5 Places to Make the Most of the Songkran Water Festival 2024

In the early stages, Thailand’s Songkran water festival was celebrated to show respect to older people. Today, it’s an all-out water fight. Songkran is an annual festival celebrating the Thai New Year from April 13 to 15, and festivities happen throughout the kingdom. Expect wild scenes of ebullience during Songkran 2024, with people dancing in the street. To splash opponents with water, everyone uses whatever they can get their hands on, from simple water guns and buckets to hose pipes. Venture out of your hotel room, and there they are, lurking at the roadside with buckets of iced water.

While the event officially takes place over three days, the mass celebration continues in cities like Pattaya even after April 15. Whether you’re a night owl looking for the craziest parties or want the most authentic experience of this exciting Thailand festival, here are the five best places to celebrate the Songkran water festival in Thailand this year – plus how to make the most of it with TAGTHAi’s city passes.

1. Chiang Mai

Undoubtedly the best place for Songkran is Chiang Mai. Why? Nowhere else in Thailand can you see as much water flying through the air as in the provincial capital some 700 kilometers north of Bangkok.

Also called the Rose of the North, Chiang Mai sits in a verdant valley and combines both fun and culture. Many people wear traditional Thai costumes, gathering around the Thapae Gate, and the celebrations are unparalleled. Music bangs from loudspeakers, stages are set up everywhere around the walled, moated old city, and a sea of people wander around with high-pressure water guns over their shoulders, ready to drench anyone they bump into.

Powerful sound systems are set up along the four-kilometer circuit, but you can experience the Songkran Water Festival Thailand in a more laid-back way at one of the temples in Chiang Mai’s old city. While street vendors sell noodles and rice dishes, why not eat at one of the many restaurants included in the Chiang Mai Premium Pass? At the Barefoot Restaurant on Thapae Road, you can get pork, beef, or vegetarian lasagna with panna cotta (cooked cream). And transportation service with electric tuk-tuks within 10 kilometers will come in handy.

2. Bangkok

Shopping malls like MBK are typically open despite the Songkran Water Festival, but most local shops, banks, and office buildings in Bangkok are closed. No wonder given that Thailand’s capital sees a mass exodus during Songkran. However, that doesn’t mean there are fewer people. Instead of locals who go to their hometowns for reunions with their families, foreigners armed with water guns show up in droves – reason enough for the police to close roads like Silom Road to traffic.

Silom Road and the backpacker haven of Khao San Road rank among the best places to celebrate Songkran in Thailand. Like in Chiang Mai, you will get soaking wet here, but the parties are wilder. Some hotels offer pool parties, and RCA, the Royal City Avenue known for nightlife, comes alive with pumping beats, water cannons, and people galore.

With the Bangkok Premium Pass, you can get first-class treatment as soon as you arrive in Thailand. A CABB VIP Taxi from both the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports includes a private ride worth 45 USD; a Perspex partition wall with split air-conditioning and an intercom system for communication, the smell of leather, and all. The city pass also covers restaurants like Terraces de Bangkok at the Central Silom Tower and the hop-on and hop-off Tourist Boat on the Chao Phraya River, a convenient way to get around Bangkok.

3. Phuket

Where to celebrate Songkran in Phuket? Well, the most intense water fights happen on Bangla Road, the nightlife mecca in the Patong Beach area. The water festival in Phuket used to take place on the 12 and 13 of April, but for Songkran 2024 in Phuket, authorities have announced the festivities will take longer, longer even than the three days like elsewhere in the country.

Phuket’s version of Songkran is wild; a water fray where people use buckets of iced water. While that happens anywhere in the kingdom, Phuket also sees a costumed procession with the Miss Songkran's beauty. 

Thailand’s most popular island has countless restaurants, and some really local ones are included in TAGTHAi’s Phuket Day Pass. So in between water fights – that also happen in the old town – fuel up at places like KOPI de Phuket. This Chinese-style restaurant in the heart of the old town serves local dishes like chicken curry with roti and lemon iced tea.

4. Koh Samui

While Thailand’s second-largest island doesn’t spring to mind first when thinking of the best places to celebrate Songkran, Koh Samui does see fun celebrations. Go to the Chaweng Beach area, and you’ll find beach parties aplenty. Just as wild as those parties is what happens in the clubs near the Soi Green Mango.

Spontaneous parties also take place across the island – e.g., the local fishermen villages around Na Thorn on the west coast. And local kids on pick-up trucks may engage in fun skirmishes, where victims are splashed with iced water.

You may also get your cheeks daubed with Din-Sor-Pong, a scented, gray-white paste made from water and natural limestone talc. Take it in stride; this is a symbol of protection for the person who wears it.

5. Pattaya

Well known for its nightlife, Pattaya offers Songkran parties from April 13 to 19. No matter where in the city you are, you can find people celebrating the Songkran water festival, using a bucket, water gun, or a makeshift high-pressure hose. Anything goes.

Streets like the Beach Road is closed to traffic, but even those that are open are wedged solid. Bumper-to-bumper traffic means pick-up trucks become mobile party stations, and radios on full volume challenge the live music stages.

And where to go when the stomach rumbles? Check out the nine establishments included in the Pattaya Day Pass, which also covers attractions, activities, and a massage parlor called OK Spa and Massage for Health.

Ready for all-out water fights in Thailand? Get one of TAGTHAi’s city passes, which can save you hundreds of bucks.