Thai festivals come in two kinds. One kind is already on the Gregorian calendar, and you can circle it now. The other kind follows the moon. The moon date is knowable. The cabinet’s holiday, and the province’s programme, come later. Book the fixed days. Hold the lunar ones until the notice is out.
Three festivals are worth moving a trip for. The rest you can meet if they fall in a week you already have.
If you have been searching Thailand festivals 2027 or Thailand festival calendar 2027, start here—then open the city page for the festival you actually want to stand inside. Hub: East Marvel Thailand. Season frame: When to Go to Thailand. Planning: How to Plan a Trip to Thailand in 2027. Papers: Before You Fly · TDAC. Browse routes: Thailand tour packages.
1. Songkran, 13–15 April — Move the Trip for the Water
The water festival sits on these three days. In 2023 it was inscribed on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage. On the street, getting wet is the day. In the temple, the rite is water poured over the Buddha’s shoulder, scented with jasmine and rose.
Chiang Mai often starts on the evening of the 12th and runs through the 16th. Bangkok gathers on Silom and Khao San Road. Phuket gathers on Patong. Monks, pregnant women, people carrying a baby, and elders who are seated are left dry. Everyone else is fair game.
A bucket is the friendly tool. A water cannon is how a street turns into a soak. Put the phone in a dry bag and leave the passport in the room. Shoulders and knees still matter. The festival is a new year, and the temple is open.
If you want the water, stand at Thapae Gate, Khao San, Silom, or Patong. If you want the rite, go to an Isan town and pour the water yourself. Check whether 2027’s public holiday runs longer than the 13th to the 15th before you lock the flights. The streets fill either way.
Full playbook: Songkran 2027. Month frame: Thailand in April. City bases: Chiang Mai · Bangkok · Phuket. Festival-week triangle: Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Phuket (10 days).
2. Loy Krathong and Yi Peng, 13 November — Hold Both Nights
One festival is a candle on the water. The other is a lantern in the sky. In Chiang Mai they share a week.
In 2026 the full moon is 24 November. In 2027 the Thai calendar puts Loy Krathong on Saturday 13 November, the full-moon day of the twelfth lunar month. The moon is fullest on the morning of the 14th. Chiang Mai’s lantern nights sit on those evenings. The province announces which nights, and which fields, are the legal releases.
The city also sets out free gatherings at Thapae Gate, along the moat, and on the Ping. The mass releases are ticketed, limited, and gone early. Buy that ticket when the sale opens. A lantern let go outside those events is not part of the plan we make.
Buy the krathong from a street stall. It costs a few tens of baht. Choose banana leaf and flowers. Foam does not break down, and the canals spend days clearing it.
Twenty minutes that are yours: Loy Krathong 2027. November weather and coast choice: Thailand in November. Northern base for lantern week: Romantic Northern Thailand (7 days) · or keep the classic Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Phuket and hold 13–14 November until the notice is out.
3. The Vegetarian Festival, 30 September–8 October — Phuket in White
Phuket opens this on the first day of the ninth Chinese lunar month and keeps it for nine days. The lunar count for 2027 runs from Thursday 30 September to Friday 8 October. The poles often go up on the evening of the 29th. Each shrine then publishes its own procession. Use the shrine’s notice for the hour and the route.
Wear white. The food is vegetarian, and the precepts are kept for those nine days. The piercing is a vow. You may watch. Keep the camera off a person’s face, and in the shrine step aside rather than push to the front. Jui Tui is the shrine people mean when they say Phuket.
City base: Phuket travel guide. Island pacing around the nine days: Phuket: Four Nights, Five Nights, and the Boat in Between. Month frames: Thailand in September · Thailand in October. Andaman sample after the processions: Phuket, Phi Phi & Krabi (9 days).
4. If the Day Merely Crosses Your Week
Makha Bucha, 21 February. The full moon marks the day the Buddha taught 1,250 disciples who had come without being called. In 2027 that moon is a Sunday. Published holiday lists move the day off to Monday 22 February. Temples hold a candle walk after dark, three times around the hall. Peak-comfort month: Thailand in February.
Visakha Bucha, 20 May. Birth, enlightenment, and passing, remembered on one full moon. The candle walk is the same shape, and the temples are full. In 2027 the day itself is Thursday. Transition month: Thailand in May.
Asalha Puja and the rains retreat. The Thai calendar puts Asalha Puja on Sunday 18 July and the start of the retreat on Monday 19 July. The retreat ends on Friday 15 October. Asalha is the day the Triple Gem was complete. The retreat is the three months the monks stay put. The 15th is a holy day. It is not, by itself, a bank holiday. Green-season pacing: Thailand in July · monsoon guide.
On these five days, ordinary shops do not sell alcohol: Makha Bucha, Visakha Bucha, Asalha Puja, the first day of the retreat, and the last. Since 7 November 2026, a registered hotel and a licensed entertainment venue may still serve it. A convenience store may not, and neither may an ordinary restaurant. If one of these days lands in your week, ask the hotel whether its bar is serving.
5. Royal Ploughing, Rockets, Monkeys, Chinese New Year
The Royal Ploughing Ceremony, in May. Sanam Luang, beside the Grand Palace. The day before, grain is blessed at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. On the day, two white oxen plough, then choose among seven trays: rice, corn, beans, sesame, grass, water, and rice liquor. What they take is read as the year’s forecast. The palace chooses the date. It is free, it is early, and it is hot. Come for the oxen if you are already in Bangkok. Do not build the week around a date that is not out. City pacing: Bangkok Travel Guide.
The Rocket Festival, in Yasothon, in the middle of May. The province sets the days, usually near Visakha Bucha. The large rockets are longer than a person can hold upright, and the crew whose rocket fails goes into the mud. It is worth the drive if you are already in Isan. It is a long way to come for one afternoon from Bangkok.
The Monkey Buffet, 28 November. Lopburi holds it on the last Sunday of November. In 2027 that Sunday is the 28th. Fruit is stacked, and the monkeys eat first. In recent years the feeding has moved toward the monkey shelter, off the street in front of Phra Prang Sam Yot. Lopburi confirms the place and the year.
Chinese New Year, 6 February. The new year itself is that day. It is not a national public holiday. Yaowarat fills for the days around it: the road closes, the lions and dragons come out, and the street is red. Go for the street. Do not clear a fortnight for it.
6. Before You Lock the Rooms
A festival week prices the room for the festival. In Chiang Mai that means the lantern nights. In Phuket that means the nine vegetarian days. In the whole country that means Songkran.
- Cover shoulders and knees at the temple.
- Book the ticketed lantern launch when it goes on sale.
- If a Buddhist holiday falls in the week, expect the shop to be dry and ask the hotel about the bar.
- For Loy Krathong / Yi Peng, hold both 13 and 14 November until Chiang Mai posts the fields and hours.
- For Songkran, sleep off the loudest street—and still walk to it when you want the water.
Papers: Before You Fly · TDAC.
7. Which Route Fits Which Festival
Songkran in Chiang Mai or Bangkok? Keep the classic triangle and time the capital or the north for mid-April: Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Phuket (10 days). Quieter rite over loud street? Say so—we reshape nights toward Isan or a temple morning.
Loy Krathong / Yi Peng in Chiang Mai? Build the week in the north, then continue south when the lanterns are done: Romantic Northern Thailand · or Bangkok, Chiang Mai & Phuket. Detail: Loy Krathong 2027.
Vegetarian Festival in Phuket? Base on the island for the nine white days, then add boats when the shrine week ends: Phuket, Phi Phi & Krabi · nights logic: Phuket four / five nights.
Every sample route is customizable. The email quote is the price. Longer first-timer frame: 2-week itinerary.
8. Frequently Asked Questions
When is Songkran 2027?
13–15 April. Chiang Mai often stretches from the evening of the 12th through the 16th. Confirm whether the public holiday block runs longer before you lock flights.
When is Loy Krathong 2027?
Saturday 13 November on the Thai lunar calendar. The moon is fullest on the morning of the 14th. Do not reuse 2026’s 24 November date. More: Loy Krathong 2027.
Is Yi Peng the same as Loy Krathong?
Not exactly. Loy Krathong is nationwide (floating krathongs). Yi Peng is the Lanna lantern tradition centred on Chiang Mai. They share a week—hence the crush and the ticketed fields.
When is the Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2027?
30 September–8 October on the Chinese lunar count for the ninth month. Poles often go up on the evening of 29 September. Use each shrine’s notice for procession hours.
Can I buy alcohol on Buddhist holy days?
Ordinary shops and restaurants: no, on Makha, Visakha, Asalha, and the first and last days of the rains retreat. Since 7 November 2026, a registered hotel bar or licensed entertainment venue may still serve. Ask your hotel.
Should I move my whole trip for Makha or Visakha?
Usually no. Meet them if they fall in a week you already have. Move the calendar for Songkran, Loy Krathong / Yi Peng, or the Vegetarian Festival.
9. Tell Us the Festival — We Hold the Nights
East Marvel has designed private Asia journeys since 1988. Tell us which of the three date-moving festivals you want, and which city, and we build the days around it—holding lunar nights until the notice is out. The trip is planned at our U.S. headquarters and led by licensed English-speaking guides. The email quote is the price. Our guides and our proposals work in English. If someone traveling with you is more at ease in Chinese, say so when you write.
Published routes: Thailand tour packages. Write to contact@eastmarvel.com with the festival and the city · WhatsApp +1 201 240 4890.
You do not need to guess the moon twice. Circle the fixed days. Hold the lunar ones. We build the week between them.
Moon dates follow the 2027 Thai lunar calendar. Songkran’s water days are 13–15 April. Chiang Mai’s lantern nights, Phuket’s procession hours, and the ploughing date follow the notice for that year. Alcohol rules follow the notice in force since 7 November 2026.
Related reading: Songkran 2027 · Loy Krathong 2027 · Thailand in April · Thailand in November · When to Go.