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Best time to visit Southeast Asia

The best time to visit Southeast Asia is generally between November and February, when most countries are dry and pleasantly warm. As our guide to the best time to visit Southeast Asia explains, other factors to consider include monsoons, festivals and full moons. Our month by month guide to the weather in Southeast Asia has more details.

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Best time to visit Southeast Asia

Everyone has a different favourite season in Southeast Asia and it all depends on what you want to get out of your trip

The best time to visit Southeast Asia is between November and February. There’s drier, less humid and slightly cooler weather in most of the region, with average temperatures around 30°C. Bring a warm jacket for evenings, though. The rainy season in Southeast Asia is between June and October, which can mean flooding in the Mekong Delta and lush paddy fields in Cambodia and Vietnam. If you don’t mind the odd shower, the monsoon season can often be the best time of the year to visit for deals on flights and accommodation.

Call us for the best time to go to Southeast Asia (Indochina)

A month by month guide on when to go to Southeast Asia

January in Southeast Asia

Dry and sunny in most areas

Popular time of year

Some areas very busy

Europeans visit Southeast Asia in January in droves; the average daily high across much of mainland Indochina remains above 30°C all year round, this month included (though it’s cooler in places like northern Vietnam). Thailand’s notorious full moon parties are particularly popular at the start of the year. More authentic celebrations also occur: Tet Nguyen Dan, Vietnam’s Lunar New Year festivities, often fall this month. Hotels heave, and some attractions close.

January is a good month for our Cambodia and Vietnam holiday

February in Southeast Asia

Dry and sunny in most areas

Popular time of year to visit

Some areas very busy

Much of Southeast Asia in February is still in peak tourist season. For many places, it’s the last of the cooler, sunny and dry months before temperatures start climbing pre-monsoon and it gets very hot and humid. Tet (new year celebrations) might fall this month in Vietnam, but the north of the country is still quite cool – the average high in Hanoi is 21°C. Meanwhile in Thailand, it’s reliably 30°C+.

March in Southeast Asia

Peak season in Vietnam

Getting hot and humid

Peak burning season

March brings hot and humid weather to the peninsula before the monsoon – though north Vietnam has its peak season now. It’s firmly beach weather in places like Thailand and southern Vietnam and resorts on the coast get very busy. In some areas of Southeast Asia in March, it’s peak ‘burning season’ – farmers burn their fields before planting crops for the incoming rainy season and it can mean views get hazy, smog is in the air, and people with respiratory problems might have trouble.

April in Southeast Asia

Very humid

Some rain around

The hottest month in many areas

It’s hot and humid across much of Southeast Asia in April, and there might be some rain about, though it’s not quite monsoon season proper just yet. Temperatures soar: this is the hottest month of the year in many areas, and it can get to the high 30°Cs in places like Laos. Northern areas are cooler: in northern Vietnam, April is one of the best months to visit.

May in Southeast Asia

Rains begin for the south-west monsoon

Quiet month

Some deals about

The rains begin in Southeast Asia in May. The rainy season – the advent of the south-west monsoon – starts in Laos, Thailand and southern Vietnam, and a bit later in Cambodia and will run through the summer until October: the lush ‘green season’. May is a quieter month accordingly, but because it’s just the start of the rains it might be a good time to travel if you’re in search of a cheaper holiday.

June in Southeast Asia

Rainy season in most places

Dry central Vietnam

Drier in Thailand’s Koh Samui

The rainy season progresses across much of Southeast Asia in June – and starts properly in Cambodia and in the Gulf of Thailand. The water creates travel difficulties; the dirt roads in Laos become very muddy, and the Mekong Delta is flooded. However, in other places you can expect sunshine between showers, a rapidly greening landscape and waterfalls and rivers full.

When the rain falls it freshens everything up. Towards the end of the dry season, people are getting fed up with the heat. In the rainy season, everyone’s happier!

– Lesley Schofield from our partner All Points East

July in Southeast Asia

Rainy season in most places

Dry central Vietnam

Drier in Thailand’s Koh Samui

Settle in for rainy season in Southeast Asia in July; it’s mostly hot and wet. Yet there are still good places to visit. To see nesting turtles on Vietnam’s Con Dao Archipelago, head there from July. In Thailand, it will be drier in Koh Samui. In Vietnam, the central coast will be dry, and Laos’s Bolaven Plateau will be cooler.

August in Southeast Asia

Peak monsoon

Dry in central Vietnam

Dry in Koh Samui

Southeast Asia in August is at peak monsoon, ruling out trekking as paths are too slippery. This is Laos’ wettest month. There are drier regions: central Vietnam’s coast is dry, as are Thailand’s lower Gulf islands, like Koh Samui. Even in peak rainy season there is still sun about and areas can still get hours of sun a day between showers.

September in Southeast Asia

Green but very wet in many places

Shoulder season in Vietnam

Some areas see easing rain

Seen as the worst month to travel: the monsoon hits many areas hard in Southeast Asia in September. It’s the wettest month in places like Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh city and Phnom Penh. It’s shoulder season in Vietnam; typhoon season is approaching the central coast. In Laos, the rains are easing and the landscape is beautiful and green.

October in Southeast Asia

End of the rainy season

Some rain still about

Avoid central Vietnam

Emerging from the monsoon months beautifully green, Southeast Asia in October is busy with the rice harvest – and in the Mekong Delta, water lilies are picked to be sold at market. Cooler temperatures are coming; for now there might be a bit of rain about and so it’s still not considered tourist season. It’s very wet in central Vietnam, on Thailand’s Andaman Coast and in parts of Cambodia.

November in Southeast Asia

Start of high season in most places

Dry season, sunny weather, perfect temperatures

Rivers full after monsoon

There’s something in the water in November. Many river levels are high after the monsoon, good for river cruising, and the Tonle Sap River in Cambodia reverses its flow this month: the Bon Om Touk Water Festival celebrates this unique occurrence. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, November marks the beginning of dry season in many places, and therefore the high season for visitors.

December in Southeast Asia

Most places are sunny, warm and dry – perfect

Gets busy, especially towards the end of the month

Central Vietnam less settled weather

One of the best times of year to visit, it’s a scramble for Christmas in Southeast Asia in December – towards the end of the month many places are very busy and hotels fill up. After all, who doesn’t want to spend the end of the year in a fantastic beach resort? The start of the month might be better if you’re looking for a quieter stay. Expect great weather in most places in Southeast Asia – though central Vietnam is still a bit rainy.

December is a good time for our Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos holiday

Bangkok Weather Chart

MIN °C

MAX °C

RAIN (mm)

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

182

JUN

159

JUL

167

AUG

207

SEP

292

OCT

199

NOV

DEC

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Best times to visit Southeast Asia for festivals & events

Tet Nguyen Dan (late January or early February)

The Lunar New Year in Vietnam – Tet Nguyen Dan – is the country’s largest celebration and coincides with the Chinese New Year. After weeks of preparation, cleaning and decorating, the official celebrations last several days. There’s food and fireworks, and lots of flowers too – with families decorating their homes with blossoms, and the markets are very busy. Families gather together around this time, so prepare for busy public transport networks as well.

Songkran (mid April)

A real benefit of visiting Southeast Asia on the cusp of the dry season is Songkran, the New Year celebrations that happen across Southeast Asia in April. It’s a huge, week-long party in the street, celebrating the end of the dry season and the start of the rainy season. Everyone has a water gun, so there’s no hiding behind anyone to escape from getting wet; they’ll definitely have a water gun and will soak you through while belly-laughing. A 90-year-old granny in the street? Don’t trust her.

Buddha’s birthday (April or May)

The birthday of Buddha is the holiest holiday in the Buddhist religious calendar and is marked around the world, including in Southeast Asia. You will see monks leading the call to prayer from early in the morning, and by the evening there are torchlit processions of people carrying flowers and incense.

Ngan Bun Bang Fai (May)

Starting the rainy season with a bang: the rocket festival is celebrated in Laos and Thailand by ethnic Lao people to mark the coming of the rains and to ask for water to ensure a good harvest. Elaborate homemade rockets don’t just look amazing, they create amazing displays too. Rockets are fired into the sky as people pray for good rains – what goes up, must come down, after all.

Wandering Souls’ Day (August)

One of Vietnam’s largest festivals takes place on Wandering Souls Day, also known as Vu Lan, a time when the spirit world is thought to be open. Families get together to pray for loved ones who have passed, and make offerings on their behalf to ensure their safe passage into heaven.

Hoi An Lantern Festival (usually 14th day of each lunar month)

In Buddhism, the full moon is considered sacred, so every month it is marked in Hoi An, Vietnam, by worshippers in the temples and by the lighting of lanterns. Motorised vehicles are banned for the evening, people turn their lights off, and instead, lanterns light the streets and floating lanterns are set floating on the river.

Festival of Light (November)

Known as Loy Krathong in Thailand and Bon Om Touk in Cambodia, the Festival of Light gives thanks to the Goddess of Water and Rivers. Floating containers of flowers and leaves, called krathongs are set floating down the river with candles – Chiang Mai has a particularly significant celebration.

Our travellers also ask…

What months are best to travel in Southeast Asia?

Many travellers want to see all of the Indochina peninsula on one trip, which means picking the weather window that works best for all of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and possible Thailand too, all at once. No fear – this is perfectly doable, as most of the area is ok year round – though you might want to avoid the peak rainy season. The best time is November to February – we think early December is good, as it is less busy than later in the month in many places.

When is the rainy season in Southeast Asia?

For most of Southeast Asia the rains hit between May and June and end in October, but this is a broad generalisation. Vietnam is long and thin with lots of highlands, meaning the weather varies from place to place: the wettest months in the country are September and October, but the north and south have wet seasons from May to August, when the centre of the country is dry.

When is the worst time to visit Southeast Asia?

The rainy season is not a good time to visit Southeast Asia because there can be flooding, making some sites closed and some places hard to navigate – for instance dirt roads in Laos can get washed away and the Mekong Delta can flood. September is peak rainy season in many countries.