The Best Time To Visit Thailand Depending On What You Want From The Trip

Thailand is full of lush natural beauty, fascinating cultural history, incredible wildlife, and some of the best street food in the world, so it's no surprise that it's one of the most popular tourist destinations. There's no doubt that Thailand is an incredible place to visit, but the best time to go depends on what you're looking for. From bustling cities to white sand beaches, Thailand has a lot to offer any kind of traveler, so if you're planning your trip, you must first know what you want to experience. If you're looking for the best weather, choose the dry season. If you want to avoid tourist crowds, consider the hot season. If your main priority is your budget, go in the wet season.

The general advice for visiting Thailand is to go between November and February for the dry season. If you're looking to explore the temples and nightclubs of Bangkok or take a boat tour of Maya Bay, often known as the world's best beach for its unspoiled beauty, you can't go wrong with the dry season. You won't get caught in torrential downpours, be covered in mud on your favorite trails, or have to deal with scorching temperatures. However, a lot of other travelers will have the same idea, so you may find yourself paying high prices and battling tourist crowds.

The dry season has temperatures between the low 70s and high 80s, but this can be considered a little chilly for Thailand. In March, April, and May, the country enters its hot season. If you visit during this time, you can expect temperatures to consistently soar over 105 degrees Fahrenheit. While beaches tend to fill up with locals looking to beat the heat (especially kids who are out of school), the hot temperature heat keeps most tourists away, so you won't have to contend with big crowds as you explore the city.

However, a hot season trip doesn't have to mean a quiet experience. If you time your trip for mid-April, you can enjoy fresh mangoes and participate in Songkran. This exciting festival celebrates the Thai New Year. Although this time of year is used to bring people together and honor older family members and lost loved ones, it is far from a somber affair. A history of symbolic cleansing combined with the extreme temperatures has also made this a time for splashing water on party-goers and revelers by spraying each other with water guns. During the hot season, you can also escape the heat at Thailand's coastal haven of beaches and vibrant ecosystems.

For about half of the year, between June and October, Thailand experiences sporadic monsoon rains. There can be extreme flooding, as short but extreme downpours in the evening absolutely drench anyone unlucky enough to be caught outside. There's very little tourism at this time, so if you don't mind avoiding those bursts of rain or actually enjoy hearing the rain batter the windows of your hotel, you can save a lot of money on flights and hotels by planning your trip to Thailand in the wet season.

While you won't want to be on the beach in the storms, that doesn't mean you can't do anything outdoors in the rainy season. Thailand's national parks (like the tropical hidden gem Erawan National Park) are nourished by the downpours and the humidity, so if you go hiking and looking for wildlife, you can expect especially beautiful verdant landscapes. The rainy season is also a good time to go if you're sensitive to poor air quality. From January to April, Thai sugarcane and rice farmers burn the remains of their old harvest, filling the north of the country with smoke. While crowded Bangkok always has issues with air pollution, you can breathe easy in Chiang Mai in the rainy season.