What Is the Best Time to Visit Chiang Mai?

The best time to visit Chiang Mai is after the rainy season. The months between November and February are often best, but this time is also the high tourist season. The weather at this time of year is clear, and the low nighttime temperatures keep visitors cool. 

The best way to see northern Thailand’s largest city is by hiring a car in Chiang Mai. The real magic of Chiang Mai can be found on the winding mountainous roads surrounding the city, and hiring taxis for these long road trips is uneconomical. 

Be sure to book your rental well in advance if you want to come during the high season. As for visiting during other times of the year, below is a guide to visiting Chiang Mai all year round. 

The High Season

The internet will provide a few different answers to the question of what’s the high season in Thailand. Many websites will say that November to April is the high season, but what they don’t mention is that March and April are the hottest months of the year, during which temperatures regularly exceed thirty or forty degrees. 

There is also a significant amount of haze in Northern Thailand at this time. Because of this, most people who visit Thailand in March or April skip the north and stay on the beaches of the south. The sea breeze helps to keep everything a bit cooler. 

Not to worry about November to February, though. The weather around this time is stunning. Daytime highs are around thirty degrees and nighttime lows are usually around fifteen degrees.

High season is also when many festivals take place, especially the legendary Loy Krathong Lantern Festival. The festival is a national affair, but Chiang Mai is well-known as the best place to see it. Be sure and check dates before booking flights and hotels. The festival changes dates each year based on the moon phases, but is almost always in November. 

Another popular festival is Chinese New Year around the end of January or the beginning of February. Areas of town get completely decked out in red lanterns and fireworks can be seen and heard all over.  

The Rainy Season

The media usually portrays Southeast Asia’s rainy season from May to October as six months of non-stop rain, but the north of Thailand is very different. Here, a typical rainy season day means cloudy skies that keep temperatures low. It does rain every day, but it certainly doesn’t rain all day. Visitors can expect three or four twenty-minute rain showers each day, many of them in the afternoons. 

This is the perfect time to duck into one of Chiang Mai’s many cute coffee shops. Have a latte, wait out the rain, and then continue with your day in the fresh air. 

The mountains of Chiang Mai are a spectacular site in the rainy season. Fog and clouds obscure most of the mountains in the mornings, then the fog and clouds burn off as the day heats up. In the afternoons, visitors can often see clouds wrapping Doi Suthep, the famous mountain situated next to Chiang Mai University. 

Road trips into the mountains can get expensive if you need to hire a taxi. This is where having a car rental makes things more convenient and less costly. It’s easy to take a drive out to Thailand’s tallest mountain, Doi Inthanon, or visit the picturesque mountain village of Mae Kampong. 

Meanwhile, down in Bangkok, the rainy season can be quite intense. If the weather is becoming too much for you, you may wonder how to get from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. The options are planes, trains, buses, and driving. Once you make it to the north, the temperatures get much cooler and it stops raining so much.

The Hot Season

March and April aren’t the ideal time to visit Chiang Mai, but plenty of people still come during this time of year and fall in love with the city. 

Save Time and Money With Drive Car Rental

Our location inside Chiang Mai International Airport makes it easy for tourists to fly in and drive away. Visit our site today to see the vehicles available for your selected dates–we even offer electric vehicles! Booking early means a better selection of vehicles and early bird discounts.

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