Things You Need to Know To Survive the Hot Season in Thailand

When you step outside currently, it does feel like you’re walking into an oven. We hit 40°, 42°, 43° C that’s around 105° Fahrenheit.

I’m going to talk a little bit about the heat what you can expect if you’re visiting Thailand in the month of May. This is the hot season. We’re going to go through it all, give you some tips, and talk about the positives and negatives of traveling to Thailand during this time of the year.

The Biggest Risk: Overly Busy Itineraries

For travelers, the biggest issue tends to be overly busy itineraries. If you’re planning to visit during the hot season, you want to be cautious with packing your day full of outdoor activities which can be the norm for tourists. You want to check all the temples, the Grand Palace. Most tourist activities are outdoors. And if you’re planning on spending all your time doing tourist activities, you’re at a high risk for heat stroke.

So my number one piece of advice for travelers who are visiting during this time of the year is to plan rest, plan breaks, plan to visit indoor air-conditioned spaces in order to cool off, and make sure to drink lots of water.

Heat stroke tends to creep up on people. They don’t notice it until it’s too late.

Protecting Yourself from the Sun

As I’m walking by lots of people with kids, families, older people, you want to be especially careful with younger or older people in the hot season, as they’ll experience heat stroke much more easily.

And of course, it’s very sunny here. The UV rays are very high. Wear a hat, wear some sunglasses, get some sunscreen. You’ll find the sunscreens can be a little bit more expensive. So if you’re planning to travel and you want sun protection, it can be worthwhile packing some sunscreen.

And you’ll also want to be cautious about skin brightening or whitening in many of the skincare products here. That includes sunscreens, sun creams, moisturizers. They’re usually pretty easy to tell because they say “skin brightening” or “whitening” directly on the package.

You’ll notice lots of Thai people they carry umbrellas during the hot season. They stay out of the sun. This is a sun avoidance culture, and it’s a little bit opposite of the West where people lay around in the sun.

Seeking Cooler Weather: The Islands

Now this is the hot season for the entire country, but if you want a little bit cooler weather, you can go down to the islands. So areas like Koh Samui, Phuket southern islands are always a bit more moderate because of the sea effect. That definitely hits the spot.

And then we got a coconut water too get our sugar and hydration in.

The Big Plus: Fewer Tourists

This is a major center of the city. One of the nicest parks, three of the biggest malls. Today is Sunday. There are almost no people. And that’s a big, big difference from just a month ago when we had a lot of people. And that heat just keeps them all away.

And that’s one of the big pluses of coming during the hot season. It’s a lot quieter. It’s a lot more relaxed. So if you’re somebody who doesn’t mind heat and likes a little bit more quiet, some peace, you may actually prefer the hot season.

I’ve lived here in Bangkok for almost 10 years, and it’s a very busy, very condensed city. And actually, I look forward to these times of the year the hot season and then we got the rainy season coming up and the tourist numbers drop off. Thai people tend to like to stay indoors, but it is really, really hot. Sometimes you need something to chase people away though, to enjoy a place like Bangkok and Thailand generally.

If you don’t like heat, this is really not the right time to come though. Make sure it fits what you like.

Outdoor Sports and Fitness During the Hot Season

Over here, we actually have a full outdoor gym. This is at Benjasiri Park. You’ve got lots of calisthenics areas, pull-up bars, different machines, and we even have weights free weights. So you can come here get a workout in. If you come during the day, it’s really hot, but you will have relative peace. In the evening, it’ll get quite busy.

Behind me, these are all sports facilities. You can come here and play basketball. There’s the kickball nets over here. And so if you want to play sports, you can pop into the park here at Benjasiri. You come during the day during hot season. There will be nobody here. Free courts for everybody.

Lower Prices During the Hot Season

So we’re talking about how there are fewer people, fewer tourists. And what that also means is lower prices. The hotels in particular hotel prices drop considerably right around May because we pass the Songkran period. That’s the Thai New Year festival, the big water fight. That’s one of the high points. Once we enter May, it’s like the dog days of summer here. And the prices really drop at hotels. You can get them for 50% cheaper. The occupancy will be lower, so they’re more relaxing.

There is some big, big benefits to traveling to Thailand in the tourism low season.

That guy’s playing some intense volleyball behind me. I had to move. He was screaming too hard.

Air Quality: A Major Advantage

And finally, we do have another big plus for traveling during the hot season. If you take a look up, the air quality is very, very good. And we have a long pollution season here from around December through to mid-March, early April. And the air pollution is brutal during this time. PM2.5 levels are hazardous. And so this is actually quite a nice time can breathe fresh air and we have a nice long stretch of good air quality because we go from the hot season with good air into the rainy season with the best air. And it doesn’t get bad again until around January, maybe mid-December.

And actually, that’s the time of the year that I dislike the most, and it’s the time I consider moving every single year.

Using Malls as a Cooling Strategy

If you need a break from the heat, we have malls in virtually every neighborhood of this city. And what I would recommend is building that into your itinerary so that you take a break, you get some air conditioning, and cool down, avoid the overheating, and you can experience a little bit of Bangkok’s more modern and luxurious side.

The EM District right here is home to three beautiful malls. If we go one stop over to the west, we’ve got Asok, we’ve got Terminal 21.

If you go down to the riverside area and the old city this is the most popular tourist neighborhood you can stop in at Icon Siam. This is one of the biggest malls in the world. It is absolutely beautiful. It fits any tourist itinerary. If you’re roaming around the Grand Palace, Khao San Road, the old city, just hop on a Chao Phraya River Ferry, you can take it down, hop off at Icon, and of course get a reprieve from the heat.

So you can really line up your itineraries here to avoid overheating on any given day.

Is the Hot Season Right for You?

If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly, slower pace, less crowded environment, the hot season is actually one of the best times to visit. Just take those precautions to avoid heat stroke, sunstroke especially in your early days here when you’re getting accustomed to the difference in temperatures. The humidity in particular will really hit you. It is very, very humid here.

And on that note, I’m gonna go get some air conditioning in a mall, because I am hot already.

Bangkok’s Mall Culture

Here we are in Emsphere Mall. Very busy. In contrast to the outdoor areas, the malls will be very, very busy as Thai people are all getting out of the heat. The malls in Bangkok are extremely well air-conditioned. You’ll walk in and it’s like getting hit by arctic temperatures.

Interesting fact: the malls of Bangkok use more electricity than the rest of the country combined outside of Bangkok. That air conditioning is expensive, and it uses a lot of power. And there’s a lot of malls here. Bangkok’s actually home to four of the largest malls in the world. Four of the top 10. It’s like that market culture combined with heat translated into a very mall-friendly culture.

But the malls here are very nice. They’re nicely designed. I don’t know that many people even shop so much as just come to the malls and hang out and eat some food.

See, we’re coming up to the shopping floors and you don’t see anybody anymore. Suddenly, the whole place empties out because nobody’s coming to the malls to shop.