Lopburi Monkey Buffet Festival

The old town of Lopburi has long shared its streets and crumbling Khmer temples with several thousand crab-eating macaques. Once a year, on the last Sunday of November, the town says thank you in the most extravagant way imaginable: the Monkey Buffet Festival.

Why It’s Interesting

In front of the 13th-century shrine of Phra Prang Sam Yot, organisers pile up enormous, sculpted spreads — pyramids of watermelon, pineapple, durian, lettuce, eggs, and Thai sweets, dressed with red cloths and decorations — and then let the monkeys loose to demolish them. The result is gleeful chaos: macaques diving into fruit towers, stealing from each other, and clambering over delighted (and slightly nervous) onlookers. It began as a tourism idea in the late 1980s and has become one of Thailand’s most surreal annual spectacles.

Best Time to Visit

The buffet is the last Sunday of November, in the cool season. The macaques themselves rule the old town every day of the year.

Getting There

Lopburi is an easy train day-trip from Bangkok (around 3 hours); Phra Prang Sam Yot is a short walk from the station. Mon-chan took one look at a thousand monkeys and announced, firmly, “I do not like them.”