Nine of the nineteen days on Thailand’s official government holiday list are royal observances. Here is what each one marks, who decides the dates, why the bank list and the government list disagree, and what is expected of you at a royal site.
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, and the monarchy is woven through the working calendar in a way that catches most new residents out at least once. Count the royal entries on the government’s own annual holiday list and you get 9 days of 19. Nearly half the year’s closures are royal. That is the practical reason this page exists: if you are signing a lease, booking a Land Office appointment or waiting on a bank transfer, these are the days that decide whether anyone is at their desk.
The dates below come from the two documents that actually set them, not from a holiday aggregator. Where a date is not fixed in advance, this page says so rather than printing a guess.
Last checked 4 Oct 2026 against page facts re-read that day, as recorded in the explore-depth rotation log
There is no one Thai holiday list. There are at least three, and they do not match.
Government offices follow a Prime Minister’s Office announcement issued after the Cabinet resolution of 21 May 2019. That announcement is the list reproduced below: 17 entries adding up to 19 days. It also records the royal command that fixes 5 December as King Bhumibol’s birth anniversary, National Day and National Father’s Day together, and it is the document that moved Coronation Day to 4 May.
Banks follow a separate Bank of Thailand notification, reissued every year. The 2026 one is Notification No. 31/2568. The two lists differ in both directions, and the differences are not trivia. Banks close on 1 May for National Labour Day, which is not on the government list at all. Government offices close for the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, which is not on the bank list. In 2026 the Bank of Thailand also added Friday 16 October as an extra holiday for branches in Bangkok, under a later notification.
Your own employer is a third list again, set by your contract and by Thai labor law. This page does not try to state that one, because the figure a reader would act on was not confirmed against an official source in this review. Ask your HR department for the company calendar in writing.
| When | Holiday | Days | Royal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January | New Year's Day | 1 | |
| 15th waxing day, 3rd lunar month | Makha Bucha Day | 1 | |
| 6 April | King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke the Great Day and Chakri Dynasty Memorial Day | 1 | Royal |
| 13 to 15 April | Songkran | 3 | |
| 4 May | Chatra Mongkol Day (Coronation Day) | 1 | Royal |
| set each year by the Bureau of the Royal Household | Royal Ploughing Ceremony Day | 1 | Royal |
| 15th waxing day, 6th lunar month | Visakha Bucha Day | 1 | |
| 3 June | H.M. the Queen's Birthday | 1 | Royal |
| 15th waxing day, 8th lunar month | Asarnha Bucha Day | 1 | |
| 1st waning day, 8th lunar month | Khao Phansa | 1 | |
| 28 July | H.M. the King's Birthday | 1 | Royal |
| 12 August | The Queen Mother's Birthday and National Mother's Day | 1 | Royal |
| 13 October | Anniversary of the passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great | 1 | Royal |
| 23 October | Piyamaharaj Day (King Chulalongkorn the Great) | 1 | Royal |
| 5 December | Birth anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great, National Day and National Father's Day | 1 | Royal |
| 10 December | Constitution Day | 1 | |
| 31 December | New Year's Eve | 1 |
Names follow the announcement’s own wording. Lunar entries move every year; see our guide to the Buddhist holy days for how those dates are set, and the 2026 holiday calendar for the resolved dates.
A national public holiday honouring the Chakri Dynasty and King Rama I. Government offices and banks are closed.
A national public holiday commemorating the King's coronation. Government offices and banks are closed.
A national public holiday. Government offices and banks are closed.
A national public holiday honouring the King's birthday. Government offices and banks are closed.
A national public holiday and Mother's Day. Government offices and banks are closed.
A national day of remembrance for King Rama IX. Government offices and banks are closed. Observed with solemnity.
A national public holiday honouring King Rama V. Government offices and banks are closed.
Because 5 December 2026 falls on a Saturday, Monday 7 December is the observed public holiday. Government offices and banks are closed.
English names here follow the Bank of Thailand’s own usage, which is the form most banks, embassies and employers in Thailand use in writing.
Every other entry on the government list carries either a calendar date or a lunar formula. One carries neither. Against the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, พระราชพิธีพืชมงคลจรดพระนังคัลแรกนาขวัญ, the announcement says only that the Bureau of the Royal Household will fix it year by year. That is the whole reason you cannot get a reliable date for it more than a few months out, and why any site printing one for a future year is guessing.
For 2026 the royal program was published in the Royal Gazette on 7 May 2026, in Volume 143, Part 26 Kho. It set two days: the Buddhist rite on Tuesday 12 May at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, and the ploughing itself at Sanam Luang on Wednesday 13 May, the day the sacred oxen are offered seven foods and the reading of what they choose is broadcast. Government offices closed. Banks did not, because the ceremony does not appear anywhere on the Bank of Thailand’s 2026 list. For 2027 there is no date yet, and this page will not carry one until that year’s program is published.
Under King Bhumibol, Chatra Mongkol Day fell on 5 May. King Vajiralongkorn’s coronation was held over three days, 4 to 6 May 2019, and a Prime Minister’s Office announcement published in the Royal Gazette on 27 May 2019 fixed 4 May of every year as the anniversary. If you find 5 May on a printed calendar, a relocation PDF or an office wall chart, it was written before mid-2019 and never revised.
What happened across those three days, from the official coronation record: on 4 May 2019 came the royal purification and anointment, the presentation of the golden plaque and the royal regalia, and the First Royal Command, rendered in English as a pledge to continue, preserve and build upon the royal legacy and to reign with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the people. On the same day Queen Suthida was styled Her Majesty the Queen. On 5 May the royal procession went by land to Wat Bowonniwet Vihara, Wat Ratchabophit and Wat Pho. On 6 May the King appeared at the Suddhaisavarya Prasad balcony for the public and at Chakri Maha Prasat Hall for the diplomatic corps. The royal barge procession followed separately, on 12 December 2019.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej died on Thursday 13 October 2016, and the date became a public holiday soon after. It had no formal name until 2023: a Prime Minister’s Office announcement, noted by the Cabinet on 26 September 2023 and published in the Royal Gazette on 2 October 2023 at Volume 140, Special Part 244 Ngor, designated 13 October of every year as วันนวมินทรมหาราช, Nawamintharamaharat Day. English calendars, our own included, generally keep the Bank of Thailand’s longer form. Both are correct; the Thai name is the one you will see on official notices and on the gates of government buildings.
It is observed quietly rather than festively. Expect subdued programming, black and white dress at official events, and merit-making at temples. If you are planning anything social on that date, plan it small.
The Prime Minister’s Office announcement recites a royal command fixing 5 December, King Bhumibol’s birth anniversary, as Thailand’s National Day and as National Father’s Day. One date, three things at once, which is why you will see it described three different ways in the same week.
In 2026 that date is a Saturday, so the Bank of Thailand moves the closure to Monday 7 December as a substitution day. The observance itself does not move. The same pattern applies on 12 August, the Queen Mother’s birthday, which Thailand keeps as National Mother’s Day.
In the weeks before a royal birthday, one color takes over the shops, the office dress codes and the bunting on the lamp posts. The logic is a Thai cultural convention rather than anything written into an announcement: each day of the week has a color, and the color you see belongs to the weekday the person was born on. Monday is yellow, Friday is light blue, Saturday is purple. Line that up with the birth dates and it resolves:
| Born | Weekday | Color you will see | Whose day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 December 1927 | Monday | yellow | King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great |
| 28 July 1952 | Monday | yellow | King Maha Vajiralongkorn |
| 12 August 1932 | Friday | light blue | Queen Sirikit the Queen Mother |
| 3 June | Saturday | purple | Queen Suthida |
The weekdays are calendar arithmetic from the published birth dates. The color pairing is tradition, widely followed and not set out in any government notice, so treat it as a custom rather than a rule. A plain shirt in the right color is a cheap and genuinely appreciated courtesy on the day.
People conflate these constantly, including guides written for new arrivals. They are different pieces of music with different subjects.
The Grand Palace in Phra Nakhon has been the royal residence since 1782. It is still a working ceremonial site, which is why the rules at the gate are specific rather than advisory. These figures are the Bureau of the Royal Household’s own.
Anyone outside the gate telling you the palace is closed today and offering a tuk-tuk tour instead is running a long-standing scam. Walk to the ticket office and check for yourself. More on the river routes in our Bangkok boats and ferries guide.
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand was promulgated on 6 April 2017, which is itself Chakri Day. Three of its opening sections set the monarchy’s place, and the Senate of Thailand publishes an official English translation, so they can be quoted rather than paraphrased.
Beyond the Constitution, the monarchy is protected by Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code. This page names it so that you know it exists and takes it seriously, and deliberately does not print its penalty range: no Thai government source publishing the section’s text was located during this review, and a figure of that consequence should not be repeated from a secondary site. If you need to know how it applies to something specific, ask a Thai lawyer. BAANLYY is not a law firm and nothing here is legal advice.
In practice none of this is hard. Treat the royal family, royal images and royal sites with courtesy, stand when the music plays, dress properly at the palace, and avoid disrespectful comments, gestures or images in person and online. That is the whole of it, and it costs you nothing.
Nine of the nineteen days on the government's annual holiday list. Chakri Day on 6 April, Chatra Mongkol (Coronation Day) on 4 May, the Royal Ploughing Ceremony on a date fixed each year, the Queen's birthday on 3 June, the King's birthday on 28 July, the Queen Mother's birthday and Mother's Day on 12 August, the anniversary of King Bhumibol's passing on 13 October, Piyamaharaj Day on 23 October, and 5 December, which is King Bhumibol's birth anniversary, National Day and Father's Day at once.
For government offices, yes. For banks, no. It is on the Prime Minister's Office list of annual government holidays, but it is the only entry there with no date printed beside it, because the Bureau of the Royal Household sets the date year by year. It does not appear on the Bank of Thailand's 2026 holiday list at all, so bank branches work normally. In 2026 the royal program put the two rites on 12 and 13 May.
Because it was. Under King Bhumibol the day fell on 5 May. King Vajiralongkorn's coronation took place over 4 to 6 May 2019, and a Prime Minister's Office announcement published in the Royal Gazette on 27 May 2019 fixed 4 May of every year as Chatra Mongkol Day. Anything printed before mid-2019 and never revised still carries the old date.
It is the official name of 13 October, the anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's passing in 2016. The day was a public holiday from 2017, but it had no formal name until a Prime Minister's Office announcement appeared in the Royal Gazette on 2 October 2023. English-language calendars, including the Bank of Thailand's, usually render it as His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great Memorial Day.
Because 5 December 2026 falls on a Saturday. The Bank of Thailand's 2026 list moves it to Monday 7 December as a substitution day. The observance itself stays on 5 December; only the day off shifts.
You are expected to, and it is easy to do. Two different pieces of music are involved and they are not interchangeable. The national anthem, Phleng Chat Thai, is played in public spaces at around 08:00 and 18:00, including at some transit stations, and people stop where they are. The royal anthem, Sansoen Phra Barami, is the one played before the film in most cinemas and at royal occasions. Stand quietly for both until they finish.
Entry is free for Thai nationals on production of an ID card, and 500 baht for foreign visitors, which covers Wat Phra Kaew and the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles inside the same compound. It opens daily from 08:30 to 15:30. The Bureau of the Royal Household's dress rules turn people away at the gate for sleeveless tops, vests, crop tops, see-through tops, shorts, torn or tight trousers, cycling shorts, mini skirts and sleepwear. Drones may not be flown over the palace.
Last checked 4 October 2026
Primary and official sources are cited above: the Prime Minister's Office announcement on annual government holidays, the Bank of Thailand's financial-institutions holiday list, the Royal Gazette, the Senate's official translation of the Constitution, and the Grand Palace's own practical information. Holiday dates, fees and opening hours in Thailand change, and lunar and royally-set dates are fixed year by year, so confirm with the relevant authority before relying on a date. BAANLYY is not a government or royal authority, is not a law firm, and never takes paid placement in editorial content.
BAANLYY presents this information factually and respectfully. Royal titles follow official usage; dates for 2026 are drawn from our sourced national holiday calendar and checked against the documents listed above.