Best time to visit
Thailand in October
The Andaman's wettest month, everywhere at once: Phuket, Krabi and the islands all peak in October. The Gulf has turned as well, so this is the one month with no dry coast. The north is the part that is recovering.
Measured, not repeated
Where it rains in October, and how much
Driest first. Chiang Mai takes 132mm this month and Krabi takes 338mm, which is 3 times as much. The strip on the right is that place's whole year, with October outlined, so you can see whether this is a good month for it or merely a bad one everywhere.
- Chiang Mai 132mm 16 rain days
- Bangkok 202mm 21 rain days
- Koh Samui 270mm 26 rain days
- Thailand's islands 297mm 28 rain days its wettest month
- Phuket 315mm 28 rain days its wettest month
- Krabi 338mm 28 rain days its wettest month
ERA5 reanalysis, 1995 to 2024, averaged per calendar month at each place's own coordinates. A rain day is a day with a millimetre or more.
Krabi 338mm, Phuket 315mm, the islands 297mm. All three are annual maxima and they arrive in the same four weeks. Koh Samui, which has been the answer to every question since May, is at 270mm and rising towards its own November peak.
Chiang Mai is the reversal. It comes down from 269mm in September to 132mm in October and six weeks later will be at 32. If you have to travel in October, the north is where the weather is improving rather than where it is worst.
The end of the month is the turn of the whole year. By early November the Andaman has begun to dry and the season everyone books for is about to start.
Where to go in October
The three driest places on this site this month, in order.
What is on in October
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Ok Phansa
October, on the full moon date moves each year
The end of Buddhist Lent, and the start of the merit-making season that follows it.
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Phuket Vegetarian Festival
Late September or October, over nine days · Phuket Town date moves each year