just would like to know from people that have been there or live there how bad is the rain and weather at this time of year?
for the beach holiday people?
thanks

sorry this is for thailand! and its islands!!

We were in Thailand last July and August for 5 weeks, and 2 of those were spent down on the islands of Samui, Ko Tao and Ko Pha Ngan. Out of 2 weeks, on the beach, we had about 2-3 days that were really rainy and the odd shower here and there otherwise (cleared the air and then sun came back out again).

In Bangkok, the weather we experienced was okay but I think there were showers here and there. Generally hazy.

Chiang Mai we experienced the worst rain - we were there 6 days and it rained most afternoons heavily. Just after we left it flooded though so i think it did get quite wet! It didn't spoil our time there though.

If you do a search on the weather sites, you can get statistics for each city/area in Thailand showing monthly rainfall etc. Phuket and islands on the Andaman coast will have more rain at this time of year than Samui as will Ko Chang I believe.

BB

BB

Different areas of Thailand (and different islands) are affected by two different monsoon systems. There are lots of recent posts about rainfall in various islands, so read some of teh posts about beaches.

You can check for yourself, www.weatherbase.com Use Phuket for the islands in that area, use Surat Thani to check on rainfall on Samui.

There are islands in the Northeast (like Ko Samet) which have different climates for those to the south. I preferred the islands to the south to Ko Samet, but the conditions <i>might</i> be better that time of year. Also in your research, check for conditions both coasts in the south on the peninsula.

We were in Ko Samui in July last year and it rained every day around 3pm for about half hour to an hour. There is supposed to be less rain there than in Phuket in July. It did not rain any of the 3 days we were in Bangkok and we found Chiang Mai cool, cloudy and rainy.