laying out tables of fruit for the town’s macaques. The vegetarian festival in Yaowarat each autumn turns the quarter’s food entirely meat-free for nine days.