In most of Thailand, Songkran winds down after 15 April. On the eastern seaboard, it is only getting started. Chonburi province, home to Pattaya and the Thai seaside favourite of Bang Saen, celebrates its own local water-festival days, known as Wan Lai, after the national holiday is over. That means you can splash your way along the coast for the best part of a week, finishing with the huge water fight that takes over Pattaya’s Beach Road. Here is what Wan Lai means, when the main celebrations usually happen and how to plan around the crowds.<\/p>\n
Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year, and the national holiday runs from 13 to 15 April every year (Tuesday to Thursday in 2027). Wan Lai, which literally means ‘flowing day’, is a shortened name for kor phra sai nam lai<\/em>, a seaside custom of building sand pagodas where the water flows. Coastal and fishing communities held these merit-making gatherings a few days after the main holiday, traditionally aiming for 84,000 sand mounds to match the number of teachings attributed to the Buddha, and combined them with water pouring, food and festivities.<\/p>\n Today the sand-pagoda element survives mainly at a handful of events, most notably in Bang Saen, while the water play, merit-making and parades have grown into big public festivals. Because each town keeps its own date, the celebrations roll from one community to the next, which is why Songkran on this stretch of coast lasts so much longer than elsewhere. Pattaya itself also holds water play around the national holiday, so it is perfectly possible to get soaked here for a whole week.<\/p>\n Dates are set locally and confirmed each year, but the pattern has been fairly consistent in recent years:<\/p>\n If the usual dates hold in 2027, Bang Saen’s celebration would follow straight on from the Tuesday-to-Thursday national holiday, and Pattaya’s main day on 19 April would fall on a Monday. Wait for the official programmes from Pattaya City and the provincial authorities before booking anything around a specific day.<\/p>\n Pattaya’s Wan Lai is the headline event of the season. In recent years the city has closed Beach Road, the long seafront road that runs the length of central Pattaya, for water play on 19 April. In 2026, for example, the closure ran from midday to midnight between the Dolphin Roundabout in the north and the Wat Chai Mongkhon intersection in the south, with the side streets linking Beach Road and Second Road kept clear for emergency vehicles. The beachfront fills with stages, concerts and huge crowds, and by late afternoon the road becomes one continuous water fight.<\/p>\n The day starts more quietly, with Buddha image bathing and merit-making at Wat Chai Mongkhon in the morning. In the days leading up to it, the beach has also hosted concerts, cultural shows, traditional games and sand pagoda building organised with the Tourism Authority of Thailand.<\/p>\n Pattaya has set clear limits in recent years. Water trucks and high-pressure spraying vehicles have been banned from key roads, homemade PVC-pipe water blasters were banned in 2025, and water play has had cut-off times that differ from day to day. Follow posted signs and announcements, and stick to a simple water gun or bowl.<\/p>\n Just north of central Pattaya, Naklua is a long-established community with a more local feel. Its Wan Lai, usually the day before Pattaya’s, typically includes a parade, Buddha image bathing, blessings for elders and cultural performances around Lan Pho Naklua park, before the water fights spread into the surrounding streets. A couple of days later, the Kong Khao ceremony sees residents make food offerings to protective spirits, a quieter and fascinating way to watch the season come to an end.<\/p>\n Bang Saen, closer to Bangkok, is the beach where many Thai families come for a day by the sea, and its Wan Lai is one of the best known in the province. Expect sand pagodas, concerts and water play along the beachfront road, and very heavy traffic. If you are coming from Bangkok, set off early in the morning. Our guide to Chonburi’s coast, from Bang Saen to Pattaya<\/a> covers the area’s other sights.<\/p>\n Book early.<\/strong> Wan Lai draws large numbers of visitors from Bangkok and beyond, and hotels near Beach Road fill up quickly, often at higher prices than usual.<\/p>\n Pick your base carefully.<\/strong> A hotel right on Beach Road puts you at the centre of the party but makes coming and going dry almost impossible on Wan Lai day. Staying a few streets back gives you an easier escape.<\/p>\n Plan your transport.<\/strong> Pattaya is easy to reach from Bangkok by road, but motorways and coastal routes are congested over the holiday, so travel early. Inside the city, the shared pickup trucks known as baht buses are the usual way to get around; when Beach Road is closed their routes change, so be ready to walk. If you are driving, park well away from the closure zone.<\/p>\n Stay safe on the roads.<\/strong> The busiest Wan Lai days fall just after the national ‘seven dangerous days’ road-safety campaign, but the risks have not gone away: roads are wet, crowded and full of people who have been celebrating. Helmets are compulsory for motorbike riders and passengers, drink-driving is strictly enforced, and throwing water at moving vehicles is dangerous and can lead to criminal charges if it causes an accident.<\/p>\n Respect the sun and the sea.<\/strong> Drink plenty of water, use water-resistant sunscreen, keep your phone in a waterproof pouch and never swim after drinking. For the essentials of joining in politely, see our Songkran etiquette and survival guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n The bottom line:<\/strong> If three days of Songkran are not enough, Chonburi is the place to go. Celebrate the national holiday wherever you like, move on to Bang Saen’s sandy festivities, then finish with Naklua and the Beach Road water fight in Pattaya. Confirm the year’s dates, book early and travel light, and see our Chonburi travel guide<\/a> for what to do once you have dried off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why Songkran lasts longer in Pattaya and Chonburi: the local Wan Lai days in Bang Saen, Naklua and Pattaya, Beach Road water fights and travel tips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[],"province":[174],"class_list":["post-5098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-festivals-en","province-chonburi-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5152,"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5098\/revisions\/5152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5098"},{"taxonomy":"province","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songkran.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/province?post=5098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The usual Wan Lai calendar<\/h2>\n
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Beach Road and the main Pattaya celebration<\/h2>\n
Naklua and Bang Saen<\/h2>\n
Naklua<\/h3>\n
Bang Saen<\/h3>\n
Practical tips for Pattaya and Chonburi<\/h2>\n
Good to know<\/h2>\n
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