Songkran - Thai New Year

Songkran resets the Thai year each 13 to 15 April, and does it with water: the festival UNESCO inscribed in 2023 as intangible cultural heritage runs from the gentlest rites to the world's largest water fight. At its core sit the old gestures - bathing Buddha images with scented water, pouring blessings over the palms of elders, carrying sand to temple courtyards to raise little merit stupas, families reuniting after the harvest. Around that core the streets erupt: Chiang Mai's moat ring becomes a citywide soaking that runs for days, Bangkok's Silom and Khao San stage their drenched gauntlets, and every village finds its own scale with buckets and hoses. Talcum paste, jasmine-scented water and ice-cold surprise are the festival's textures - joy first, reverence underneath, and the hottest month of the year made suddenly, gloriously bearable.

What you actually see

• The bathing rites - scented water over Buddha images and elders' hands.
• The sand stupas - temple courtyards raised in small mountains of merit.
• Chiang Mai's moat ring - the epic citywide water battle.
• The processions - revered images carried through drenched streets.

When to go

13 to 15 April nationwide, with some cities - Chiang Mai above all - stretching the party toward a week. Book rooms and transport far ahead; the whole country is travelling home at once.

Honest expectations

In festival zones you will be soaked completely and repeatedly - waterproof your phone and documents and surrender the rest. Transport runs at its fullest of the year, some street zones turn rowdy by evening, and the respectful move is to keep temple rites and water play in their separate lanes.

Nearby

Chiang Mai's old city, Bangkok's Silom and Khao San, and every village temple between.