Best Time to Visit Vietnam & Thailand: Complete Guide

On traveling in Southeast Asia, you can be a little confused about the weather as in your home country, especially in Western countries, it never experiences the monsoon, while it is the weather’s feature. With most SA countries defined by wet and dry seasons every year, it seems to be so easy to travel from one country to another. However, though featuring the same kind of weather conditions, many countries have different times for each season throughout the year. Sometimes, in one, it is still dry season, but in another, it turns wet already.

Therefore, combining the best weather in two different countries for your tour can be hard. Thailand and Vietnam are no exceptions. Both lie in the subtropical climatic region and feature quite similar weather conditions with two distinct seasons per year. Besides their obvious similarities, the two seasons’ durations vary in both countries. To get to know more about Vietnam and Thailand weather and when is the best time to visit the two countries, keep reading as we will give a complete guide.

Vietnam and Thailand Weather Overview 

Firstly, let’s take a quick look at the overview of Vietnam and Thailand's weather to find out their difference so that you can more wisely choose the best time to visit.

Vietnam Weather 

Featuring a humid subtropical climate, Vietnam's weather can vary significantly from one region to another with distinctive monsoon seasons. Generally, the dry season in Viet Nam, which sets between November and April in the North & South, March, and August in the Central, is affected by the cold, dry northeast monsoon. The rainy season, which sets in between May and October in the North and South, September, and February in the Central, is affected by the hot, humid southwest monsoon. With a coastline of more than 3,000 km, Vietnam experiences great climatical variation over the 15 degrees of latitude. Consequently, not the whole country receives moderate sunshine all year round. At the same time of the year, you can soak up the sun on the southern beaches and get frozen in the northern mountains.

In terms of topography and latitude, Vietnam is divided into three distinct weather patterns: the North, the Central, and the South.

North features the most diverse climate pattern that is defined by 4 distinct seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter. Along with this, there are significant changes in each season. While the temperatures in the summer can reach 38°C, the winter averages may dip down to 8°C occasionally and even below zero in mountainous regions. Throughout the year, July is the hottest month with an average temperature of 30°C. And January, the coldest month, has an average temperature of 12°C. 

Central is quite similar to the North with the extremely hot months in the middle of the year. It is also the rainy season when floods frequently occur and produce negative impacts on either transportation or tourism. The Central is divided into three smaller climate zones. Overall, Central weather has dry and rainy seasons, and the biggest likelihood to experience storms, which is quite different from other regions of the country.

South offers a typical monsoon climate with year-round high temperatures and constant sunshine. The southern temperatures vary constantly around 25°C – 35°C throughout the year. In particular, there are two distinct seasons: the dry and the wet.

Vietnam tranquil town

Thailand Weather 

Thailand can best be described as tropical and humid for the bulk of the country during most of the year. Besides two typical seasons of the tropical climatical region (hot season from March to mid-May and dry cool season from November to February), the country experiences a rainy season from mid-May to October. This can be quite almost like Vietnam because the country also experiences the time of year. The difference is that the season in Vietnam varies in regions, while it only occurs in one period of time in Thailand.

However, that does not mean Thailand's weather doesn’t vary according to topography and latitude. In fact, it actually does and is split into the Northern and the Southern Peninsular.

Northern features the foremost distinct three seasons. Between November - May, the weather is mostly dry. However, this is broken up into the periods of November to February and March to May. The latter of these two periods has the higher relative temperatures as although the northeast monsoon does not directly affect the northern, it does cause cooling breezes from November to February. The other northern season is from May to November and is dominated by the southwest monsoon, during which time rainfall in the north is at its heaviest.

The southern has only two distinct seasons, the wet and the dry. These seasons do not set in at the same time on both the east and west sides of the peninsula. On the west coast, the southwest monsoon brings rains and often heavy storms from April through to October, while on the east coast the most rain falls between September and December. Generally, the southern parts of Thailand get by far the most rain, with about 2,400 millimeters every year, compared with the central and northern, both of which get about 1,400 millimeters.

Thailand beautiful weather condition

Best time to visit Vietnam and Thailand

Now let's learn more details about the best time to travel to each country below.

Best time to visit Vietnam 

The diversity in climate features of Vietnam gives you quite a wide range of choices of when to visit the country as there is no best or worst time for the whole country. It depends mainly on where you want to visit during your trip to Vietnam.

In particular, if you want to spend your vacation in the North, the best time to visit the North is spring, from March to April, and autumn, from September to November. In the spring, it is comfortably warm with pleasant sunshine, and sometimes drizzles allow you to take part in tourism activities. Spring also offers mesmerizing scenery and colorful with many kinds of flowers blooming at the same time. Autumn will give you a truly relaxing experience with its peaceful atmosphere. It is cool and dry with slight winds and low rainfall. The scenery turns tranquil with yellow leaves falling on the street and the locals working on their rice paddies. 

Everything considered the best time to visit Central is from March to May. These are the driest months with calm weather and pleasant temperatures, allow you to join tourism activities and enjoy your vacation.

Visiting the South, you can choose anytime as the area’s weather is quite stable all year round with temperatures around 20°C to 30°C and humidity from 70% to 80%. Throughout the year, the best time to visit the South is in the dry season, especially from December to February. Besides, if you have choices, try not to come here between June and September as this is the typhoon weather, which receives the highest rainfall of the year. 

For more information, you can check out Best time to visit Vietnam.

Best time to visit Thailand 

For the best time to visit Thailand, the cool season from November to April is the first choice. From late November to February, you will not have to suffer from the rainy season. The average temperature is between 22°C and 29°C. Therefore, in the southern peninsula, the weather is dry and cool. In the north, the temperature ranges at different levels. The temperature is lower at higher altitudes. Therefore, it is the best month to visit Thailand for camping and hill tribe trekking in a couple of days.

In March and April, the weather is quite hot, which can reach around 35°C in Bangkok. As a result, most travel guides will recommend you to go to the South to enjoy the stunning beaches. The weather here is more consistent along with many low-flowing rivers, so it is very suitable for you to play some water activities like water rafting and kayaking.

During the period between November and April, there are a lot of interesting events and festivals for visitors to join. It is considered the festive time in Thailand as the period of New Year offers the best time to visit Thailand and learn more about Thai culture. There are Loy Krathong Nationwide, the Elephant Roundup Surin festival, and the Songkran festival. 

In general, the best time to visit Vietnam and Thailand is between November to March when the weather is dry and cool. It also peaks the tourist period in both countries, so if you plan to travel, please plan as soon as possible. For more information on booking the best Vietnam Thailand tours, contact us right away.

Duc Anh Tran 

(Image Source: Internet)