VISIT THAILAND

From April 29 to May 1, the village of Ban Ta Klang in northeastern Thailand gathers for Buad Nak Chang — the Elephant Ordination — a rare ceremony where Buddhist ritual, local belief systems, and a centuries-old relationship between people and elephants come together in vivid, living form.

Thailand is preparing to scale back its widely applied 60-day visa-free entry scheme, as the government shifts its tourism strategy toward attracting higher-spending, long-stay visitors and tightening screening of arrivals.

Visitors to Bangkok can take a more measured approach to the Songkran Festival this year, trading the city’s high-velocity street revelry for a slower drift along the Chao Phraya River.

For years, Songkran in Bangkok unfolded along a predictable axis. The chaos of Khao San Road—where water guns, buckets and crowds turned the street...

Chiang Mai — Chiang Mai has long drawn visitors for its temples, markets and mountain-fringed setting. But beyond its visual appeal, the city reveals something less immediately visible: a culture of craft that has never quite receded into the past.

In the first three months of 2026, 9.31 million international visitors arrived in the country, a steady recovery that suggests the long shadow of the pandemic has largely lifted. Yet beneath the headline figures lies a more complicated reality: travellers are spending more cautiously, forcing a rethink of what success in tourism should look like.

Air Arabia has launched direct flights from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to Krabi, providing a new gateway for Middle Eastern tourists to Thailand’s southern coast. The inaugural flight departed Sharjah on Thursday at 10:45 p.m. and landed at Krabi Airport early Friday at 8:10 a.m., marking the airline’s latest expansion in Southeast Asia.

Each December, Mae Hong Son’s Shan Food Festival rises out of the mountain mist like a beacon of flavour, drawing locals and travellers into one of northern Thailand’s most captivating cultural celebrations. Set in a remote mountain valleys, the five-day event turns the quiet Tai Yai heartland into a vibrant tapestry of herbal aromas and ancestral recipes brought to life.

Air France has launched direct flights between Paris and Phuket, strengthening Thailand’s push to attract more long-haul European visitors and boost tourism revenue from high-spending markets.

A short drive from Chiang Mai, past weaving villages and rice fields, lies Sanggadee Space, a creative sanctuary in San Kamphaeng district. Neither museum nor conventional market, it is a living, breathing ecosystem where traditional crafts, ecological mindfulness, and community converge.

When Bangkok’s brief cool season arrives in December, Suan Luang Rama IX bursts into colour. During 1–10 December 2025, the Phan Mai Ngam Festival draws crowds with its dazzling gardens, cultural displays and warm village-market charm.

Tucked between misty mountains along the Lao border, Nan feels wonderfully remote—a quiet northern province where temples glow with centuries-old murals and village looms still click beneath stilted homes. Now recognised by UNESCO as Thailand’s newest Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art, Nan is finally getting the global spotlight its artisans have long deserved.