Thailand Scraps Afternoon Alcohol Ban, Sets 11am-Midnight Sales Hours Nationwide

Since May 27, 2026, Thailand’s long-standing ban on alcohol sales between 2pm and 5pm no longer applies. The Public Health Minister signed a Royal Gazette notice that took effect immediately, setting a single nationwide sales window of 11am to midnight for shops, supermarkets, and most restaurants and bars, with exemptions for airport terminals serving international flights, licensed entertainment venues (which keep their own operating hours), and hotels. The change makes permanent a 180-day trial that had already lifted the afternoon ban since around the end of 2025, after regulators judged it hadn’t caused the problems some had feared.

For residents and visitors, this means alcohol is now available throughout the day at any licensed shop or restaurant, without the mid-afternoon gap that had been in place since 1972. It doesn’t touch separate rules that still restrict sales and public drinking around specific Buddhist holidays, in temples, on public transport, or near petrol stations, so those are worth checking separately when planning around a holiday.