When Is Songkran?
Songkran 2027 runs from Tuesday, April 13 to Thursday, April 15, with 3 public holidays inside it.
Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year, and unlike every lunar festival on this site it never moves: the dates are fixed by statute to 13–15 April, every year. Those three days are the biggest holiday of the Thai year — cities empty as people travel home, the water festival takes over the streets of Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and much of the country simply closes. Among the countries and regions we publish, Thailand is the only one that gazettes it.
Also known as: Thai New Year · Water Festival · สงกรานต์
The short answer
1 countries and regions in our calendar mark it. Dates and days off below cover 2025–2028.
- 2025
- Sunday, April 13 – Tuesday, April 15
- 2026
- Monday, April 13 – Wednesday, April 15
- 2027
- Tuesday, April 13 – Thursday, April 15
- 2028
- Thursday, April 13 – Monday, April 17
Dates year by year
Who gets the day off
Every row is derived from that country’s official calendar on this site, so the day counts include substitute days and government bridge days exactly as gazetted.
Songkran 2025
| Country / region | Called | Date | Days off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thailand | Songkran Festival (สงกรานต์)Three fixed days, April 13–15. When one of them lands on a weekend the Cabinet adds an in-lieu or special bridge day. | Apr 13 – 15 | 3days |
ThailandSongkran 2026
| Country / region | Called | Date | Days off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thailand | Songkran Festival (สงกรานต์)Three fixed days, April 13–15. When one of them lands on a weekend the Cabinet adds an in-lieu or special bridge day. | Apr 13 – 15 | 3days |
Songkran 2027
| Country / region | Called | Date | Days off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thailand Provisional | Songkran Festival (สงกรานต์)Three fixed days, April 13–15. When one of them lands on a weekend the Cabinet adds an in-lieu or special bridge day. | Apr 13 – 15 | 3days |
Rows marked provisional show only the dates already fixed. Where a government sets the length of the break by annual decree — mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia — the full arrangement has not been published for that year yet, so treat those day counts as a floor and any blank as "not announced", not as a working day.
Songkran 2028
| Country / region | Called | Date | Days off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thailand Provisional | Songkran Festival (สงกรานต์)Three fixed days, April 13–15. When one of them lands on a weekend the Cabinet adds an in-lieu or special bridge day. | Apr 13 – 17 | 4days |
Rows marked provisional show only the dates already fixed. Where a government sets the length of the break by annual decree — mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia — the full arrangement has not been published for that year yet, so treat those day counts as a floor and any blank as "not announced", not as a working day.
Why Songkran never moves
The word comes from the Sanskrit saṅkrānti, the sun’s entry into Aries, and the festival once followed the traditional Thai lunar calendar. But Thailand moved its official New Year’s Day to 1 January in 1941 and fixed the traditional celebration to 13–15 April by statute. So while Chinese New Year, Vesak and the Buddhist holy days drift against the Gregorian calendar, Songkran is as fixed as Christmas.
What does change year to year is everything around those three days. When one of them falls on a weekend the Cabinet grants an in-lieu weekday, and it has a standing habit of declaring extra special holidays to bridge the block into a longer break — as it did with 2 January 2026 for the Gregorian New Year.
Three days that stop the country
Songkran is the largest homecoming of the Thai year — bigger than the Gregorian New Year. Bangkok empties as millions return to their home provinces, intercity trains and buses sell out well ahead, and government offices, banks and most businesses close for the full three days. The water-throwing that tourists know is the public face of a ceremony of respect: water is poured over Buddha images and the hands of elders before it is poured over strangers.
Planning around Songkran
If you are travelling to Thailand for the festival, book transport and accommodation months out, waterproof everything you carry, and expect shops and offices outside the tourist strips to be shut. If you are doing business with Thailand, treat 13–15 April plus the adjacent weekend as a hard stop, and check the year table above for the exact weekday layout before you schedule anything around it.
Go deeper
Frequently asked questions
What date is Songkran in 2026 and 2027?+
Songkran is 13–15 April in both years. In 2026 that ran Monday to Wednesday; in 2027 it runs Tuesday to Thursday. The year-by-year table above lists the exact span for every year we publish.
Is Songkran a public holiday outside Thailand?+
Not in any of the countries and regions we publish. Laos (Pi Mai), Myanmar (Thingyan) and Cambodia (Khmer New Year) celebrate the same mid-April new year, but those calendars are not in our registry — everywhere we do track, 13–15 April is an ordinary working week.
Why are the Songkran dates fixed when other new year festivals move?+
Because it no longer follows the lunar calendar. Thailand moved its official New Year’s Day to 1 January in 1941 and fixed the traditional festival to 13–15 April by statute, so the dates are the same every year, like Christmas.
How long is the Songkran holiday?+
Three public holidays, every year. The real break is often longer: in 2026 the Monday-to-Wednesday block stacked with the preceding weekend for five days off (11–15 April), and the Cabinet frequently adds in-lieu or special bridge days on top.
What actually happens during Songkran?+
Three things at once: the year’s biggest homecoming, as millions return to their home provinces; a near-total shutdown of offices, banks and most shops; and the water festival itself, which turns the streets of Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the resort towns into a days-long water fight.
How do I add the Songkran dates to my calendar?+
Download the free Thailand ICS file from our Thailand holiday page or the downloads hub and import it into Google, Apple or Outlook Calendar. Subscribing to the ICS URL keeps the dates updated if the Cabinet adds special holidays.