Best time to visit Thailand

You can pop Thailand into roughly three seasons: wet, hot and warm with the hills of the north getting the biggest variation in temperatures.

January and February are mid-way through the cooler season and are often considered the best times to go to Thailand, especially after the Christmas vacations.

Things start to heat up over March, April and May so best advice is to head south to the beaches or search for less humid conditions amongst the higher hillsides of the north. Songkran, the Thai New Year festival, takes place in mid-April and although good fun, can lead to travel disruption in rural towns as everything shuts down for almost a week so people can chuck water at each other.

As heat turns to wet weather during May, June, July and August, you'll find it rains almost every day but only for about an hour or so which can sometimes be a welcome respite during the late afternoon or early evening.

September and October tend to find the worst of the weather and daily deluges are often strong enough to disrupt travel plans, particularly when trekking in more remote areas.

The end of the year, November and December, finds temperatures starting to dip and is one of the best times to go trekking in Northern Thailand although it's still advisable to avoid walking too long around the middle of the day.

Lesley Schofield, from our supplier All Points East, shares her best time to visit Thailand:

“I like going in the rainy season from May to September. It's quieter, you haven’t got enormous coach parties, and it’s almost unheard of that it would rain for days on end. You do need to avoid the Andaman Coast as that’s affected by monsoons – but you can go to the Gulf of Thailand instead. There are nice islands there, and they’re much, much quieter – whereas on Koh Phi Phi on a Thai public vacation in November you can’t move! Also, when the rain falls it freshens everything up. Towards the end of the dry season, people get really frustrated. The fields want water, the people are getting fed up with the heat. In the rainy season, everyone’s happier!”

Not all of Thailand’s festivals are wildly hedonistic. The Festival of Light - Loi Krathong – is held to give thanks to the Water Goddess each November. Lotus-shaped craft, draped with flowers and candles, float down the rivers in Sukothai and Chiang Mai in this beautiful, spiritual celebration.

Thai New Year – called songkran - is celebrated countrywide from 13th-15th April, with the biggest festivities in Chiang Mai. Appropriately for the hottest time of year, water throwing – often ice-cold – is popular, and you may get smeared with talc as a blessing. Elders are honoured, and there are music and dance performances.