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Songkran in Chiang Mai: three days in the world’s biggest water fight

Chiang Mai

Thai New Year turns the old city into a water fight for three days. How to join in, and where to go when you need to dry off.

Songkran, the Thai New Year, falls on 13 to 15 April, and nowhere celebrates it like Chiang Mai. The moat around the old city becomes a front line: pickup trucks with barrels of water, kids with pump-action water guns, and everyone, absolutely everyone, soaked.

It started as a gentle ritual, pouring scented water over Buddha images and the hands of elders to wash away the old year, and you can still see that side of it. Visit Wat Phra Singh on the first morning, before the crowds arrive, to watch the procession.

Survival kit

A waterproof phone pouch (sold everywhere for 50 baht), shoes you don’t mind ruining, and a room booked months ahead: prices triple for the festival. Nothing is off limits, including tuk-tuks, so leave anything you care about in the hostel.