The Thai calendar, and what it does to a family's plans.

How the Thai calendar is built

Thai public holidays come from three sources sitting on top of each other. There are royal days, fixed to the calendar and tied to the monarchy and to national history. There are Buddhist observances, set by the lunar calendar and therefore moving each year. And there are civil dates, chiefly New Year and Labour Day. The Cabinet also designates bridging days in some years to create long weekends, announced in advance rather than fixed, and banks observe a slightly different list from government offices.

The practical effect on a visiting family is usually mild. Hospitals run. Hotels run. Shopping centres and restaurants open on almost every holiday, often busier than usual because Thai families are out. What closes is the official layer: government offices, the land office, immigration services other than at the airport, embassies observing Thai holidays, and banks. That matters if your week includes a visa extension, a property signature or a bank appointment, and not at all otherwise.

Songkran, and why it needs a decision

Songkran, Thai New Year, falls on 13 to 15 April with further days added in most years, and it is the single most disruptive event in the Thai calendar for a family that has not planned for it. In its traditional form it is gentle: water poured respectfully over the hands of elders and over Buddha images, temple visits, family gatherings, homes cleaned. In its street form, in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the resort towns, it is several days of large scale public water throwing, and the water is thrown at everybody, including people walking to a car or dressed for a meeting.

Families need to decide which experience they want, because in the affected areas there is no middle position. If the family wants to take part, it is genuinely joyful and children love it; the preparation is waterproof pouches for phones and passports, clothes that dry, and eye protection for young children, since the water is thrown hard. If the family would rather not be soaked, stay out of the water zones entirely: the hotel and its grounds, the malls, which stay open and dry, car windows closed, and no main tourist streets for the duration.

Two further facts. It is the busiest domestic travel period of the year, so internal flights and good hotels fill months ahead and prices rise. And road accident rates rise sharply across the holiday, with a national road safety campaign run around it, so long overland journeys during those days are worth avoiding, particularly with an elderly passenger or a patient recovering from a procedure.

Loy Krathong, and the quieter festivals

Loy Krathong falls on the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, usually in November, and it is the loveliest evening in the Thai year and entirely undisruptive. Small decorated floats carrying a candle are set on rivers, canals and hotel ponds after dark, in a gesture of thanks and of letting go of the year's ill fortune. It is not a public holiday and everything stays open. Hotels along the Bangkok river organise it for guests, and the northern version in Chiang Mai, with its lanterns, draws heavy crowds and heavy bookings. Two other dates are worth knowing without being holidays: Chinese New Year, in late January or February, which transforms Yaowarat and closes some Thai Chinese businesses for several days, and the Vegetarian Festival in September or October, which is a large and very noisy public event in Phuket and changes restaurant menus across the island for its duration.

Royal days and days of national remembrance

Several public holidays mark the monarchy and Thai national history. Chakri Memorial Day falls on 6 April, Coronation Day on 4 May, and His Majesty the King's birthday on 28 July. Her Majesty Queen Suthida's birthday falls on 3 June. 12 August is the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit the Queen Mother and is also observed as Mother's Day. 13 October marks the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and 23 October is Chulalongkorn Day. 5 December, the birthday of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, is National Day and Father's Day, and 10 December is Constitution Day.

For a visiting family the observable effect is that government offices and banks close, public buildings are decorated, ceremonies are held, and the mood on days of remembrance is notably quieter. Sober dress is appropriate, and it is worth telling teenagers so that a photograph taken in front of a memorial display is taken thoughtfully. During any period of official mourning, additional conventions apply and are announced; follow what you see the country doing.

Buddhist holy days, and the alcohol rules

The major Buddhist observances move with the lunar calendar. Makha Bucha falls in February or March, Visakha Bucha in May, and Asalha Bucha in July, immediately followed by Wan Khao Phansa, the start of the rains retreat, with Wan Ok Phansa marking its end in October. On these days temples are busy from early morning, with candlelit circumambulations in the evening, and they are among the more beautiful things to observe in Thailand from a respectful distance.

These are also the days on which the sale of alcohol is prohibited nationwide, which is the closure that most often surprises visitors and their hosts. On a major Buddhist holy day, shops and supermarkets will not sell alcohol and hotel bars and restaurants generally do not serve it. Sale is also prohibited on election days. Separately, Thailand has long operated restrictions on the hours of sale on ordinary days, and those rules have been under active review and revision in recent years, so the position on any given date should be checked locally rather than assumed.

For the many families we work with who do not drink, the relevance is not the restriction itself but its planning consequence: a corporate dinner, a wedding or a large event booked on a Buddhist holy day will be dry whether or not the host intended it, hotels will decline to serve, and a venue that promised otherwise may be wrong. If an event date matters, check it against the Buddhist calendar before the invitations go out.

The table a family can plan against

Planning around it, practically

Three habits cover almost everything. Before fixing a trip that involves official business, check the dates against the Bank of Thailand's published bank holiday calendar, which is the cleanest authoritative list of the days on which the official and financial layer closes, and remember that the lunar dates move every year. If the trip touches April, decide about Songkran deliberately and book early either way. And if the family is here in the Gulf summer, note that 12 August is a public holiday inside that window.

One further note for families combining a stay with paperwork. Immigration extensions, land office appointments, embassy legalisations and bank account openings all sit in the layer that closes, and a bridging day announced by the Cabinet can turn a two day gap into five. Where a deadline is involved, do not leave it to the last week of a stay in a month with holidays in it.

Lunar dates move each year and additional holidays are designated by Cabinet resolution and announced in advance, so no printed calendar stays accurate. Confirm the current year's dates with the Bank of Thailand's published holiday calendar for banking closures and with the Tourism Authority of Thailand for festival dates, confirm government office closures with the office concerned, and confirm alcohol sale restrictions applying on a specific date locally, since the rules governing hours of sale have been subject to review and change.

This briefing is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Thai rules change frequently and individual cases differ. Verify current requirements with the relevant authorities, including the Immigration Bureau, the Board of Investment, the Land Department, the Department of Business Development and the Revenue Department, and take advice on your own facts before acting.