Whether your favorite thing about Thailand is the beautiful beaches, exciting Bangkok, its history and ruins or its famous food, you want to pick the best time to go to make the most of the trip. In most of Thailand, high season starts in November and lasts through January; it is sometimes defined as November through March. If you're thinking of visiting Thailand during high season, you probably have questions about the weather, the cost and the crowds. And also if high season is the same throughout the country. One last bit of information: Low season is from July through October and you definitely want to avoid those months -- the other name for this time of year is monsoon season. Here's all the 411 you need before you plan your trip.
High season overlaps with the country's cool season, when temperatures are in the 70s and 80s Fahrenheit and there's little rain. While Thailand can sometimes be oppressively hot and humid, during high season in most parts of the country(including Bangkok and Phuket), the weather is gorgeous. Days are still sunny and warm enough to enjoy the beaches, but evenings are cooler and pleasant, and if you're touring Bangkok you won't find yourself drenched in sweat after five minutes outside. It's not surprising that this would be the most popular time to visit Thailand.
Yes, it costs more to visit Thailand in high season, as it does in virtually every other vacation destination. No matter where you're flying to or from, flights are often more expensive during the Christmas and New Year's holiday period. Hotels, especially in Phuket, increase prices by anywhere from 30 to 100 percent during this time of high demand. It's much harder to get great deals during high season, and it's nearly impossible to get deals between the end of December and the beginning of January.
High season is, of course, the most popular time of year for tourists to visit Thailand, but it doesn't mean that crowds are unbearable, especially if you're traveling in less popular parts of the country. Phuket and the country's other popular beaches do tend to get very crowded during high season, however.
There are some exceptions to the general high season situation in Thailand. Koh Samui and the other islands in the area have slightly different weather patterns from the rest of the country. On Samui, it rains more in November than any other month, so high season doesn't start until December there.
Some hotels have expanded their definition of high season, marking it out from early November through March or April, which is nearly half the year. But the hotels that have expanded high season across so many more months have designated the normal high season, November through January, as super high season. Check their rates for comparison to other hotels that follow the usual high season definition.