Best Time To Visit Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is made up of 11 countries, it’s a big region. In this post we’ll give you a general overview of the best time to visit if you plan to travel around the region, plus give you the best and worst times to visit individual countries within Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia is almost entirely in the Northern Hemisphere; only Timor Leste and a part of southern Indonesia cross the equator into the Southern Hemisphere. We’ll talk about summer, winter, and seasons appropriate to the hemispheres.

1. Best Time To Visit Southeast Asia
2. Times and Places To Avoid in Southeast Asia
3. The Wet Season in Each Country In Southeast Asia

Best Time To Visit Southeast Asia

There is a list of the commonly accepted “best time to visit” each country in Southeast Asia below, then we’ll give you an itinerary for visiting the most popular countries in Southeast Asia at the best time.

1. Thailand – The best time to visit Thailand is broadly October to February. October is the start of peak season. See our notes, below, on times to avoid, there is some overlap and it depends where in Thailand you will be travelling.
2. Vietnam – The cooler, drier months in Vietnam are the winter months, December to March. This is perfect for city exploration, but if you want to hit the beach in central Vietnam, consider July and August for hot beach weather. Summer is not a good time to visit the north, it can be very wet.
3. Cambodia – The dry season in Cambodia is from November to April, the cooler months. Climate graphs for rainfall and temperatures in Cambodia are here.
4. Myanmar – It is almost impossible to visit Myanmar currently. The dry season is October to May.
5. Laos – The best time to visit Laos is in the dry season, October to April.
6. Phillipines – The best time to visit is January and April, to avoid typhoon season.
7. Indonesia – April to October is the best time in most of Indonesia, avoiding the heaviest monsoon rains.
8. Malaysia – March to June brings the dry season to Malaysia.
9. Singapore – February, March and April should bring drier and cooler weather to Singapore and there are festivals to enjoy. Singapore is hot year-round as it’s very close to the equator
10. Brunei
11. Timor Leste

Times of Year and Places To Avoid in Southeast Asia

Here are some places in SE Asia you should probably avoid at certain times of year. We can only cover the most popular tourist destinations here, but our guide and experiences should be helpful.

As we’ve been in these places as they experienced “natural disasters”, we can tell you that they don’t completely halt travel and tourism.

1. Chiang Mai and northern/central Thailand in burning season is to be avoided. Air quality can be terrible as crops are burnt off from January to April. The worst air quality is usually in March.
2. The west coast of Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur, can also experience terrible air quality from burning crops, mostly in Sumatra. This can happen between August and October, with September being worst. We have been in KL when a state of emergency was called due to air pollution, it will affect your travel plans. The air quality index for KL is here.
3. Hoi An Vietnam floods almost annually, the UNESCO listed Ancient Town may be under water. While we have lived in Hoi An through the floods, it’s not a great time to visit if you only have a few days to see the Old Town. Flooding may happen in November and December. Hoi An gets back to business as usual very quickly after the flooding subsides; it’s amazing to see.
4. Hue, Vietnam may also flood in November.
5. Bangkok and Ayutthaya also flood from time to time. These floods may happen between May and October, with June being high risk.
6. Kuala Lumpur has been known to flood in June, other parts of Malaysia may experience heavy rain and flooding in November-January. (source)
7. Bali can be flooded by heavy rain, however, we were in Bali in February when social media was telling the world Bali was under water, we saw no flooding at all. There was a lot of trash on the beaches after storms. The worst we’ve ever seen on the island. I would strongly suggest you avoid Bali in peak season; the crowding, even off-season, is hard to imagine.
8. Island hopping in South East Thailand may be impossible in the wet season due to high seas. Avoid ferries between Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, and Ko Tau in late autumn into winter, October to December

The Wet Season in Each Country In Southeast Asia

The Wet Season in each country is generally as follows.

1. Thailand – Most of Thailand experiences the wet season in May to the start of October, the east coast beaches and islands of southern Thailand (Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, Ko Tau) can experience it later, October into December.
2. Vietnam –
3. Cambodia – Cambodia’s wet season is May to October, the summer months, with the heaviest rains usually falling. March and April are the hot season.
4. Myanmar –
5. Laos – The best time to visit Laos is in the dry season, October to April.
6. Philippines –
7. Indonesia –
8. Malaysia – .
9. Singapore – November, December and January bring the worst of the monsoon weather to Singapore. Singapore is hot and fairly wet all year, being almost on the equator with a tropical equatorial climate. June-August brings a second monsoon period.
10. Brunei
11. Timor Leste