Guides · Tue 27 Oct 2026
Songkran 2027: the complete guide to Thailand's new year
The Thai new year runs Tuesday 13 to Thursday 15 April 2027. Temple mornings and water filled afternoons, Bangkok's two famous streets, the SIAM and S2O festivals, Pattaya's late Wan Lai finish, and the etiquette that still applies outside the water zones.
The short answer: Songkran, the Thai new year, is a fixed three day public holiday, Tuesday 13 to Thursday 15 April 2027. Mornings belong to temples, merit making and pouring water gently over Buddha images and over the hands of elders. Afternoons, in the designated city zones, belong to the street water play the festival is famous for abroad. Both are the same festival, and a good Songkran day in Thailand includes the first as well as the second. Our main record is Songkran in Bangkok 2027.
What Songkran means
The name comes from a Sanskrit word for a passage, the sun's annual passing into Aries, which marks the traditional start of the new year. UNESCO, which inscribed Songkran in Thailand on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 6 December 2023, puts the centre of it plainly: pouring water is a significant act during Songkran, symbolising cleansing, reverence and good fortune. Keep those three words in mind and the street scenes make more sense. The soaking is the descendant of a blessing.
The traditional acts are still done first, and widely. Families clean the house before the holiday. At temples, worshippers pour scented water over Buddha images, a rite called song nam phra, and build small sand chedis in the temple grounds. At home, younger members of the family kneel and pour a small trickle of scented water over the open palms of parents and grandparents, the rite called rod nam dam hua, and receive a blessing in return. The water in both rites is poured, in small amounts, over images or hands. It is never thrown, and it is never poured over anyone's head. That distinction is the whole etiquette of the festival in one line.
Bangkok in the three days
Bangkok empties and fills at the same time. Large numbers of residents leave for family homes upcountry, government offices and banks close for the three days, and the city that remains organises itself around temples in the morning and water zones in the afternoon. The traditional side runs along the river, at temples such as Wat Pho and Wat Arun, where Buddha images are bathed and sand chedis built. In 2026 the Tourism Authority of Thailand also ran a large festival programme in Benchakitti Park over the same period. The 2027 venue programme is announced closer to April, and our record says so rather than guessing a venue.
The two famous streets are covered by one record, Songkran on Khao San Road and Silom Road 2027. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration designates Silom Road in Bang Rak and Khao San Road in Phra Nakhon among its main official venues, with managed zones and safety points. Both streets close to traffic, entry is free, and both are soaking from morning to night. Their dates in our calendar follow the holidays, 13 to 15 April, but the record is labelled tentative for a specific reason: the street programmes are confirmed by the city closer to the time, and in 2026 Silom's organised water play ran a day earlier than Khao San's. Treat the holiday dates as fixed and the street timetables as still to be announced.
The music festivals around it
Two electronic festivals now frame the holiday in Bangkok, and their status differs, which matters if you are booking around them. The SIAM Songkran Music Festival 2027 is confirmed by its organiser: four days, Saturday 10 to Tuesday 13 April 2027, at the Bravo BKK arena area, RCA, Rama 9, under the theme Color of Luminara. The organiser's published private sale prices start at 3,800 baht for a three day general admission pass and 4,700 baht for four days, with VIP passes at 8,000 and 10,000 baht. Water is part of the show, and the final day leads straight into the first public holiday.
The S2O Songkran Music Festival 2027 is the older name, running over Songkran since 2015, with a water system that soaks the crowd as part of the production. Since 2026 it has occupied its own site, S2O LAND on Ratchadaphisek Road. Our dates, 11 to 13 April 2027, are labelled tentative: they mirror the previous edition and the organisers had not announced 2027 dates when we checked. In 2026 entry was for ages 20 and over with original identification, and tickets sold only through Eventpop. Do not build flights around S2O until the 2027 announcement lands.
Chiang Mai and Pattaya
Chiang Mai's Songkran is traditionally among the largest in the country, centred on the old city in past editions. For 2027, honesty requires a gap in this guide: neither the Tourism Authority of Thailand nor Chiang Mai Municipality had published an April 2027 programme when we checked on 27 October 2026, so there is no separate Chiang Mai record in our calendar and no city timetable to quote here. The holidays themselves, 13 to 15 April, apply in Chiang Mai as everywhere. Any specific 2027 Chiang Mai schedule you see this far ahead should be treated as unconfirmed until the city or the Tourism Authority publishes it.
Pattaya does the opposite of finishing on time. Its Songkran runs late by design, ending with Wan Lai, the flowing day. Our record, Pattaya Wan Lai (Songkran finale) 2027, is labelled tentative and follows the fixed annual pattern: Wan Lai in Naklua on Sunday 18 April 2027, centred on Lan Po Public Park, and the main day in Pattaya itself on Monday 19 April, centred on Wat Chai Mongkol and Beach Road, which closes to traffic. Pattaya City had not published its 2027 programme when we checked. If one Songkran is not enough, Pattaya is the standard way to add a second one, four days after Bangkok finishes. Khon Kaen's version, the Songkran Dok Khun Siang Khaen Festival Khon Kaen 2027, runs on the holiday dates themselves and is likewise labelled tentative.
What closes, what stays open
Government offices and bank branches close on 13, 14 and 15 April. That is the closure that catches visitors out, because it covers visas, paperwork and in person banking in the middle of a trip. Shops, malls, restaurants and tourist attractions in Bangkok generally trade through, and the water zones are busier for the holidays, not quieter. Transport is the other pressure point: the days before and after Songkran are among the busiest of the year on intercity roads, trains and flights, as the country travels home and back. Book intercity legs early, and expect Bangkok itself to feel oddly spacious on the roads and very crowded anywhere with water.
Etiquette that is genuinely observed
Inside the water zones, during zone hours, getting wet is the deal and nobody needs to ask. Outside them, the old rules still run. Do not splash monks, who are easy to spot and are not part of the play. Go gently or not at all with elderly people, small children, and anyone in work clothes carrying out a job through the festival, and accept a raised hand or a head shake as a no. At temples, cover shoulders and knees, and join the pouring rites only in the poured, small way they are done. Keep your own water clean. Put phone, passport and money in a waterproof pouch before you enter a zone, not after the first bucket. The greeting of the days is sawatdee pi mai, happy new year, and it is received the way it is meant everywhere in Thailand.
Sources: Bank of Thailand, financial institutions holiday list, for the Songkran holidays of 13 to 15 April 2027; UNESCO inscription of Songkran in Thailand, 6 December 2023, as reported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand newsroom on 8 December 2023, for the meaning of the water pouring; SIAM Songkran organiser, siamsongkran.info, for the 2027 dates, venue and published pass prices; Bangkok Metropolitan Administration venue designations and Pattaya's annual Wan Lai pattern as recorded in our calendar, with street and Pattaya programmes still to be confirmed for 2027. Checked 27 October 2026.
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