Koh Samui Events Calendar 2026-2027 — Dates, Prices & Crowds

Overview

Koh Samui’s events calendar runs on three separate systems at once — a fixed Gregorian date for Songkran, a Thai lunar calendar for Loy Krathong and the Buddhist holy days, and Koh Phangan’s monthly Full Moon Party next door, reachable by a short ferry. Between September 2026 and December 2027, the island’s confirmed fixed points are Songkran (13-15 April, every year), the Samui Regatta (23-30 May 2026), Loy Krathong (25 November 2026), and Chaweng’s 31 December countdown, alongside a recurring Full Moon Party and five annual alcohol-ban days.

This page is a planning tool, not a party guide: which dates are locked in, which are still provisional, where each event happens on the island, and what it does to hotel rates and ferry crowding. Where a 2027 date hasn’t been published yet by the organizing body, that’s stated plainly rather than guessed.

Key takeaways

• Only two 2027 dates are genuinely fixed months out: Songkran (13-15 April) and Chinese New Year (6 February) — both anchored to a known calendar system rather than a released schedule.
• The Full Moon Party runs monthly on Koh Phangan; see the full moon party from Samui guide for the full 2026-2027 date list and boat logistics.
• Loy Krathong (25 Nov 2026), the Samui Regatta (23-30 May 2026) and the Vegetarian Festival (10-18 Oct 2026) all have confirmed 2026 dates but unpublished 2027 dates as of September 2026.
• Five days a year carry a nationwide alcohol-sale ban tied to Buddhist holy days — hotels and licensed tourist bars are exempt; see the Buddhist holidays and alcohol ban guide for the full list.
• Every event on this page pushes hotel rates or ferry demand up for its own island — plan bookings around the when to book guide rather than around the calendar date alone.

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Koh Samui Events Calendar 2026-2027 — Month by Month

Koh Samui’s yearly event pattern splits into a handful of fixed dates, a set of lunar dates that move slightly each year, and the Full Moon Party’s steady monthly rhythm on neighboring Koh Phangan. The table below covers both remaining 2026 and confirmed or estimated 2027 dates.

Rows in bold are the events with a dedicated section below. See the Buddhist holidays and alcohol ban calendar for the complete lunar holy-day table this month grid draws from, and the best time to visit guide for how these dates interact with weather and pricing across the year.

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Songkran — Thailand’s New Year (13-15 April)

Songkran is Thailand’s traditional New Year, fixed at 13-15 April every year regardless of weekday, and it is the one Koh Samui event you can book around with total date certainty. The island marks it as a three-day, island-wide water fight — expect the densest crowds on Chaweng and Lamai’s beach roads and in Nathon’s town center, where pickup trucks with water tanks and pump-action soakers turn every main street into a splash zone from midday onward.

Some smaller family businesses close for a few of the three days, and taxis and songthaews get harder to flag down mid-afternoon when the water fighting peaks. April is also Koh Samui’s hottest month (31.8°C average high) with the warmest sea of the year at 30.0°C, which pairs well with getting soaked on purpose — see the April weather guide for the full seasonal breakdown. Book rooms in Chaweng and Lamai well ahead of Songkran week itself; the when to book guide recommends locking in accommodation months out for any fixed-date festival rather than relying on last-minute availability.

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Loy Krathong — Festival of Lights

Loy Krathong is Thailand’s festival of lights, falling on the full moon of the twelfth lunar month — 25 November 2026 on Koh Samui, with the 2027 date not yet published since it depends on next year’s lunar calculation. Small banana-leaf krathongs carrying a candle, incense and flowers go out on the water after dark; without a river running through the island, Samui’s version happens on the open sea, most visibly along Chaweng Beach, or on the calmer, less crowded temple lake at Wat Plai Laem.

It is the most photogenic single night on Samui’s calendar and one of the few evenings the island’s beaches fill with as many locals as tourists. The Koh Phangan Full Moon Party often lands within a day or two of Loy Krathong (24 November 2026), so ferries and transfers between the two islands run at their busiest stretch of the year during this window — see the full moon party from Samui guide for boat timing. Full detail on the lunar Buddhist calendar this date sits within is in the Buddhist holidays and alcohol ban guide.

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Chinese New Year on Koh Samui

Chinese New Year usually falls in late January or February, moving every year with the Chinese lunar calendar — 17 February 2026 and 6 February 2027 on Koh Samui. The island’s Chinese-Thai communities, concentrated around Nathon and Maenam, mark it with firecrackers, lion dances and family visits centered on local shrines, without any alcohol restriction attached to the date.

The week around Chinese New Year brings a genuine surge of visitors from China, Hong Kong and Singapore on top of Koh Samui’s already-busy December-February high season, and the shoulder season guide tracks the specific price bump that follows. Outside that one week, February carries no other major nationwide festival, so book accommodation earlier than usual if your trip lands on or near the date.

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Full Moon Party — Monthly on Koh Phangan

The Full Moon Party isn’t a Koh Samui event at all — it happens monthly on neighboring Koh Phangan, at Haad Rin beach, and Samui functions as the base most visitors reach it from by night boat. Confirmed 2026 dates from September are 26 September, 27 October, 24 November and 24 December, plus a 31 December New Year Countdown Party; 2027 runs 22 January through 13 December on a similar monthly cycle, per the official Full Moon Party Thailand schedule, with the exact date shifting whenever the natural full moon lands on a major Buddhist holy day.

Getting there and back the same night from Samui costs roughly 1,000-1,500 THB (~29-43 USD) round trip on a party speedboat from the Big Buddha or Bang Rak piers, on top of a 200 THB (~5.50 USD) cash entry fee at Haad Rin — the full full moon party from Samui guide covers boat operators, the 1-5 AM return crossing, and every checked date through 2027. October and November’s parties overlap the island’s rainiest weeks and Loy Krathong respectively, so those two months see the tightest transfer availability of the year.

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Samui Regatta — Sailing Week at Chaweng

The Samui Regatta is a multi-day sailing event based at Chaweng Beach, running 23-30 May 2026 with keelboat and multihull racing, evening parties and a closing awards night; 2027 dates are usually announced in early 2027 and aren’t published yet, so confirm with the regatta organizers before booking around it. It’s the one fixed-date event that lands squarely inside Koh Samui’s low season, when the shoulder season guide notes rates typically run 10-25% below baseline.

That discount doesn’t apply to regatta week itself — Chaweng-area hotels see a short, localized rate bump for the race village and its evening events, even as the rest of the island stays in its cheaper late-May pricing. Booking a room outside Chaweng, or shifting a low-season trip a week either side of the regatta, keeps the full seasonal discount intact.

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Chaweng’s New Year’s Eve Countdown

Chaweng Beach hosts Koh Samui’s biggest New Year’s Eve countdown every 31 December, with beach clubs running DJ sets and fire shows into a midnight fireworks display over the bay. The Christmas and New Year guide covers the full breakdown — gala dinner pricing, which beach clubs run the biggest productions, and quieter alternatives at Maenam and Bophut — rather than repeating it here.

The countdown sits at the very top of Koh Samui’s annual price curve: rooms that cost 2,500 THB (~71 USD) in October can run 6,000-9,000 THB (~171-257 USD) over New Year, with 3-7 night minimum stays at most beach hotels. A Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan often lands close to Christmas itself (24 December most years), pulling overflow bookings onto Samui’s hotels and ferries the same week the countdown crowd is also building.

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Buddhist Holidays and the Alcohol Ban

Five days a year carry a nationwide ban on retail alcohol sales, tied to major Buddhist holy days on the lunar calendar: Makha Bucha, Visakha Bucha, Asalha Bucha, Khao Phansa and Ok Phansa. In 2026 these fall on 3 March, 31 May, 29 July, 30 July and 26 October; only two 2027 dates are confirmed so far — Makha Bucha on 21 February and Visakha Bucha on 20 May — with the rest still unpublished as of September 2026.

The ban runs the full calendar day, but a 2025 rule change exempts licensed hotels, international-airport outlets and licensed tourist-area bars — meaning most of Chaweng and Lamai’s hotel restaurants and nightlife keep serving, while standalone liquor stores and unlicensed restaurants pause sales until midnight. Songkran and Loy Krathong are not alcohol-ban days despite being major holidays. Full dates, fines and exemption detail are in the Buddhist holidays and alcohol ban guide.

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Vegetarian Festival on Koh Samui

The Vegetarian Festival runs nine days on the Chinese lunar calendar — 10-18 October 2026 on Koh Samui — with participants abstaining from meat and some devotees performing ritual body-piercing and firewalking, a tradition imported from Phuket’s larger festival but observed at a smaller scale on Samui’s own Chinese shrines around Nathon and Maenam. The 2027 dates aren’t published yet; they usually get confirmed closer to the date, so check locally before building a trip around it.

Unlike Songkran or Loy Krathong, the Vegetarian Festival has no measurable effect on island-wide hotel rates or ferry demand — some restaurants near the shrines voluntarily go meat- and alcohol-free for the nine days, but it doesn’t trigger the same booking pressure as this page’s other events. It overlaps October’s Full Moon Party and the tail of the island’s rainiest stretch, so pack flexibility into transfers during this window regardless of which event you’re there for.

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What This Means for Your Booking — Price and Crowd Spikes

Every event on this page moves either hotel rates, ferry demand, or both — the size of the spike depends on whether the event happens on Samui itself or on Koh Phangan next door. Songkran and the New Year’s Eve countdown are the two biggest island-wide price movers, doubling or tripling Chaweng-area room rates and triggering multi-night minimum stays; the Samui Regatta and Chinese New Year cause smaller, more localized bumps in Chaweng and Nathon respectively.

Full Moon Party months don’t move Samui’s own hotel rates much, but they do tighten ferry and speedboat availability from the Big Buddha and Bang Rak piers, especially when a party lands near Loy Krathong or Christmas. The Vegetarian Festival and the five Buddhist alcohol-ban days have the lightest footprint of all — noticeable locally, invisible in the island’s broader pricing. As a rule: book 3-6 months ahead for Songkran or New Year, 1-2 months ahead for the Regatta or Chinese New Year, and treat every other date on this calendar as normal advance planning — the when to book guide breaks down exact lead times for the rest of the year.

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FAQ

What is the biggest event on the Koh Samui events calendar?

Songkran (13-15 April) and the Chaweng New Year’s Eve countdown (31 December) are the two biggest events by price and crowd impact — both are island-wide, fixed-date, and push hotel rates to their highest points of the year. Loy Krathong (25 Nov 2026) is the most photogenic single night, but has a smaller effect on prices than either of those two.

Are the 2027 dates for Koh Samui’s festivals confirmed yet?

Only partly, as of September 2026. Songkran (13-15 April) and Chinese New Year (6 February 2027) are confirmed because they follow known calendar rules. Loy Krathong, the Samui Regatta, the Vegetarian Festival and most Buddhist holy days for 2027 are not yet published — organizers typically confirm them a few months to a year ahead, so check back closer to your travel date.

Is the Full Moon Party actually on Koh Samui?

No. It happens monthly at Haad Rin beach on Koh Phangan, reached from Samui’s Big Buddha or Bang Rak piers by a round-trip night boat costing roughly 1,000-1,500 THB (~29-43 USD). See the full moon party from Samui guide for every confirmed 2026-2027 date and boat operator.

Does the alcohol ban affect tourists during Buddhist holidays?

Barely, in tourist areas. A 2025 rule exempts licensed hotels, airport outlets and licensed bars in tourist zones, so most of Chaweng and Lamai’s hotel restaurants and nightlife keep serving on the five annual ban days. Only standalone liquor stores and unlicensed restaurants pause alcohol sales for the day. See the Buddhist holidays and alcohol ban guide for the full date list.

When should I book a Koh Samui trip around a specific festival?

Book 3-6 months ahead for Songkran or the New Year’s Eve countdown, since those two dates push Chaweng-area rates to their yearly peak and trigger multi-night minimum stays. One to two months is usually enough for the Samui Regatta or Chinese New Year. Every other event on this calendar, including Loy Krathong and the Vegetarian Festival, follows normal advance-booking timelines — see the when to book guide for month-by-month lead times.

Do Koh Samui’s events affect ferry schedules to other islands?

Yes, mainly around the Full Moon Party. Boats to Koh Phangan get noticeably busier in the days around each monthly party, and especially so when a party lands near Loy Krathong or Christmas. Songkran and the Vegetarian Festival have little effect on inter-island ferry demand, since both are Samui-based events rather than reasons to leave the island.