Best of both worldsICONIC ANNUAL HUA HIN EVENTS TO COINCIDE IN DECEMBER

Best of both worlds

ICONIC ANNUAL HUA HIN EVENTS TO COINCIDE IN DECEMBER

The rescheduling of the Hua Hin Jazz Festival from late November out of respect for the passing of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit The Queen Mother has set up a bumper weekend for locals and visitors alike, as the annual Vintage Car Parade and Jazz Festival will now both begin on Friday 19th December, with the former running until Sunday 21st December and the latter reaching it’s crescendo on the Saturday.

While both of these events are and have been wonderful for Hua Hin for over two decades, with both celebrating their 23rd ‘anniversary’ in 2025 (although the Jazz Festival has not run every year, mainly due to Covid, they both began 23 years ago in 2002/2003), and are a huge boon to the local economy, they normally occur on different weekends, so the city and it’s residents could face a massive traffic nightmare on the main Phetkasem Road through the centre, and spilling out to the connecting roads, as thousands of people arrive from Bangkok and further afield to attend one or both events, testing Hua Hin’s infrastructure (and the patience of residents) to it’s limits, and based on previous large events it seems likely that the main junctions and u-turns in the centre will be restricted, making right turns unavailable, to try and mitigate this and reduce accidents.

The full details of the rescheduled Jazz Festival have not yet been announced, and very likely there will be some changes in the artists performing, and we recommend visiting their Facebook page for up to date announcements; also on that page are details about the artists and assistance for anyone who had already booked accommodation for the original dates (28/29th November). The Festival ‘theme’ this year has been altered and is now “Eternally In Our Hearts: A Jazz Tribute”, with the whole event dedicated to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit The Queen Mother, and it is assumed that this will still take place on the beach, although no official confirmation has yet been made, and again this may be subject to some alteration from the original two stage setup.

Above: The amended and muted promotional poster for this year’s Jazz Festival

The Hua Hin Vintage Car Parade has been slightly renamed this year to “The Phetchaburi–Hua Hin Vintage Car Parade”, and has also got a theme – “The Charm of Yesteryear… A Seaside Town with Local Colour.” According to the website of the organisers, the Vintage Car Club of Thailand, the event will begin at the Auto Rendezvous Museum-Bangkok and continue to the Dusit Thani Hua Hin Hotel on Friday, December 19, 2025. The public will be able to view valuable classic and antique cars up close at the hotel grounds. In previous years the cars have been based at a variety of local resorts, as well as some being on show at local landmarks such as the historic (old) railway station; the original location for the event was what is now Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas Hua Hin, formerly known as the Sofitel and originally built in the 1920’s as The Railway Hotel, and was used for the movie “The Killing Fields” in 1984.

Above: The slightly less muted promotional material for the Vintage Car Parade

As many will be aware, the Dusit Thani Hua Hin Hotel is not actually in Hua Hin, but just outside, in the bordering Petchaburi province (Cha-am), about 5km north of Hua Hin Airport. It is not known if the cars will actually parade through Hua Hin city centre, or if they will appear anywhere other than at the hotel, with more details expected to be announced closer to the event. Again, the best place to look for any updates is probably either the website of the organisers or the Facebook page. Given the ongoing roadworks at the tunnel under the airport runway, and the expected increased traffic due to the Jazz Festival, this may well limit what either the organisers are able to do, as well as what the vehicle owners will want to submit their classic vehicles to.

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