You might assume that traveling to Asia during our summer months would be a perfect option for a beach holiday, but that’s actually not the case. June is rainy season in Asia. The website Price of Travel put together this informative list breaking down the best places to visit in Asia during the summer months. The top 11 destinations are pretty amazing. Check it out, and start rethinking that next trip.
Editor’s note: These spots are all taken directly from travelstoke®, a new app from Matador that connects you with fellow travelers and locals, and helps you build trip itineraries with spots that integrate seamlessly into Google Maps and Uber. Download the app to add any of the spots below directly to your future trips.
June is actually one of the cooler and dryer months here. One downside is that June is also one of the busier months of the year in Bali, as it’s a very popular destination for Australians on a winter break. Still, the nicer weather is worth it, and it’s still pretty easy to avoid the crowds in Bali if you avoid the Kuta/Legian/Seminyak beach area in general.
July and August are very hot and steamy in Tokyo, but June is still rather pleasant so it’s an ideal time to visit not only Tokyo but Japan in general. You’ll notice that on Price of Travel’s Global Backpacker Index, Tokyo ranks near Rome and Vienna, and is much cheaper than London or Amsterdam.
Since Seoul is even farther north than Tokyo, its winters are pretty brutal and even the springs and autumns can be a bit chilly. May, June, September, and October are by far the best months to visit Korea.
While the eastern parts of southeast Asia can get very rainy in June, Laos and most of Thailand is still reasonably dry. Actually, it’s more that the rainstorms are very quick and are usually over in less than 30 minutes, and they can actually provide some welcome temporary relief from the heat in the process.
Kuala Lumpur and nearby Singapore are not far from the equator and thus hot every day of the year. Still, June through August is the driest period of the year, so it’s also a bit less humid and more pleasant in general.
Singapore is small enough to see in 3 days or so, and that’s good because hotels and alcohol are quite expensive, but it all feels worthwhile. June is one of the better months to visit because it rains less than the rest of the year. If you are coming all this way it’s probably wise to also visit Malaysia on the same trip, since they are separated by only a bridge.
Unlike most of India to its north, the rains in Sri Lanka usually end in early June, so this begins one of the better times of year to visit. The beach towns along the southern coast are worth a look, but the national parks and nature sights of the interior hills are even better for a first visit.
It’s definitely very hot in June in Bangkok, but it’s actually nicer than it is in the hotter months of April and May, so this is still a good time to visit. Interestingly, it’s the quick rainstorms that happen a few afternoons each week that bring temperatures here down and into a more pleasant range. You’ll notice the skies getting gray in plenty of time to seek shelter, so avoiding them is surprisingly easy.
You will get more June rainstorms on Thailand’s islands and beach towns of the south, so June is a good month to head north to its second city of Chiang Mai. It’s almost as hot as Bangkok during the summer, but it doesn’t rain much and most hotels here have swimming pools.
Even though June is quite warm, at least the June air quality is much better than in Beijing. This is a far more modern city with striking architecture and an extremely impressive infrastructure.
