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Lopburi Monkey Buffet Festivalงานเลี้ยงโต๊ะจีนลิง

Several tonnes of fruit laid out on banquet tables for the macaques that have effectively annexed a provincial town

Next
29 November 2026
29 November 2026
Where
Phra Prang Sam Yot, Lopburi
Public holiday
No
Alcohol sales
Normal

In short

Every year on the last Sunday of November, Lopburi sets out around four tonnes of fruit, vegetables and Thai sweets on decorated tables in front of Phra Prang Sam Yot, the Khmer shrine at the centre of town, and lets the resident long-tailed macaques demolish it. It began in 1989 as a tourism idea and has become the town's identity — alongside a serious and unresolved problem with the monkeys themselves.

Go if

  • A genuinely easy day trip — Lopburi is about two hours north of Bangkok by train
  • Photographers, provided the camera strap is short and your bag is zipped
  • Combining with Ayutthaya on the same line

Be aware

  • The macaques are habituated, numerous and confident. They take sunglasses, phones, drinks and bags, and they bite
  • Rabies risk is real; any bite or scratch that breaks the skin needs immediate medical attention
  • Lopburi's monkey population has become a civic crisis, with mass trapping and sterilisation programmes and parts of the old town abandoned to them. The festival is not a neutral celebration
  • Do not carry food, plastic bags or anything shiny near the shrine

Dates

The last Sunday of November, with a costumed opening ceremony in the morning and several sittings of the buffet through the day.

  • 29 November 2026Sunday. Phra Prang Sam Yot and the surrounding streets.

Sources

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