Phuket keeps two calendars at once. There is the tourist one, of dry seasons and green seasons and peak weeks. And there is the older one, shaped by the lunar months and by the island’s Thai and Chinese communities, which fills the year with festivals that have been kept here for generations. Time a trip to land on one of them and you see a version of the island that no amount of sightseeing will otherwise show you. Here is the year, in order.
Why the dates move
Almost every festival here follows a lunar calendar rather than the Western one, which means the dates shift by several weeks from year to year. A festival that falls in early October one year may land in late September or mid October the next. Always confirm the current year’s dates before booking flights around one.
April: Songkran
Thai New Year, and the most famous festival in the country. What began as a gentle ritual of pouring water over the hands of elders as a blessing has become, in the streets, an island-wide water fight of tremendous good humour. Patong is the epicentre and is not for the faint-hearted. Quieter beaches offer a gentler version. It falls in mid April, in the hottest stretch of the year, which is rather the point.
August: Por Tor, the Hungry Ghost Festival
Phuket’s Hokkien Chinese community marks the seventh lunar month by setting out offerings for their ancestors, and for the wandering spirits who have nobody to feed them. The old town fills with incense and with the bright red turtle-shaped ang ku cakes that are its signature. It is quiet, serious and genuinely local, and it is our favourite of the year’s lesser-known festivals. Read our full guide to Por Tor.
September or October: the Vegetarian Festival
The island’s most extraordinary nine days. Properly the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, it turns the whole of Phuket meat-free, dresses the town in white and sends processions through the streets amid firecrackers and acts of devotion that are startling to witness. The food alone is worth planning a trip around. Read our full guide to the Vegetarian Festival.
November: Loy Krathong
The loveliest night of the Thai year. On the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, candlelit offerings of banana leaf and flowers are floated on the water at dusk, carrying away the past year’s misfortunes. In Phuket they go out onto the Andaman Sea. Read our full guide to Loy Krathong.
December: the festive season
December is Phuket at its busiest and brightest, in the middle of the dry season, with festive dining, Christmas on the beach and New Year’s Eve celebrations across the island. It is the hardest time of year to find a room at short notice and the easiest time to enjoy the weather. Read our guides to Christmas in Phuket and New Year’s Eve.
Planning around the calendar
If a festival is the reason for your trip, book early, particularly for the Vegetarian Festival and the festive season, when accommodation across the island fills months ahead. If you would rather avoid the crowds, the quieter months either side of each event still give you the island at its best. Our guide to the best time to visit Phuket sets out how the seasons themselves run.
What we are marking at Kata Rocks through the year is listed with our events and celebrations.