The Monkey Buffet Festival is held annually in Lopburi (map). The provincial capital of Lopburi is located in central Thailand. It is about 155 kilometers north of Bangkok, and it takes about three hours to drive there from the city.
Visitors of Lopburi may feel like they have stepped right into the filming of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The festival was described as one of the strangest festivals by London’s Guardian newspaper along with Spain’s baby-jumping festival.
The exact date of the monkey festival has yet to be determined. It usually occurs on the last Sunday of November.
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Visiting Lopburi is often left off many traveler’s itineraries, being that it is off the usual trail of cities that lure tourists to Thailand in the first place. It is one of the oldest cities in Thailand, founded by King Kalavarnadish over a thousand years ago.
Visitors can get to Lopburi by either bus or train. Many prefer taking the railway to get to this historic city, as the journey provides for some pretty stunning scenery along the way. By train, the journey to Lopburi takes about two hours.
The train station is found at Hua Lamphong Railway Station (map). Trains leave about every hour. Tickets are fairly affordable, though the price does differ depending on the train and the seat visitors get. Some trains are faster than others, as well.
Visitors of the festival can also get to Lopburi by bus from the northern bus terminal in Bangkok, otherwise known at Mochit 2 (map).
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