Planning

Four countries, four different seasons

There is no single best month for all four countries, and anyone who says otherwise has not looked. Here is what each month is actually like, and the two seasons that get left out of brochures.

Plan my trip

Nov-Febthe broad answer

Feb-Aprburning season

Oct-Novcentral Vietnam floods

The two seasons brochures leave out

Burning season, late February to mid-April

Agricultural and forest burning across northern Laos, northern Thailand and parts of northern Vietnam fills the valleys with smoke for six to eight weeks. Chiang Mai regularly records among the worst air quality of any city in the world in March. Nong Khiaw's cliffs disappear entirely. Flights out of Luang Prabang are occasionally delayed. This is not haze; it is smoke, and it is the single biggest seasonal risk in the region that nobody advertises.

Central Vietnam floods, October and November

The Thu Bon rises most autumns and Hoi An's old town takes water — usually ankle to knee deep, occasionally to the first floor. Typhoons make landfall on this coast most years. Hue is affected too. Meanwhile Hanoi in the same months is at its best, which is why fourteen-day Vietnam itineraries in November are a compromise.

Month by month, across the four

Month	North Vietnam	Central Vietnam	Laos	Cambodia	Thailand
January	Cold, grey, drizzle	Cool, often grey	Excellent, cold at dawn	Excellent	Excellent
February	Cold to mild	Good	Excellent, smoke from late month	Excellent	Good, smoke in the north late
March	Improving	Very good	Smoke	Hot, dry	Smoke in the north
April	Warm, dry	Very good	Smoke, then very hot	Very hot, 38C+	Very hot, smoke in the north
May	Hot, first storms	Hot, dry	Very hot, rains begin	Very hot, rains begin	Very hot, rains begin
June	Hot, humid	Hot, dry	Wet	Wet	Wet
July	Hot, wet	Hot, dry	Wet, green	Wet, green	Wet
August	Hot, wet	Hot, dry	Wettest	Wet	Wet
September	Improving, hot	Storms begin	Wet, clearing late	Wettest, best photography	Wet
October	Excellent	Floods, typhoons	Excellent, under-rated	Wet early, clearing	Clearing late
November	Excellent	Floods, typhoons	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
December	Excellent, cool	Cool, grey	Excellent, cold at dawn	Excellent, busiest	Excellent, busiest

If you can only travel in one particular month

November to February

The broad answer, and the reason everything is expensive and full. Dry and comfortable in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand; excellent in northern Vietnam; grey and wet in central Vietnam in November, improving by January. Book three to five months ahead, and longer for Luang Prabang and Siem Reap in December.

March and April

The worst window for a northern route and a reasonable one for a southern one. Burning season removes northern Laos and northern Thailand; Cambodia is at its hottest in April, 38 degrees and up at Angkor. Central Vietnam, on the other hand, is at its best. A March trip should be Hue, Hoi An, the delta and Cambodia, not Nong Khiaw and Chiang Mai.

May to August

Hot and wet almost everywhere, and considerably better than its reputation. The rain arrives in sharp afternoon bursts rather than all day; everything is green; hotel rates fall 20 to 30 per cent; and Angkor with full moats and no crowd is a genuinely different experience. Central Vietnam is dry all summer, which surprises people.

September and October

September is the wettest month in Cambodia and the best for photography — full moats, high Tonle Sap, dramatic skies. October in Laos is under-rated and excellent. Central Vietnam is the problem: this is flood and typhoon season and we would not put you in Hoi An in October.

How the seasons shape our routes

This is not academic. It changes which trip we recommend.

If you travel in	The route we would suggest
November to February	Anything. This is the window all eleven routes are built for.
Late February to mid-April	Cambodia, Vietnam and Cambodia, or central Vietnam. Not northern Laos or northern Thailand.
May to August	Vietnam north to south, or Cambodia at low season prices. Ha Giang is green and the landslide risk is real.
September	Cambodia, for the water and the light. Not central Vietnam.
October	Northern Laos and northern Vietnam. Not Hoi An or Hue.

The things that are not weather

Lao New Year, mid-April. Three days of water fights, hotels full, prices doubled, and much of the country closed for business. Enjoyable if you want it and disruptive if you do not. Songkran in Thailand and Khmer New Year are the same week.
Tet, late January or February. Vietnam largely closes for a week. Trains and flights sell out, many restaurants shut, and prices rise. The atmosphere is remarkable and the logistics are hard.
The Water Festival in Phnom Penh, October or November. Marks the reversal of the Tonle Sap. Boat racing, the riverside packed, hotels full.
Chinese New Year, late January or February. Affects hotel availability across the region, particularly in Thailand and northern Laos.
Christmas and New Year. The peak of the peak. Siem Reap and Luang Prabang rates roughly double and the best small hotels are gone by September.

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

What is the single best month for a four-country trip?

Late November or early December. Everywhere is dry, the smoke has not started, the floods have finished, and it is not yet Christmas pricing.

January is nearly as good and northern Vietnam is colder and greyer.

Is the wet season really that bad?

No, and it is the most over-stated thing in this region's travel writing. Rain arrives in one or two heavy bursts in the afternoon and stops. Mornings are usually clear.

What you lose: some mountain roads in northern Vietnam, some river routes, and reliability. What you gain: green landscape, full waterfalls, no crowds, and 20 to 30 per cent off hotels.

How bad is Angkor in April?

Thirty-eight to forty degrees on open stone with no shade at Angkor Wat. It is genuinely difficult and people underestimate it.

We build the 11:00 to 15:00 break into every temple day all year, and in April it is not optional.

Can I avoid burning season by going somewhere else in Laos?

Partly. Southern Laos — the Bolaven Plateau and Four Thousand Islands — is far less affected than the north, so a March trip to Laos should go south.

That is one of the reasons our Vietnam and Laos overland route goes where it goes.