Nine Hundred Kilos Down a Hundred Metres of Mud, and Chonburi Still Has Not Set a Date
The buffalo races normally land at the end of Buddhist Lent, but no 2026 date has been published by anyone official.
The Chonburi buffalo races, Wing Kwai, normally fall in late September or early October at the end of Buddhist Lent. For 2026, nobody official has published a date.
Jockeys ride bareback down a 100-metre dirt track on working water buffalo. The animals weigh between 400 and 900 kilos and are said to manage more than 48 kilometres an hour over the distance. They are divided into five size classes, from super junior up to jumbo. Fall off before the line and you are out. Alongside the racing there is a buffalo beauty contest, with the animals garlanded and dressed.
The 2025 edition was the 154th and ran from 28 September to 6 October, with the racing itself on 6 October. That would make this year the 155th.
One listings site puts 2026 on 25 October, but says details are subject to change and cites no source. Neither the provincial administration nor the Tourism Authority of Thailand had posted a date at the time of writing.
A smaller, separate buffalo race near Wat Ruang in Chonburi held its third running in April. It is not the provincial festival and should not be mistaken for it.
Anyone planning around this should wait for the province rather than book on a listings date.