Water Festival (Songkran)

Songkran is a three-day water fight throughout the whole country. Wild scenes of exuberance can be seen throughout the Kingdom, with music, dancing, drinking and people drenched from head to toe. Water guns, hose pipes, buckets – in fact, anything you can get your hands on can be used to splash people.

Ghost Festival (Phi Ta Khon)

Phi Ta Khon is a three-day festival that’s renowned for the colourful masks worn by thousands of locals. The masks are ghastly, stretched faces with phallic noses, decorated in bright, gaudy colours. The origin of the festival is a mixture of animist and Buddhist beliefs. It is supposed to recreate the legend of when a party was thrown that was so fun, everyone wanted to attend – living or dead. The Ghost Festival is held on the weekend of the 6th full moon of the lunar calendar. It usually has the main parade on the Friday (dressing up as a ghost optional), with pageants and music on the Saturday and Buddhist ceremonies on the Sunday.

Lantern Festival (Yi Peng)

Down by the banks of the Peng River, thousands of paper lanterns are released into the sky to float away on the evening breeze. It’s a more genteel affair than the other festivals on this list, but is a great opportunity for snapping some breathtaking photos. Releasing lanterns is the most photogenic part of the festival, but there are also parades, religious ceremonies, fireworks and the releasing of paper floats in the river.

Rocket Festival (Boon Bang Fai)

In the farming communities of Issan (north-eastern Thailand), rocket festivals are important events attended by entire villages as they’re considered the last big ‘knees-up’ before the planting season begins. The rockets are meant to encourage the gods to send plentiful rains to help the precious rice crops grow, with teams building ever more elaborate rockets. They are paraded around on the first day of the festival before being launched high into the air throughout the weekend.

Buffalo Racing Festival (Wing Kwai)

This tradition has been taking place for well over 100 years and now brings in the crowds – Thais and foreigners – from far and wide. The race course is around 100 metres long, located right in front of Chonburi City Hall. Crowds line the race course and cheer on the jockeys, who ride bareback on their trusty beasts. The buffalo racing is the main attraction, but there are plenty more bovine activities to enjoy, such as a buffalo beauty contest, buffalo decorations and muay Thai demonstrations.

Lopburi Monkey

Located 150 km north of Bangkok, Lopburi is best known for its packs of monkeys, thanks to the central temple being overrun by the pesky simians. It’s a popular tourist activity to feed the monkeys but, during November, the simple bags of sunflower seed you can buy are replaced by something much grander. There’s a huge banquet laid out for the approximately 3,000 monkeys and they are allowed to feast on 4 tonnes of fruits, vegetables and other treats. It’s a surreal experience that has traces of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.

Vegetarian Festival Phuket

Despite the name, Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival is famous to world travellers because of the extreme acts undertaken by some locals. Especially gruesome is the body mortification, by way of swords and spiked objects cutting through participants’ cheeks and other body parts, along with walking over hot coals. The belief is that Chinese gods will protect you from harm in return for painful demonstrations of your beliefs. The ceremonies of the festival take place in the vicinity of the six Chinese temples scattered throughout Phuket.

Wonderfruit Music and Arts Festival

Wonderfruit usually takes place in December, on the outskirts of Pattaya, and welcomes European and American artists to headline, with many local bands playing, too. There’s also yoga, meditation, arts and pop-up restaurants by some of Bangkok’s best chefs.

Chinese New Year Bangkok

Chinese New Year brings one of the most exhilarating celebrations to Yaowaraj, which is officially the Chinatown of Bangkok. The narrow, bustling alleys of Chinatown are always a fun place to explore but, during Chinese New Year, things are ramped up a notch. The entire length of the street (and surrounding alleys) comes to life, with crowds of worshippers, exploding firecrackers, dragon dancers and families of Chinese descent, who gather to partake in the street fanfare as well as enjoy sumptuous Chinese banquets.

Candle Festival Ubon Ratchathani

Up to 10 huge wax sculptures are crafted by international teams of artists, mixing traditional art with more modern, abstract creations. The wax works are paraded around on floats, accompanied by dancers and traditional folk music. Principally, this is a religious festival on a sacred Buddhist holiday, when followers donate items to monks, but there is still a party atmosphere throughout the city.