Christmas and New Year in Phuket
Updated
Christmas and New Year fall in Phuket's high season: Christmas Day is a working day in Thailand, while New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are public holidays, and Patong has held a countdown on the beach in recent years.
- Christmas: Not a public holiday in Thailand, though Old Town has put up Christmas decorations in recent years, and many hotels hold Christmas dinners.
- New Year’s Eve: Patong has counted down at Bangla Square in recent years, into the night; other towns' countdowns move, and each year's programme comes out in late December.
- Fireworks: Watch the organised ones. Your own fireworks or sky lanterns need a district permit; without one, the penalty is up to three years in prison, a fine of up to 60,000 baht, or both.
- New Year’s Day: A public holiday; many Buddhists begin it by giving alms to monks soon after dawn.
- Booking: Rooms fill and prices rise: book early, and read a hotel's terms for compulsory dinners.
Christmas in Phuket
Christmas isn't a public holiday in Thailand: on Christmas Day, banks and government offices stay open. Old Town has dressed up for it in recent years. In 2023, a giant Santa climbed the old police building in the heart of Old Town, and another stood by the beach at the end of Bangla Road in Patong.
Phuket Town's Catholic church is the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, with Mass on Sunday mornings; ask the parish for its Christmas times. St Joseph's in Cherng Talay, near Bang Tao, has held Christmas Masses for its congregation of expats; the last listing found was for 2022, so check with the parish.
On Christmas Day the sun sets at 18:16. Hotels and resorts hold Christmas dinners, and many of the bigger ones make a New Year’s Eve gala dinner compulsory, some a Christmas Eve one too, charged on top of the room. Read the terms before you book.
Remembering on 26 December
The Indian Ocean tsunami struck Phuket's west coast on 26 December 2004, and 26 December 2026 is the 22nd anniversary. In recent years Patong has held a remembrance at Bangla Square, and Mai Khao a multi-faith service at the Wall of Remembrance in its cemetery, where the victims were identified and returned to their families. The times change from year to year. The day is also Thailand's National Disaster Prevention Day.
New Year’s Eve
Patong has held a countdown on the beach at Bangla Square in recent years. In 2023 it ran from 18:00 to 01:00, with fireworks at midnight; in 2025 it was billed from 16:00 to midnight, and the police closed the beach road from 22:30 until 01:00, so plan to arrive on foot. Patong posted that year's programme on 25 December 2025: the programmes come late, so look again in the last week of December.
Elsewhere the venues move. In 2023, the city counted down in Old Town and ended with fireworks over Phuket Town; in 2024, the province counted down at a shopping mall's arena, and Karon and Surin had countdowns of their own on the tourism authority's list. Over Kamala, a beachfront resort has put on a midnight show three years running, free to watch from the sand: billed as more than 2,000 shots over about 10 minutes in 2025.
The sun sets at 18:19 on New Year’s Eve. For a quieter night, temples hold chanting to see the year out, as Wat Kathu did from 18:30 in 2025. And in 2024, a year-end fair of local food and goods ran at Saphan Hin, on Phuket Town's waterfront, from 29 December to 11 January.
Fireworks and sky lanterns
Since 2016, Thai law has banned launching fireworks, rockets or sky lanterns without a permit from the district chief, with up to three years in prison, a fine of up to 60,000 baht, or both. Under Phuket's own rules, a district can permit sky lanterns on New Year’s Eve from 19:00 to 01:00, only at an approved site applied for at least 15 days ahead, and never in the airport's safety zone, which reaches 15 km out from each end of the runway. Patong repeated the warning in 2023 and 2025, and gave 191 as the number to report them on. Flying a drone within 9 km of the runway needs permission too.
So watch the organised fireworks, and don't buy a lantern or a rocket on the beach, however many you see go up.
New Year’s Day
New Year’s Day is a public holiday, and many Thai Buddhists start it by giving food to monks to make merit. The province held its alms-giving in Phuket Town from 06:00 in 2025, and Karon in front of its municipal office from 06:00 in 2026. If you go, dress modestly and keep back unless you're giving.
On 1 January 2027 the sun rises at 06:39.
Crowds, rooms and prices
The days between Christmas and New Year are busy. Over New Year 2024–25, the airport handled 437,411 passengers on 2,573 flights in a week, and the tourism authority expected hotels to be about 80% full.
In 2026, New Year’s Eve falls on a Thursday and New Year’s Day on a Friday, so Thursday 31 December to Sunday 3 January is a long weekend for many in Thailand: expect Thai holidaymakers too.
Hotels often add a surcharge and a minimum stay over the holidays. Book rooms, boats and restaurants early. Banks and government offices close on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and local councils for longer: Patong's offices stayed shut until the following Monday in 2025.
Expect slow roads around midnight, and police checkpoints for the New Year road-safety drive, as Karon had on its beach roads in 2025. For an ambulance, call 1669.
A couple against a gold sunset, an island behind. 
Old Town's lamps after dark. 
The last low sun of the day through the long grass.
Photos of your own in Phuket's golden light: portrait photography in Phuket