Phuket Festival

Thao Thep Kasattri and Thao Srisunthon Fair
This fair is held on March 13 every year to commemorate the two great heroines who rallied the Thalang people to repel Burmese invaders.

Many activities and celebrations are organized. [ more information about Thao Thep Kasattri and Thao Srisunthon ]




Seafood Festival
Held around May yearly, is designed to publicize the delicious seafood of Phuket and attract visitors during the rainy season.

Activities include a Marine Tourism Resources Parade, seafood stalls, demonstrations of regional cuisines and cultural shows.




Phuket Vegetarian Festival
Held on the first day of the 9th lunar month (usually October). Phuket islanders of Chinese ancestry commit themselves to a 9-day vegetarian diet, a form of purification believed to help make the forthcoming year “trouble-free”. The festival is marked by several ascetic displays, including fire-walking and ascending sharp-bladed ladders. [ more information about Phuket Vegetarian festival ]



Phuket Travel Fair
Held on November 1^st, was first initiated in 1985 at Patong to welcome in the tourist season and designed to foster co-operation among tourism-related operators both in the private and public sectors. Many colorful and interesting activities are organized, such as merit-making in the morning; water sports contests, a Miss Visitor Contest, among others.


Phuket King’s Cup Regatta
Held in December. The Phuket Yacht Club hosts international yachtsmen, largely from neighboring countries who compete in the Nai Han Beach area for royal trophies.




Laguna Phuket Triathlon
Held in each December. The triathlon (a 1,000-metre swim, a 5-kilometre bike race and a 12-kilometre run) attracts world-class athletes from all over the world.











Turtle Release Fair
Held on Songkran, the nationwide Thai water festival, on April 13 which is also National Fisherman’s Day. Baby turtles are released into the sea at various locations.






Chao Le (Sea Gypsy) Boat Floating Festival
Falls during the middle of the sixth and eleventh lunar months yearly. The sea gypsy villages at Rawai and Sapam hold their ceremonies on the 13th; Ko Si-re celebrates on the 14th; and Laem La (east of the bridge on Phuket’s northerntip) on the 15th. Ceremonies, which centre on the setting adrift of small boats similar to the Thai festival of Loi Krathong, are held at night and their purpose is to drive away evil and bring good luck.



Por Tor Festival
This is an ancestor's festival of the ethnic Chinese that falls on the seventh Chinese lunar month, which is the same as the ninth lunar month of the Thais. Special foods, flowers and candles are presented to the ancestor's altars. Cakes in the shape of turtles are made from flour.

This is done because turtles live to great age and it is believed that by making such offering worshippers may extend the length of their lives. It is an important merit-making festival. [ more information about Por Tor festival ]