A dated calendar of Southeast Asia travel experiences
Planning
Planning around a date
A trip built around one night, such as a lantern festival, a boat race or a full moon, has different rules from an ordinary holiday. Supply is fixed and demand spikes. Dates can move. This page sets out how we would plan around each kind of date, with the evidence from recent festivals.
Start with the kind of date
| Kind of date | Examples | How sure | How to book |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official | Tet 2027 holiday; Khmer New Year and Water Festival 2026; Pi Mai Lao 2026; Songkran | High; changes are rare | Book early; fixed terms are acceptable |
| Announced | Loi Krathong and Yi Peng events; the buckwheat festival opening | Medium; organisers can move it | Book refundable; confirm a week before |
| Calculated | Hoi An lantern nights; 2027 Water Festival; end of Buddhist Lent | Lunar dates are reliable; whether the event goes ahead is not | Book refundable; check the weather and local news |
| Natural window | Rice harvest, buckwheat blossom, fireflies | Moves by weeks | Build a window of several days; stay flexible |
The festival calendar shows which kind each date is.
Sources: Ha Tinh provincial portal — Tet 2027 holiday (Ministry of Home Affairs notice); Andersen Cambodia — Sub-Decree 167 on 2026 public holidays (law firm summary); Vientiane Times — 2026 public holidays (Prime Minister's Office); Thai Holiday Guide — Loy Krathong (independent guide); Tourist Bucket lunar and sun calculations (PyEphem, UTC+7), cross-checked with a Chinese-calendar library · last checked .
What happens to demand
A famous night concentrates demand onto a small place for a few days. The clearest published example is Yi Peng in Chiang Mai: for 2025 the airport expected more than 32,000 passengers a day around the festival, about 17 percent above normal, while cancelling or rescheduling 161 flights because of the lantern releases and adding 44 extra flights afterwards. Travel guides report hotels filling quickly; one writer describes spending two nights without a room.
In Vietnam, the national holidays move whole populations. The Tet 2027 holiday for public employees runs for seven days, from 4 to 10 February 2027, and the days around 30 April, 1 May and 2 September bring the same pattern on a smaller scale; Cuc Phuong reported tens of thousands of visitors on peak days of the 2026 butterfly season. In Cambodia and Laos, the three-day holidays for the new year and the Water Festival fill buses and roads in and out of the cities.
Sources: Khaosod English — Chiang Mai airport adjusts flights for Yi Peng; Two Wandering Soles — Yi Peng travel guide (travel blog); Ha Tinh provincial portal — Tet 2027 holiday (Ministry of Home Affairs notice); Dan Tri International — 2026 butterfly season in Cuc Phuong; Andersen Cambodia — Sub-Decree 167 on 2026 public holidays (law firm summary) · last checked .
Booking windows we use
These are our planning rules of thumb, not published figures. They assume you are travelling from outside the region and want a reasonable choice of rooms.
| Event | Rooms | Flights and trains | Spare days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tet week, Vietnam | 3–4 months ahead | Domestic trains and flights as soon as sales open | Plan to stay put for the first three days of the year |
| Loi Krathong / Yi Peng, Chiang Mai | 4–6 months ahead, refundable | Avoid evening flights on release nights | Arrive a day early, leave a day late |
| Hoi An lantern night | 1–2 months ahead; refundable in flood season | Not usually a constraint | Two nights, the lantern night second |
| Water Festival, Phnom Penh | 2–3 months ahead | Long-distance buses fill before the holiday | Avoid road travel on the first and last day |
| April new year, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia | 2–3 months ahead | Cross-border buses and flights early | Expect slow roads all week |
| Rice or buckwheat seasons | 1–2 months ahead; weekends sooner | Night buses and cars from Hanoi | Two to three days in the area |
Price spikes, and how to avoid paying them
- Stay outside the centre. In Hoi An or Chiang Mai, a room a short ride from the old town is usually cheaper and easier to find than one inside it.
- Shift by a night. The night before or after a festival is often far cheaper and still lets you see part of it.
- Avoid the national holiday overlap. A lantern night that falls in a Vietnamese holiday week brings domestic and foreign crowds together.
- Choose a weekday. Check the weekday in the Hoi An table; weekend lantern nights add day visitors.
- Read cancellation terms first. For anything weather-dependent, a refundable rate is cheaper than a lost night.
When a date has not been announced
Many 2027 dates are not published yet: Cambodia's holiday list for 2027, Laos's, and the exact Thai calendar day for Loi Krathong. Cambodia's 2026 list was issued in September 2025, which gives a sense of the timing.
- 01
Narrow the window
Use the calculated date from the moon to pick the week.
- 02
Book what can be cancelled
Refundable rooms and changeable flights for that week.
- 03
Watch for the announcement
Government holiday notices and organiser announcements.
- 04
Fix the rest
Once the date is official, book the parts that are cheaper on fixed terms.
Sources: Andersen Cambodia — Sub-Decree 167 on 2026 public holidays (law firm summary); Tourist Bucket lunar and sun calculations (PyEphem, UTC+7), cross-checked with a Chinese-calendar library · last checked .
A spare day is part of the plan
Weather is the most common reason a dated plan fails in this region. The UK Foreign Office says the typhoon season on Vietnam's coast normally runs from May to November and that seasonal flooding hits central Vietnam in October and November; heavy rain causes landslides on mountain roads. A lantern night in Hoi An in November, or a drive to the terraces in September, needs a day of slack on either side.
Sources: UK Foreign Office — Vietnam safety and security · last checked .
Who should not plan around a single date
- Travellers with only a few days and no flexibility: one cancellation can remove the reason for the trip.
- Anyone uncomfortable in crowds: the event is the crowd.
- People on fixed, non-refundable bookings during flood, typhoon or smoke seasons.
Common questions
Questions readers ask
How far ahead should I book for Yi Peng?
We suggest four to six months ahead on refundable terms. Rooms fill quickly and evening flights on release nights are cut or moved.
Are prices higher on Hoi An lantern nights?
The old town is busier and rooms nearby fill sooner, especially at weekends and in holiday weeks. Staying a short ride away is a common way round it.
What if the festival date changes after I book?
That is why we suggest refundable bookings for announced and calculated dates until the date is official.
Should I travel during Tet?
It can be rewarding, but transport is full and many small businesses close for several days. Book early and plan to stay in one place over the first days of the new year.
Related
Read next
Festivals
Festival calendar
Dates for 2026 and 2027 with a label for each: official, announced or calculated, and how the lunar calendars work.
Read more
Planning
When not to go
Smoke season, typhoons, central Vietnam floods, extreme heat, holiday closures and advisories, with months.
Read more
Festivals · Thailand
Loi Krathong and Yi Peng
The 2026 and 2027 dates, why sources disagree, the Chiang Mai no-lantern zones and how the airport changes its schedule.
Read more
Festivals · Vietnam
Hoi An lantern nights
Every Hoi An lantern night through 2027, with the lights-off time, the old town ticket and the flood months.
Read more
Calendar · First quarter
January to March
Tet, Angkor in its driest months, the cold north of Vietnam and the smoke season: what January to March holds.
Read more
Independent travel calendar
Home
Start here: the calendar of festivals, harvests and seasons across five countries, with dates and check dates.
Read more
Start planning
Send a correction or a question
Tell us which page and which date you are writing about, what you found instead, and where you found it. A link to an official announcement helps us check it quickly.