The weather in Chiang Mai

A popular topic, especially when you’re on vacation. First of all: weather forecasts in Thailand are quite unreliable, simply because that heavy downpour might just fall 5 kilometers away, leaving you dry all day.

In Chiang Mai, there’s almost no rain between November and February/March. Outside of that period, of course, it’s the rainy season (from May to October/November), which means sometimes heavy showers — and sometimes those showers don’t clear up in just 10 minutes, as some might suggest. The upside: the rain is warm, and the air in the North feels fresh and clean.

So dress accordingly, bring an umbrella, and you can buy disposable ponchos for a few baht at 7-Eleven. Just know that trips to the mountains or rafting might be off if the weather turns bad.