Travel in The Monsoon Season
Posted by Dan on June 06, 2009 in Travel Tips
I hear a lot of questions about traveling in Monsoon (Wet Season) people are mostly interested in India and Thailand.
The Monsoon Season in these countries is
India: June to September
Thailand: June to October
The rest of South East Asia is much the same as Thailand where while you can expect heavy rain it’s generally quite predictable, coming late in the day with the drop in temperature. India on the other hand is a very big country so it depends on where you are and has more potential to effect your travels. The north of India combines Monsoon season with the effect of the Himalayas and Bay of Bengal which makes for some very, very wet areas and in a country with mostly very limited infrastructure you could face transport problems and extended rain periods. In some areas of India (Mostly the north west) Monsoon season is the best time to travel and in Cambodia you can see the reversal of the flow of the Mekong River and the massive expansion of Tonle Sap Lake with the migration of the floating villages.
Most people try to avoid the wet seasons and there are ups and downs to traveling during them.
Pros:
- Less tourists, it’s the low season so to speak.
- Potentially cheaper, lots of places lower their accommodation rates during the low season.
- It’s greener.
- Festivals, India in particular celebrates the coming of the monsoons.
- Waterfalls put on their big shows.
Cons
- There is a chance of having full days rained out.
- Flooding, landslides, etc can delay or destroy travel plans.
- Beaches are often dirty.
In Thailand it’s easy to know when rain is coming, the Thais know it, people stop their motorbikes and put on raincoats and the market and roadside stalls cover up their wares. Minutes later the deluge will start. Short notice but it worked without fail. While for some people it might dampen their trip for others the monsoon won’t effect you much at all, it might even add some adventure in your travels.
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Very handy Dan!
We’re travelling through Thailand in August – sure to get an occasional soaking.
Andy
Gday Dan.
Great post. I have also travelled pretty extensively and being a poor tight traveller, I have done a lot of it through Asia in the “off” seasons.
Places such as the Philippines where I worked on Boracay through both main tourist seasons and monsoon seasons were literally two different places in the two seasons.
Often the best part of travelling in the season when most tourists don’t is that you get a much better perspective of how the locals live and more of an idea about the ‘real’ country.
Having said that, sitting on the beach in the rain sucks…
Nick.
I’ve done the bulk of my travel in the rainy season too, maybe I was just lucky but I hardly noticed the rain, not that there wasn’t any but I now know I’d never adjust dates just to avoid it.
I’m enjoying the cool the monsoon rains is bring today in Kathmandu. It’s so nice too when it rains all night, the street dogs curl up and hide and we all get a good night’s sleep!
But already the newspapers in Nepal are reporting deaths due to landslides. Village houses burined under shifting mountains.
And reports too that the high water level at the Koshi Barrage in eastern Nepal has lead to teh opening of at least half it sluices protect poorly repaired levees following last year’s devastation in Nepal and Bihar State, India.
im about to head off to thailadn for 6 months by my self in august. So right through the monsoon season, Any places in particular that get really rained out and will i meet travellers on the way cos i dont really like getting out there by my self but got impaient waiting for mates to get going. Any one wants to meet up that would be awsome?? Going through laos, cambodia, vietnam, india and around lots of the islands.
thanks for the tips though
awsome stuff
You’ll have no trouble meeting others even in the low season and being by yourself you have the advantage of now having to compromise on where you go. Have a great time and don’t let the rain worry you. Good for you on jumping the gun too, you’ll probably find some of those friends will never actually take a step beyond talking about it.
At least in India, this year Monsoon is not that bad! Rain comes very rarely while temperature is kept down a little bit because of the clouds so it’s actually a very good season to come here!
Hi,
I’m heading off to SE Asia in a few days and still haven’t decided where exactly to go – does anyone have any tips regarding where might be best right now? Thailand? Malaysia? Bail?
Any advice would be much appreciated!!
I am going to Singapore in mid-November for several days followed by travel to Malaysia for about 10 days, which would take me through the end of November (more or less). At that point, I still have an additional 4 weeks of my holiday and want to go to beaches for some of that time preferably that are not effected by the monsoon season. I understand that Thailand’s monsoon has passed by that time and wanted to know if someone could suggest beaches and nice towns in Thailand accessible from Malaysia. I am trying to avoid air travel and terrorists if it’s at all possible. My plan is to take a train from Malaysia and gradually travel towards BKK.
Hi Dan, really useful tips, as I’ll be in the Thailand / Vietnam / Malaysia region in July! Though I haven’t yet decided exactly where, due to the… err… chance of civil war :-/
hi dan.
we are going to vietnam next october, the last days of the month (since 22th october to 3 november) we are going to andaman coast. i am a bit afraid because of the monsoon!!!! not a bit! I AM REALLY FRIGHTENED for the monsoon. specially landslides!!! i’ve never liked to travel under strong rains in countries where it cause bad comsequences as drops of buses for example… sorry i know it could be a bit paranoic but i can’t help it.
what do you recommend about it? how safe is being on the beach at this time?
how safe is traveling by land at this time in andaman region?
thanks a lot in advance for your help.
adriana
It’s pretty rare for visitors to get caught up in an actual landslide, more likely that you could get delayed by one. Definitely don’t fret about it, just take your trip, relax and you will completely enjoy it.