🎏 Festival Seasonal event Seasonal

Songkran (Thai New Year)

Name: Songkran (Thai New Year)
Start: 2026-04-13T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2026-04-15T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Bangkok, Bangkok

📍 Bangkok, Bangkok

For three days every April, the whole country turns into the world's biggest water fight — Thai New Year, where soaking strangers with buckets and hoses is both a blessing and a national pastime.

Every April, as the hot season peaks, Thailand celebrates Songkran — the traditional Thai New Year — by throwing water at absolutely everyone. What began as a gentle rite of pouring scented water over Buddha images and the hands of elders has grown into a joyous, nationwide, days-long water battle.

Why It’s Interesting

The water is symbolic — washing away the misfortunes of the old year — but in practice it means buckets, super-soakers, hoses, and ice-cold ambushes from pickup trucks. Streets like Bangkok’s Silom and Khao San Road become car-free splash zones; Chiang Mai’s moat turns into an open-air arena. Underneath the chaos, the tender traditions of family blessings and temple visits carry on.

Best Time to Visit

Officially 13–15 April, though some cities celebrate longer. It’s the hottest stretch of the year — which is precisely the point.

Getting There

In Bangkok, ride the BTS or MRT to Silom or near Khao San; driving during Songkran is futile and very wet.

🐿️ Cinnamon was here

Field report

For three days in April, Thailand's new year turns the entire country into the world's biggest water fight, and there is no neutrality: I was blessed/soaked within ninety seconds of leaving shelter, by a grandmother, with a copper bowl, who then apologized to the SQUIRREL and did it again.

Songkran's secret is that the mayhem is layered on tenderness — water pours over Buddha images and elders' hands in the morning, and by noon the same gesture has scaled into super-soakers, pickup-truck water cavalry, and strangers icing each other's spines with glacier water, all screaming with joy in 38-degree heat.

Chiang Mai's moat is the legendary arena; everywhere is somewhere. Waterproof your phone, wear clothes that agree to be wet for 72 hours, and surrender. Best three days of the year to be alive and absorbent. My fur has never been cleaner.

— Cinnamon 🐿️

📸 Cinnamon's camera roll

Snapshots from our very good boy on the road.

Blessed/soaked within ninety seconds by a grandmother with a copper bowl, who apologized to the SQUIRREL and then did it again.

The noon escalation: super-soakers, pickup-truck water cavalry, glacier water down spines in 38-degree heat. Socks found shelter; Mon-chan found a bucket and a calling.

💦 Songkran 🎏 Festival 🧒 Kids 📷 Photography 🌄 Outdoor

Where it is

Nearby discoveries

🍜 Food

Jay Fai

A 70-something street cook in ski goggles, working two flaming charcoal woks on a Bangkok sidewalk — and holder of a Michelin star. Her crab omelette and drunken noodles draw queues for hours.

📍 Bangkok, Bangkok 💴 Paid ⏱ Half day · 437 m away

📜 History

The Giant Swing (Sao Ching Cha)

A towering 21-metre teak arch in old Bangkok, painted brilliant red — all that remains of a daredevil Brahmin harvest ceremony in which men once swung up to grab a bag of coins with their teeth.

📍 Bangkok, Bangkok 🆓 Free ⏱ ≈ 1 hour · 516 m away

🏪 Old Shop

Ban Bat (The Monk's Bowl Village)

The last surviving alley of artisans who still hand-beat monks' alms bowls from eight pieces of metal — a tiny, fading craft community where you can watch each bowl hammered and fired the centuries-old way.

📍 Bangkok, Bangkok 🆓 Free ⏱ ≈ 1 hour · 671 m away