Asia

Wonderfruit is the festival that backpackers whisper about in Bangkok hostels, usually while trying to figure out how they blew their whole weekly budget in four days without regret. Held annually at The Fields at Siam Country Club in Pattaya, just two hours from Bangkok, it is Thailand's most ambitious arts-and-music festival and one of the few events in Southeast Asia that genuinely earns the word 'transformative'. If you are picturing a sweaty beach rave, think again.

Once a month, the beach at Haad Rin on Koh Phangan hosts what is genuinely one of the biggest recurring parties on the planet. Around 10,000 to 30,000 people descend on a stretch of sand lit up by fire skipping ropes, paint-covered bodies, and a wall of sound bars that runs the full length of the shore. If you are backpacking Southeast Asia and you miss it, you will absolutely hear about it from everyone who didn't.