Songkran, Pi Mai Lao and Khmer New Year

Unlike Loi Krathong or Tet, the April new year is a solar festival, linked to the sun's passage into Aries, so it does not move with the moon. Governments still fix the exact holiday days and sometimes add days.

The Prime Minister's Office announced Pi Mai Lao as a public holiday from 14 to 16 April 2026. Luang Prabang marks it over a much longer period: in 2026 the city programme ran for ten days, from 11 to 20 April, with the Hae Vor procession and an elephant procession, the Nang Sangkhane new year pageant, sand stupas built at Don Say Moungkhoun and the ceremonial bathing of the Phra Bang Buddha image at the national museum, alongside the same water throwing as elsewhere. Pi Mai falls at the hot end of the dry season: Luang Prabang's April average maximum is about 35 °C, and the air in northern Laos can still be hazy from field burning.

A ten-day programme in a small town means rooms can be hard to find. If Pi Mai is the reason for the trip, book early and on flexible terms; if it is not, consider whether you want to be in Luang Prabang that week at all.

• Put your phone and passport in a waterproof pouch whenever you go out; assume you will be splashed.
• Do not throw water at monks, older people, or anyone carrying a baby or riding a motorbike in traffic.
• Expect banks, government offices and some shops to close on the official days; carry enough cash.
• Road travel is risky in the holiday week: heavy traffic, drinking and wet roads combine.
• Book cross-border buses and flights early; the holiday overlaps in all three countries.

• Anyone who does not want to get wet in public, every time they step outside.
• People sensitive to heat above 35 °C or to smoke haze in the north.
• Travellers who need offices, banks or embassies to be open, for visas or paperwork.
• Those on tight schedules who cannot absorb full buses and slow roads.