The rainy season in Thailand
The rainy season in Thailand runs roughly from June to October. The weather is then dominated by the southwest monsoon. In October, on average, the most rain falls in Thailand. However, there are regional differences. For example, the east coast (Koh Samui) is less affected by the monsoon than the west coast (Phuket).
Rainy season Thailand
Travelers and tourists planning a holiday to Thailand would like to know when the rainy season starts in Thailand. Understandable because if you come from the Netherlands you have usually seen enough rain and you especially want a clear blue sky with an exuberant sunshine.
Thai climate: three seasons
Thailand has a tropical climate, which is influenced by monsoon winds from the south and north. You can travel in Thailand all year round, although there are seasons that influence the weather. Thailand has three:
- March – June: It hot season with high temperatures and high humidity.
- June – October: The rainy season with more rainfall than in the other seasons, the rain showers are often short and heavy.
- November – February: The dry season. Especially this period is seen as the most ideal period to visit Thailand, because the chance of rain is very small, the temperature is pleasant and the humidity is lower.
Temperature
The average lowest (day) temperature is 20° C, the average highest temperature is 37° C. April is the hottest month, then it can reach 40 degrees or more. Nevertheless, it can be nice to travel to Thailand in this month, for example to experience Songkran (Thai New Year and water festival). Some cooling, for example by the sea, is recommended.
In winter, evenings and nights can get cold, especially in the north and northeast. On average it is about 15 degrees at night, but lower is also possible. A sweater or jacket is recommended. When the sun rises, the weather will soon be 30 degrees or more.
Best time to travel
The best time to travel to Thailand is November to February. The winter months bring the coolest days. It rains the least and it is not so stuffy. There are nice Thai festivals that tourists can visit such as Loi Krathong. However, this period is also the high season in Thailand. That means more crowds and higher prices for accommodations.
Beach lovers and rain
There is good news for beach lovers. Thailand's two coastlines have different rainy seasons, allowing tourists to enjoy sunny beaches virtually year-round. The coast of the Andaman sea or the west coast (Phuket, Krabi, and the Phi Phi islands) are under the influence of the southwest monsoon. This brings (sometimes) heavy storms from April to October. While on the beaches on the Gulf of Thailand or the east coast (Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao), most of the rain falls between September and December.
Advantages of traveling in the rainy season
Many people immediately turn off when they hear the word rainy season. That is a pity because it may rain more, but these showers are often short and heavy (with exceptions). And sometimes it doesn't rain for days. Between the rains, especially in the morning, there is a lot of sun and it is still very warm.
There are also advantages to traveling during this time of year. The rates of hotels and other accommodations are sometimes 50% lower than in the dry season.
The rivers and waterfalls are beautiful and the landscape is at its greenest. So don't be put off immediately. Traveling to Thailand in the rainy season is fine. I've done it several times and really enjoyed it.
But last but not least in the rainy season nature is at its best, especially at the end when the rice fields are so high, those endless plains in the Isaan it seems like a very nice carpet, and much less farangs in general too . Actually, people do miss something yes in the rainy season, I often go for a tour outside the city with my wife around this time of year just to enjoy the beautiful green nature while people are still active be with the rice. Not to mention all that croaking of those frogs against each other, while I fall asleep I will miss it back in Belgium.
Pssst don't tell anyone, but I also discovered the rainy season as a good time to travel. Let the masses think that the other seasons are better, then I don't have to stand in line during the rainy season… I'll bring my umbrella!
I will not tell anyone else Sjaak, but I have also experienced the rainy season in Thailand several times and found it very pleasant. By the way, if you are there at that time you will see that many Farangs have already discovered that.
I have been coming to Thailand for several years now in the different seasons.
And have never paid more or less for a room.
If you book your stay on site, prices do not fluctuate in most places.
However, if you book your trip from your home country, or via the internet, there are major differences.
The price of a terrace, restaurant, shop, renting a scooter, ... the same all year round.
So that "HIGH SEASON, LOW SEASON" apart from the weather no difference.
Eddy, I just got back from 5 weeks in Thailand, so I was there in the "low season"
There are indeed possibilities, also for cottages or hotel rooms
In Pai, northwest of Chiang Mai, I rented a bungalow by the river
The price was 600 B per night, for 4 nights I paid 1950 Bath
Then in Bangkok ( NaNa ) a hotel room for 2200 , which I got for 1600 per night
Of course you have to dare to negotiate about the price!
In the quiet time they would like to rent to you, a slightly lower yield is always more than no income at all and empty accommodations
Regards, Peter
you will probably not notice the difference in hotel room prices when booking in the Netherlands.
In Thailand people really work with high and low season prices for hotels!
There is a difference high low season just look for December January and supposedly already full.
We are going to Pattaya at the end of May if you book this now over 100% more ra ra.
And our favorite hotel Bangkok full and more expensive even on their own site. But luckily we have already found a place.
And yes .. is it about the weather we can not resist talking about prices. That seems to be an ingrained trait in most people.
Let's stay on topic: the weather!
I have been to Thailand in all seasons for 20 years now and everything has its own charm. Only April to July I personally find very warm. But one thing is certain, you can wear your short-sleeved shirt all year round, we cannot say that in NL.
Frank F
Nice of you to say that. But Thai people like to talk about prices just as much as the Dutch. (maybe even better)
In recent years I have noticed that the rainy season does not start in May, but a month later.
I think climate change. It also seems to be getting warmer in the warm season.
In the north in the provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, the mountains are becoming increasingly barren due to forest fires. There was also an awful lot of smog / smoke due to these fires this month. No clouds, but the sun was barely visible.
I think that the government will have to intervene quickly, because it is a waste of the beautiful nature reserves. Once too many arid plains are created, repair is very difficult.
I am - and not only I think - a beach lover, and fortunately there is something else than just the beach in Thailand. The people are friendly all year round. But the sketched weather picture of Thailand is incomplete if you don't add that the rainy season is also the time when the wind is strongest, and the sea is no longer translucent and luminous tropical green, but grey. If you want to have the entire beach practically to yourself then you must of course go to Thailand during the rainy season and then many potential summer holidaymakers - when it is summer in Europe - are lucky that during that summer holiday in Europe the Thai beaches are deserted. You can forget about excursions by boat or canoeing and swimming because of the danger of drowning, although it is -unpredictable when- in the rainy season that there is also a day in between that is not steriotypically a rainy season day. Well, the summer weather in the Netherlands is also unpredictable, but then also at lower temperatures, both of the seawater, the air and of the rainwater. I have traveled several times - not coincidentally this year - to the tropical beaches of Australia during the Thai low season. The coldest month there (July) is warmer and definitely sunnier than the warmest month in the Netherlands (also July). Will I catch a cold in that Netherlands, no thank you.
Hi Willem,
You would hardly believe it, but you will not catch a cold in the Netherlands this year. We are here
As usual to complain about the weather (we are Dutch for that hey hihi) we have been in extremely high temperatures since June and they expect August to continue as well,
Nature now craves rain everything is dry and dying just bizarre for the Netherlands now, blue algae everywhere in the smaller outdoor swimming areas, so not the water in hours of traffic jams towards the beach etc etc
I'll take the plane to Thailand as soon as we can!
Greetings from the sweltering Netherlands
The writer of this piece about seasons assumes southern Thailand but uses it for the whole of Thailand. I would correct the cup in Thailand rainy season in South Thailand. (However, there are regional differences. For example, the east coast (Koh Samui) suffers less from the monsoon than the west coast (Phuket).)
What about the other areas? Like Isaan, Northern Thailand and the west coast of Southeast Thailand?
What strikes me is that there is little response from expats and more from people who only come to stay here temporarily. I live in the Mid-South of Thailand, Chumphon province, known for its "a lot" of rain. But already in the province there are big differences, because of the length of this province and the proximity of both seas: the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. These two have a strong influence on the weather in the province. Once south of the CITY of Chumphon you will be faced with much more rain than north of this city. To the north, the influence of the Andaman Sea is almost negligible.
In Thailand there is a huge difference in weather conditions. The North and the South already have a completely different form and period of rainy season. One year is not the other, just like in Europe. In Belgium we had winters with a lot of snow and very low temperatures, other years it barely froze and not a flake of snow.
Last year I found the rainy season very “friendly”. The longest period of constant rain was 3 days and it wasn't even pelting rain. Furthermore, it was usually limited to daily short but heavy showers.
As a radio amateur I do follow the weather, especially when it comes to thunderstorms.
The rainy season last year followed a fairly fixed pattern:
from the end of May to the middle of November…
in the morning : mostly dry, cloudy
afternoon: around 13 pm it started … heavy shower with duration usually an hour
evening: after dark: heavy showers usually with a sound and light show (thunderstorm)
night: regular rain
Towards the end of the rainy season, the initial periods also shifted and became more limited in frequency…. The showers no longer started in the afternoon but more towards the evening, when darkness fell.
Once Loi Khratong has passed, it is regarded here as the end of the rainy season, the daily rain was over…. BUT then here begins the “windy” season…. from the end of November to the middle of January there is wind every day, from strong to very strong wind and dry.
At the moment it is very dry, already 2 months without a drop of rain here, just north of Chumphon. It promises to be a very warm April if it continues like this.
One thing: it is NEVER COLD here, can only be FRESH…. and, dear bloggers, do not link the weather to money and what you pay for a room, moped, food ….. in the rainy season, that is another item and money has been complained enough here in recent weeks by those who (not) have.. But yes this is a mainly NL blog.
Lung addie
The reason (I think) that relatively few expats respond is that they are now used to the situation and simply, like the Thai, take it as it comes; After all, nothing can be changed, so why bother?
Where I live, in Yala (deep south), we don't have a cooler season and the months of November and December are the wettest months. At the end of 2014, the floods in this region, especially after the opening of the Bang Lang Dam, were world news and people – I didn't live there yet – were waist-deep in water.
The first years in Thailand I lived under the illusion that the weather was the same everywhere. Until in January in the north I still longed for a sweater or jacket, when I sat in a songthew in the foggy morning. Fortunately I had a shawl on hand.
Then I found out that on the SW coast at that time the rainy season had not ended at all. I drowned there in my tent.
I think it's funny that the Thai in the northeast (Isaan) no longer greet you, thickly wrapped, with sawadee, but with "nau, nau, nau!" (cold, cold, cold!) when the temperature drops below 22℃.
On the other hand… After several months of staying in temperatures between 30 and 40 ℃, 15 ℃ also feels very fresh to me.
As a real Dutchman and permanently living here I love the rainy season.
Nice and cool , you can finally do something outside better than sitting by the air conditioning all day .
Even for motorcycling the weather is better, now and then a shower, but certainly not every day.
Just get on a bike with protection clothing at temperatures of up to 40 degrees.
The sweat water runs out on all sides, especially in a traffic jam or in slow traffic.
And for those who like smog and air pollution , the dry period is from November to February , and as the contributor already described , being the most ideal time to visit Thailand .
Jan Beute.
We have been to Puhket once during the rainy season, and had continuous rain for 1 weeks.
I think it's not too bad in Chiang Mai. Rarely does it rain there all day in a row. Usually late afternoon or evening. And of course keep the emergency lighting ready.
The Three Seasons.
Since the 13 years that I have lived in Thailand, things have changed, just like in the whole world.
Look at the past few weeks, I'm not here, but hear from my partner of course; bake with
precipitation throughout the day. There is no longer a clear monsoon season with rain in the night
or morning hours. Distributed throughout Thailand, there are also differences between too dry, much too
wet or too hot. Wet is the biggest problem, I find, especially when it comes to the many floods in
certain parts of the country.
John.