Best time to visit South-East Asia: where to go each month

No month suits most of South-East Asia at once; the widest choice is in January, when 8% of its destinations rate Good for being outside. Below, the best places for each month, and every country’s own seasons, across eleven countries and 296 destinations. In three months nowhere here rates Good.

Month by month

For each month, the best places in South-East Asia for being outside, for sun at the seaside and for walking, read at midday and spread across the region. Each name opens the map there, in the middle of that month, on that rating.

January — Being outside: Sầm Sơn, Baguio City. Sun: Phú Quốc, Vigan. Walking: Hà Giang.
February — Being outside: Haiphong, Baguio City. Sun: Vigan, Phú Quốc. Walking: Hà Giang.
March — Being outside: Móng Cái. Sun: Cagayan de Oro, Laoag, Hội An.
April — nowhere here rates Good for being outside, sun or walking.
May — nowhere here rates Good for being outside, sun or walking.
June — Sun: Mataram.
July — Sun: Kulat.
August — Sun: Kulat.
September — Sun: Kulat.
October — nowhere here rates Good for being outside, sun or walking.
November — Being outside: Điện Biên Phủ.
December — Being outside: Haiphong, Baguio City. Sun: Phú Quốc. Walking: Hà Giang.

Country by country

Each country’s main season, where most of its cities agree. “Varies by place” means no stretch suits most of the country at once; its own guide splits it up.

Country	Being outside	Sun	Walking
Brunei	rarely good	rarely good	rarely good
Cambodia	rarely good	Dec to Jan	rarely good
Indonesia	rarely good	varies by place	rarely good
Laos	varies by place	late Jan	varies by place
Malaysia	rarely good	rarely good	rarely good
Myanmar	varies by place	mid Dec to mid Feb	rarely good
Philippines	rarely good	Feb	rarely good
Singapore	rarely good	rarely good	rarely good
Thailand	rarely good	varies by place	rarely good
Timor-Leste	rarely good	Jul to early Sep	rarely good
Vietnam	varies by place	varies by place	varies by place

The best-known places

The most-visited places with a guide of their own, and each one’s main season. Each season opens the map at its peak.

Place	Country	Being outside	Sun	Walking
Bangkok	Thailand	rarely good	at best fair	rarely good
Denpasar	Indonesia	rarely good	Jun to mid Oct	rarely good
Manila	Philippines	rarely good	Jan to Feb	rarely good
Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	rarely good	at best fair	rarely good
Chiang Mai	Thailand	at best fair	late Nov to Feb	rarely good
Ấp Đa Lợi	Vietnam	at best fair	late Jan to early Mar	rarely good
Phatthaya	Thailand	rarely good	at best fair	rarely good
Hanoi	Vietnam	late Nov to mid Mar	early Nov	mid Jan to early Feb
Jakarta	Indonesia	rarely good	at best fair	rarely good
Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	rarely good	rarely good	rarely good
Yogyakarta	Indonesia	rarely good	mid Jul to Aug	rarely good
Bandung	Indonesia	at best fair	Jun to Sep	rarely good
Lapu-Lapu City	Philippines	rarely good	Feb to early Mar	rarely good
City of Calamba	Philippines	rarely good	Jan to Feb	rarely good
Phuket	Thailand	rarely good	rarely good	rarely good
Hua Hin	Thailand	rarely good	late Nov to early Jan	rarely good

Rankings for South-East Asia

Best places for sun in FebruaryThe late-winter escape: where February is reliably warm and bright.Clear skies and warmth in FebruaryThe least cloud anywhere that also feels warm at midday in February.Places that are pleasant most of the yearThe cities with the most weeks a year of comfortable, dry weather for being outdoors.

Other regions

EuropeNorth Africa and the Middle EastAfrica south of the SaharaCentral Asia and the CaucasusSouth AsiaEast AsiaAustralia and the PacificNorth AmericaMexico, Central America and the CaribbeanSouth America

How this is worked out

Every figure is a decade of weather-station observations blended into one typical year, read at midday local solar time. Places are the region’s towns and cities that draw visitors, and for sun its seaside holiday places. Being outside is the Easy outdoors rating, Sun is Sunbathing and Walking is Active outdoors; a place is named for a month when it rates Good or better across the whole month.