Climate in Vietnam (when to go)

There is no good or bad season to visit Vietnam. When one region is cold, humid or rainy, another region is nice and sunny. Vietnam has a very diversified climate since its territory is very spread out. Although the whole country is in an intertropical zone, local conditions vary between frigid winters in the highlands towards the north to permanent subequatorial heat in Mekong Delta. Since over a third of Vietnam is 500 m above sea level, most of the country enjoys a subtropical climate and a tempered climate over 2000 m.

Vietnam is located in the monsoon zone of East Asia and therefore has monsoons twice a year. These monsoons give a certain rhythm to rural life. Winter monsoons usually affect the area north of Danang and come from the northeast between October and March. This brings cool and humid winters in all of the regions north of Nha Trang and mild and dry weather in the south. From April-May to October, southwest monsoons bring humid winds from the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Siam. The weather tends then to be hot and humid throughout the entire country except for the protected regions of the highlands (such as the lower coastal regions of the centre or the Red River Delta).

The North
Areas north of the 18th parallel have two seasons: winter and summer. From the irregular northern monsoon comes winter, cool and humid, and usually lasts from November to April. February and March are spattered with what Vietnamese people call “rain dust’’. Warm summers begin in May and last until October and sometimes bring devastating typhoons.

The Centre
Southwestern monsoon brings little water to the coastal lowlands (April-May to October) because of the Annamese Cordillera which is very humid during this season. Most of the rainfall on the coast comes between December and February with the northeastern monsoon. Dry season runs from January to August in Nha Trang but from December to March in Dalat. As in the rest of the highlands, Dalat enjoys cooler temperatures than the Mekong Delta or the Coast. Between November and March temperatures vary between 20º and 25ºC. Winter is cold and humid in the north-central coastal lowlands and is accompanied of fog and mist.

The South
This region has a subequatorial climate with a dry season and a humid season, the latter lasting from May to November (June, July and August are the most humid months). This period registers brief but regular torrential rain showers that usually arrive in the afternoon. The dry season extends from December to April. From the end of February to May the weather is very humid but improves with the arrival of summer rain. The annual average temperature in Ho Chi Minh is 27º. It will increase to slightly over 30º in April and return to 21º in January. Average humidity is 80% with 1979 mm of rain yearly. The coldest weather ever recorded in Ho Chi Minh was 14º.