Climate of Vietnam

Climate of Vietnam

Where is the country of Vietnam located? The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, almost always simply referred to as Vietnam, is a country in southeastern Asia. The elongated country has a coastal area in the east along the South China Sea (on the Gulf of Tonkin), in the north it borders China and in the west it borders Laos and Cambodia. With almost a hundred million inhabitants, Vietnam is one of the most populous countries in the world; most people live in the lowlands of Vietnam. In the north you have a plain around the delta of the Red River and in the south you have a larger plain that includes the mouths of the Mekong. During the monsoon period, the Mekong Delta is regularly the scene of flooding due to heavy rainfall in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam itself.

Climate types

Vietnam has a tropical savanna climate (type Aw) for the most part, with a tropical monsoon climate in the lowlands (type Am) and a warm china climate in the far north. In the south, the southwest monsoon causes large amounts of precipitation in the period May to November, which locally in some months increase to 400 millimeters on average (long-term averages). During extended periods of heavy showers, the Mekong can overflow and cause flooding. The coastal area east of the Annamese mountain range is under the influence of the northeast monsoon, which causes more precipitation, especially in October and November.

Temperatures

The south has to deal with fairly constant temperatures, which are between 30 and 36 degrees during the day throughout the year. At night the temperature rarely falls below twenty degrees. The northern part of the country, including the capital Hanoi, has a climate that does have clear differences in temperature. In the summer months it is also tropically warm here, but in winter the average daytime temperature is ‘only’ 20 to 24 degrees, while the minimum temperature is 10 to 17 degrees lower than in the south. In the high mountains, both in the south around Da Lat and in the north towards the border with China, temperatures on the highest peaks can drop to around or even below freezing in winter.

Hurricanes

From May to December there is a risk of hurricanes in Vietnam. The greatest chance of tropical depressions developing into hurricane strength is in the period from July to October. Its location on the South China Sea makes the country vulnerable to tropical storms. Unfortunately, Vietnam is regularly in the news because of damage and casualties as a result of a tropical storm or hurricane.

Discover Vietnam!

If you want to book a holiday to Vietnam, a tour is the ideal way to get the most varied impression of this beautiful country. Whether you book a group tour or make an individual tour, there is no better way to discover as much as possible in one holiday. Travel agency Fox has a number of beautiful tours through Vietnam in their program. Within a time frame of roughly 17 to 25 days you will get to know one of the most fascinating Asian countries. There are special family tours for families with children, where the composition and intensity of the children are taken into account.

Climate figures

The figures below are based on long-term average climate statistics. The temperatures are displayed in degrees Celsius (°C).

Maximum temperature Minimum temperature Hours of sunshine per day Days of rainfall per month
January 20℃ 14℃ 3 11
February 20℃ 15℃ 2 12
March 23℃ 18℃ 2 15
April 28℃ 22℃ 4 14
May 32℃ 25℃ 6 15
June 33℃ 26℃ 6 15
July 33℃ 26℃ 6 16
August 32℃ 26℃ 6 17
September 31℃ 25℃ 6 14
October 29℃ 22℃ 5 11
November 25℃ 19℃ 5 8
December 22℃ 16℃ 4 6

Best time to visit Vietnam

Do you want to know when is the best time to travel to Vietnam? You can determine the best time to travel to a destination based on the weather and climate. In addition, there are other factors that are not directly related to the weather and that can influence the best travel periods for a travel destination. Think, for example, of holidays or festive periods, which makes traveling more interesting or not, because daily life comes to a standstill as a result. The climate of Vietnam varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the central and southern part of the country. Because the rainy season can differ per region, there are warmer and less warm periods and there is a chance of tropical cyclones, it is important to carefully consider where you want to travel in Vietnam. Based on the travel destination(s) within Vietnam, you can determine the best travel time for you.

Best months

Quite a few people choose to make a tour through Vietnam, visiting the north, the south and the central part. If you have to indicate a best travel period for the entire country, then you arrive at the second half of January and the month of February. From the end of February it will be seriously hot in a number of destinations within Vietnam. This can make traveling through Vietnam too strenuous, especially if you want to see and do quite a lot locally.

Northern Vietnam

If you travel to the north of Vietnam, you will have to deal with different weather conditions. For example, it is considerably warmer in the capital Hanoi than in the mountain areas, where the winter months can be quite cool. The highest places are even covered with snow in the winter months. In and around Hanoi it is mild, dry and very gloomy in winter. In the months of January, February and March, the sun hardly shines in Hanoi. Once the rainy season starts, at the end of April, the amount of sunshine also increases. The wet season ends in mid-November. For those who want to enjoy places such as Hanoi and Halong Bay, the period is mid-October to mid-Decemberthe best travel time. It is then still somewhat sunny, the rain has decreased considerably compared to the previous months and the temperature in the afternoon averages around pleasant values ​​of 25 to 30 degrees Celsius.

Central Coastal Areas

The central coastal area of ​​Vietnam is popular for beach holidays, among other things. In and around cities such as Nha Trang and Da Nang you will find beautiful beaches where the seawater is pleasantly warm all year round. Count on an average seawater temperature of 24 degrees in winter to 30 degrees in summer. The Vietnamese coast is fairly sunny in the central part. May, June and July are the sunniest months. With average maximum temperatures of 32 to 35 degrees Celsius, it is oppressively hot. The best time to travel to the central coastal areas of Vietnam is from January to March. From April it gets too hot and in September the rainy season starts, which lasts until the end of December. If you are unlucky, the first days of January can also be wet.

Central interior

The central interior is fairly mountainous, making the climate milder there than on the coast. The rainy season starts a little earlier and ends earlier than on the coast. If you look at the climate statistics of the centrally located city of Pleiku, you will see that in the middle of summer the maximum temperatures are on average just below the limit of thirty degrees. In winter, in this city located 750 meters above sea level, the daytime temperature is about 23 to 26 degrees and the minimum temperatures are somewhere around 13 to 17 degrees. The rainy season starts around May/June to June and lasts until the end of November. Based on the weather, the period from mid-December to the end of April is the best time to travel to the central interior of Vietnam.

The tropical south

In the southern part of Vietnam, where you will find Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, it is tropical to the max. That means maximum temperatures around or slightly above 30 degrees all year round, balmy nights and quite a bit of rain. There is a rainy season, which starts at the end of April or the beginning of May and continues until the beginning of December. The first part of the dry period is the best time to travel to the south of Vietnam. That is from mid – December to the end of February. The months of March and April are mainly dry. It is then slightly warmer (33-35 degrees during the day), which can feel quite stuffy with the high relative humidity.

Typhoons

You can experience typhoons in Vietnam. This is the Asian name for tropical cyclones, which we also call hurricanes. The hurricane season starts in mid-May and lasts until early December. During this time, severe tropical storms may develop over the western Pacific and threaten the country from the east. Northeast Vietnam is particularly prone to typhoons.

Vietnam