Cambodia has a tropical climate and is one of the few Southeast Asia countries that boasts a fairly consistent climate making it a year-round destination for travel. The best time to travel to Cambodia is in the wet season between June and early September or in the dry, cool season between November and February, depending on what your goals are while abroad. The most popular time to visit is in the dry season between November and May but at certain times the heat can be extreme. The wet season, between May and October, is a less popular time to visit and offers both advantages and challenges while exploring Cambodia.
The dry season spans from November to May, which itself further subdivided into a cool season and a hot season. If you’re interested in taking a Mekong River cruise, the best time to do that activity is between November and January, in the dry season.
The Cool Season
The cool season between November and February has the best weather in Cambodia, with especially ideal weather between December and January. This is the best time to go to Cambodia weather-wise, but the drawback comes from the huge mobs of tourists. At this time the averages are between 70-86℉ (21-30℃). This temperature is perfect for a nice beach day or an extended hike through the jungles of Cambodia. This is the most popular time of the year for tourism though because it coincides with many country’s winter vacations. The result of this is lodging and activity prices seem to reach their peak and temples can be extremely crowded. It’s highly recommended that if you plan to come this season you book your lodging at least a few months in advance as the popular places to stay can fill up quite quickly. During the cool season is also the best time to take a Mekong River cruise as it’s not too hot or rainy to enjoy it.
The Hot Season
The hot season between March and June is just that, extremely hot and humid. This is the worst time to go to Cambodia as crowds have barely gone down, the extreme heat can be taxing, and there are occasional rain showers that last for an hour on average. April and May are the hottest months of the year and temperatures can get up to 95℉ (35℃). This may not seem that bad but the humidity is extreme and can be a real burden while trying to walk the streets, explore the temples with no ventilation, and go on a hike. Although this time of the year has the perfect beach weather, more or less forcing you to go for a swim, this is considered the worst time to go as the heat will take a lot out of you while trying to explore all the other things that make Cambodia such a great travel destination.
The Wet Season
The wet season spans between May and October and rains can happen up to twenty days in a month. This may seem extreme, but it’s really not all that bad because the rains usually only last for about an hour and if you bring a light raincoat or rain poncho with you, the rain really shouldn’t be an issue. The best time to go to Cambodia is during the rainy season is between June and early September as the rains won’t be quite as bad and the temperature will be drastically cooler when compared to the hot season. The advantages of going in this season are the average temperature is between 77-80.6℉ (25-27℃), there are not many visitors in this season so it’s a perfect time to explore temples, appreciate the beautiful greenery of the country, and the opportunity to visit the flooded forest and stilted homes of Tonle Sap Lake. Additionally, during mid-September and October traveling to remote areas of Cambodia can be treacherous because the roads can flood in this season.
Phnom Penh Royal Palace complex
Cambodia Weather
Month
Phnom Penh Avg Temperature ℉ (℃)
Phnom Penh Avg Rainfall in (mm)
January
79 (26)
0.3 (7)
February
81 (27)
0.4 (10)
March
84 (29)
1.6 (40)
April
88 (31)
3 (75)
May
86 (30)
5.3 (135)
June
84 (29)
6.1 (155)
July
82 (28)
6.7 (170)
August
84 (29)
6.3 (160)
September
82 (28)
8.9 (225)
October
81 (27)
10 (255)
November
81 (27)
4.9 (125)
December
79 (26)
1.8 (45)
If you want to plan a trip to Cambodia or combine it with a trip to Vietnam on a Mekong River cruise, contact our travel experts at Adventure Life now! They’ll help you plan the perfect trip.
Mary was very helpful. Quick to reply with helpful information and closure on arrangements.
Nicola Maxwell
1 day ago
Our agent Jessica was very helpful with the whole process and always responded in a timely way to all of our questions.
K Van
2 days ago
Chern was very patient snd helpful.
CaBaba
3 days ago
Cruse ship was great. Fantastic food and service. Cruise itinary got changed so not what we expected, but not an major issue. Japan portion was great. Drivers/guides arranged by 80 Days were great. Hotels were mostly ok. Did not know that most hotels outside of major cities do not allow shoes to be worn in the hotel. again a minor inconvenience. Overall a great trip. Adventure Life communications were timely and much appreciated as far as changes/requests.
Peter Goff
4 days ago
We were a group of three that initiated our research by independently searching for the best agency to help us in the somewhat complex experience of traveling to the Galapagos. We chose adventure life because they were the most responsive in the website provided the most comprehensive overview of the trip. Their reviews were also very good.
Adventure, life splits up its booking process in two parts. First Jeff, the booking agent helped us decide which experience best suited are interests. We chose a small 14 to 16 group sized yacht. Once the booking was made with Jeff, we were handed off to Coleene, who oversaw the complex process of assembling all of the necessary documents and making sure we had everything we needed to make the trip go smoothly. The adventure, life website, then becomes your personal place of reference for all things related to your trip from door to door. It’s a lot of information to assemble, especially for three travelers, but the website makes it easy and Colleen‘s gentle reminders kept us on track. In all, from the beginning, we had four months from the time we started our research till the time we departed. We felt that was, a good amount of preparation time and don’t think it would be wise to do it in less than four months. Mostly because I think you have more options with that amount of time. There were others on our trip that took six months and more from the time they started planning.
The trip itself was outstanding. We ended up on an excellent yacht (Galapagos Angel II) with a great group of guests that we were able to connect with and put together a really nice google photos album to share.
Jed
1 week ago
Mary was very helpful. Quick to reply with helpful information and closure on arrangements.
Nicola Maxwell
1 day ago
Our agent Jessica was very helpful with the whole process and always responded in a timely way to all of our questions.
K Van
2 days ago
Chern was very patient snd helpful.
CaBaba
3 days ago
Cruse ship was great. Fantastic food and service. Cruise itinary got changed so not what we expected, but not an major issue. Japan portion was great. Drivers/guides arranged by 80 Days were great. Hotels were mostly ok. Did not know that most hotels outside of major cities do not allow shoes to be worn in the hotel. again a minor inconvenience. Overall a great trip. Adventure Life communications were timely and much appreciated as far as changes/requests.
Peter Goff
4 days ago
We were a group of three that initiated our research by independently searching for the best agency to help us in the somewhat complex experience of traveling to the Galapagos. We chose adventure life because they were the most responsive in the website provided the most comprehensive overview of the trip. Their reviews were also very good.
Adventure, life splits up its booking process in two parts. First Jeff, the booking agent helped us decide which experience best suited are interests. We chose a small 14 to 16 group sized yacht. Once the booking was made with Jeff, we were handed off to Coleene, who oversaw the complex process of assembling all of the necessary documents and making sure we had everything we needed to make the trip go smoothly. The adventure, life website, then becomes your personal place of reference for all things related to your trip from door to door. It’s a lot of information to assemble, especially for three travelers, but the website makes it easy and Colleen‘s gentle reminders kept us on track. In all, from the beginning, we had four months from the time we started our research till the time we departed. We felt that was, a good amount of preparation time and don’t think it would be wise to do it in less than four months. Mostly because I think you have more options with that amount of time. There were others on our trip that took six months and more from the time they started planning.
The trip itself was outstanding. We ended up on an excellent yacht (Galapagos Angel II) with a great group of guests that we were able to connect with and put together a really nice google photos album to share.
Jed
1 week ago
Mary was very helpful. Quick to reply with helpful information and closure on arrangements.
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