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Photo by BerryJ, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Bangkok
Thailand · Southeast Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Bangkok
Tap a month for its page
- JanJBangkok in January: sweet spot, busy
- FebFBangkok in February: ok, busy
- MarMBangkok in March: avoid
- AprABangkok in April: avoid
- MayMBangkok in May: avoid
- JunJBangkok in June: avoid
- JulJBangkok in July: avoid
- AugABangkok in August: avoid
- SepSBangkok in September: avoid
- OctOBangkok in October: avoid
- NovNBangkok in November: ok
- DecDBangkok in December: sweet spot, busy
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Dry season: Nov–Apr, 6 or fewer rainy days a month.
- Prices thereVery cheap, about 31% of the US
- MoneyBaht
- PlugsType A and B and C and F, 220 V
- DrivingOn the left
Book your trip to Bangkok
Best in December 31°C · 1 rainy day busy December in Bangkok ›
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Flights from
Flights
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Where are you flying from? Choose your city for its flights.
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Where to stay
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Luxury
Things to do
Driving is on the left here.
Car hire
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Things to do in Bangkok
- Wat Arun Buddhist temple in central Bangkok, Thailand
- Grand Palace Official residence of the King of Thailand since 1782
- Wat Pho Buddhist temple in central Bangkok, Thailand
- Wat Phra Kaew Royal temple complex in Bangkok, Thailand
- Erawan Shrine A Hindu shrine that houses a statue of Phra Phrom, the Thai representation of the Hindu creation god Brahma.
- Sanam Luang Square in Bangkok, Thailand
- Lumphini Park Public park in Bangkok
Tours and tickets in Bangkok
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Bangkok/Siam Square), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.
Bangkok in pictures
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Andy Marchand, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Muhammad Fridho Damora Harahap, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Adbar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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hkgalbert, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Month by month
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 32° | 1d | 63% | 10.4h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
| Feb | 33° | 2d | 68% | 10.6h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Mar | 34° | 3d | 71% | 10.7h | avoid | 34C max, 3 rainy days |
| Apr | 34° | 5d | 72% | 10.9h | avoid | extreme heat: 13 days over 35C |
| May | 33° | 11d | 77% | 9.9h | avoid | 33C max, 11 rainy days |
| Jun | 33° | 12d | 78% | 9.4h | avoid | 33C max, 12 rainy days |
| Jul | 32° | 14d | 80% | 7.6h | avoid | 32C max, 14 rainy days |
| Aug | 31° | 14d* | 81% | 7.7h | avoid | 31C max, 14 rainy days |
| Sep | 31° | 20d | 84% | 8.0h | avoid | monsoon: 20 rainy days, 321mm |
| Oct | 31° | 15d | 82% | 8.8h | avoid | 31C max, 15 rainy days |
| Nov | 31° | 6d | 73% | 9.6h | ok | 31C max, 6 rainy days |
| Dec | 31° | 1d | 64% | 10.2h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at Siam Square, central Bangkok, 24 km from the airport (BKK): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.* Rainy days in August are as the weather station in Bangkok (3 km away) counts them, where it and the model disagree on a wet month (WMO 48455, 2017–2026).
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Bangkok's December days now average 31.2°C, 1.6°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 4 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 30.8° | 32.0° | 33.4° | 34.5° | 32.9° | 31.5° | 31.7° | 31.3° | 30.8° | 30.0° | 29.8° | 29.6° |
| 2017–26 | 31.6° | 32.6° | 33.5° | 34.2° | 33.3° | 32.6° | 31.6° | 31.5° | 31.1° | 30.9° | 31.2° | 31.2° |
| Change | +0.8° | +0.6° | +0.1° | -0.3° | +0.4° | +1.1° | -0.1° | +0.2° | +0.3° | +0.9° | +1.4° | +1.6° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Busy and quiet times in Bangkok
Bangkok has a tropical climate with a distinct wet season from May to September. The climate data indicates potential for extreme heat in the shoulder period.
| Busiest |
mid Nov to late Feb — Cooler weather and lower humidity attract many tourists.
|
|---|---|
| Quieter, still good |
early Mar to late May — Transitioning from cool to hot weather, prices may be lower.
early Oct to late Oct — Tapering rainfall before peak season begins, decent value.
|
| Wet or stormy |
early May to late Sep — monsoon, moderate
|
| Watch out for | extreme heat; haze |
Written by a language model from the climate figures above. The month-by-month table is measured — ten years of ERA5 readings and published holiday calendars — and where the two disagree, the table is the one to believe.
What Bangkok is like
Bangkok (Thai: กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep) is the capital and largest city of Thailand. With a population of over eleven million inhabitants, Bangkok is by far Thailand's main city, with the urban sprawl comprising nearly half of Thailand's population, and the largest city on the Southeast Asian mainland. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Most of Bangkok's sights are concentrated on the island of Rattanakosin, often referred to as the "Old City". Out of Bangkok's hundreds of temples, the Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun usually make up the top 3. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- All of Thailand's major festivals are celebrated in Bangkok. New Year is celebrated three times. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- Bangkok is served by two airports: Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK IATA) (pronounced Soo-wahn-nah-poom) and Don Mueang Airport (DMK IATA). More on Wikivoyage
- Staying safe
- Given its size, Bangkok is surprisingly safe, with violent crimes like mugging and robbery unusual. More on Wikivoyage
- Staying healthy
- Many people go to Bangkok to undergo medical treatments that are a fraction of the cost charged in their home countries. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Bangkok, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Getting there
By rail from the airport (BKK), by train: Airport Rail Link.
Lines that stop at the airport's terminals, as mapped by OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); the operators' own timetables have the times and fares.
How far Bangkok is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Ho Chi Minh City
- from Hanoi
- from Kuala Lumpur
- from Singapore
- from Kolkata
- from Hong Kong
- from Chennai
- from Kathmandu
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Bangkok, flying or not.
Like a local in Bangkok
On arrival
- Paying — Cards work in malls, hotels and tourist restaurants; carry 20 and 100 baht notes for street food, markets and taxis. Many small sellers use PromptPay QR, which mostly needs a Thai bank app.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Not expected; Thais round taxi fares to an easy number and sometimes leave small change in restaurants. Do not tip on top of a service charge.
Getting around Bangkok
Tap a contactless Visa or Mastercard card (not a phone) on the MRT and SRT lines, including the Airport Rail Link. The BTS Skytrain still needs a Rabbit card or a single ticket from the machines.
- Apps — Rides: Bolt, Grab. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: LINE, WhatsApp.
Bangkok has a decent public transportation network by Southeast Asian standards, but much room for improvement lies in its integration. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Bangkok, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Ferries from Bangkok
- ประตูน้ำ → วัดศรีบุญเรือง
- ผ่นฟ้าลีลาศ → ประตูน้ำ
- พระนั่งเกล้า → สาทร
- สยามเจริญนคร → พระปิ่นเกล้า
- เรือข้ามฟาก ท่าเรือนนทบุรี → ท่าเรือบางศรีเมือง
- เรือข้ามฟาก ท่าเรือบางศรีเมือง → ท่าเรือนนทบุรี
- เส้นทางเดินเรือโดยสารฯ คลองบางกอกใหญ่ → แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา
Crossings within 60 km, as mapped by OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Times are typical where the map records them.
Help
- Emergency — 191 (any emergency) · ambulance 1669 · fire 199 · tourist police 1155.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 3 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (14)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/thailand/getting-help
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Thailand
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Bangkok
- grab.com/th/en
- bolt.eu/en/cities/bangkok
- metro.bemplc.co.th/EMV-Contactless?lang=en
- nationthailand.com/news/policy/40063062
- huahin.localplus.city/2026/04/07/bts-skytrain-prepares-for-emv-contactless-ticketing-on-green-and-gold-lines
- phuketsmartbus.com/payment
- tagthai.com/explore/p/payment-for-foreign-tourist-in-thailand
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- nipl.com/uploads/NPCI_International_Press_Release_LIQUID_GROUP_TO_POWER_UPI_QR_ACCEPTANCE_IN_10_ASIAN_MARKETS_bcb05ffeee.pdf
Before you go
Type A and B and C and F plugs at 220 V. Drives on the left. The currency is the Baht. UK Foreign Office: avoid all but essential travel to parts. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise a high degree of caution (with regional advisories). US State Department: Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions. Entry rules for British travellers. Entry rules (Global Affairs Canada). Entry rules (US State Department). Everything for Thailand: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
A guide, not advice: entry rules change and depend on your passport and your trip, so check the official page before you book.
Around Bangkok
Nearest in Thailand
- Pattaya best Mar, Nov, Dec
- Kanchanaburi best Jan, Nov, Dec
- Hua Hin best Mar, Nov, Dec
- Sukhothai best Jan, Nov, Dec
- Ko Tao best Mar, Apr, Dec
- Ko Pha-ngan best Mar, Jun, Aug
- Ko Samui best Mar, Apr, Jun
- Nan best Jan, Feb, Dec
- Chiang Mai best Jan, Feb, Dec
- Khao Lak best Jan, Feb, Mar
- Krabi best Jan, Feb, Jun
- Pai best Jan, Feb, Mar
Nearby
- Angkor Wat Cambodia · 362 km
- Sihanoukville Cambodia · 473 km
- Vientiane Laos · 522 km
- Kampot Cambodia · 528 km
Routes through here
Kind of place
Bangkok is in Thailand, Southeast Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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