When’s the best time to visit South Thailand?
Thailand’s long, thin shape and complex geography mean that the climate of the south varies significantly to that of the north and northeast regions of Thailand and correspondingly, our answer to when is the best time to visit South Thailand will be substantially different.
South Thailand refers to the peninsula region, beginning just below Bangkok and continuing some 1200 kilometres to the border with Malaysia in the far south. The upper section is buttressed to the west by the Tenasserim Range which separates Thailand from Burma, (Myanmar), and the lower reaches by the Andaman Sea. To the east is the Gulf of Thailand. At its narrowest point – in Chumporn Province – the Isthmus of Kra, as it’s known, measures less than 50 kilometres wide, although the peninsula does broaden to over some kilometres from east to west as it reaches the Malaysian border.
The west coast is dotted by myriad picturesque, limestone islands stretching from the Burmese border at Victoria Point to Koh Tarutao National Marine Park lying just north of Malaysia’s Langkawi and includes the provinces of Ranong, Pha Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun. The Gulf coast features the popular islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phan Ngan and Koh Tao – in Surat Thani Province – as well as the resort towns of Hua Hin and Cha-am further north in Prachuap Khiri Khan.
Koh Chang. Evening storm brewing over the Gulf of Thailand. Although strictly speaking, by east Thailand we’re also including the coastal provinces between Bangkok and Cambodia, which form the northern and eastern limits of the Gulf of Thailand and include Chonburi, Rayong, Chanthaburi and Trat. The former is home to Pattaya and the latter includes the popular islands of Koh Chang, Koh Mak and Koh Kut.
Unlike north and northeast Thailand, much of South Thailand is governed by maritime, tropical weather patterns and broadly speaking sees only two distinct seasons in contrast to the three of the rest of the country as it lacks the harsh hot and dry season of March and April. Weather patterns are dominated by the eastern and western monsoons arriving from the South China Sea and Indian Ocean respectively, meaning that the dry season on the west coast is the monsoon period on the east and vice versa.
The former generally covers the period from April to October and the latter, November to May. Rainfall in the narrow, mountainous interior, therefore is more evenly spread throughout the year, while temperatures also show less dramatic monthly variations.
Koh Libong, Trang Province on the Andaman Sea What this means is that the best time to visit Andaman Sea provinces such as Krabi and Trang is from November to April, while from May to October you’re better off heading to the Gulf coast if you’re considering any beach or island time. Correspondingly, the islands of west-facing Trat Province also generally see better weather in this November to March period, although even during the eastern monsoon, they are somewhat protected by a mountainous interior, compared to the Andaman coast which looks directly onto the Indian Ocean.
last but not least, we’d point out that – as with anywhere else in Southeast Asia – weather patterns are not set in stone and, particularly in recent years, have tended to become less predictable. There’s always going to be an element of chance with your Thai tours, but again, as we have noted in other climate posts, rain does tend to fall in short sharp, often dramatic, downpours and frequently during evening and nighttime. Usually, the solution is simply to shelter in the nearest cafe until it blows over.
