When is the Weather Good To Travel the Philippines?

Friends who plan to travel to the Philippines sometimes ask me: When is the weather good to travel? When is the rainy season? Can I travel during the rainy season?

The Philippines are a massive country, spanning from the north of Luzon, close to Taiwan, to the south of Mindanao, close to Indonesia and Malaysia. Naturally, the climate will be different in all of these locations. And there will be a distinct rainy season in some parts of the country, but not in others. As a general rule, the further east you are, the wetter the climate is; and the further north you are (the further away from the equator), the more pronounced the difference between the dry and rainy seasons during the year is. But that’s of course a simplification, and the many high mountain ranges in the archipelago can locally greatly alter the climate.

I have lived in Dumaguete, on Negros Island, in the Visayas for a few years now, and while the temperatures and downpours are different between April (dry) and ~November (rainy), the difference is not extreme; often the rains happen in the early morning, and only last for 30 minutes; rarely is the weather so wet that you can’t do anything outdoors the whole day. The “rainy season” should not make anyone change their travel plans to this part of the Visayas.

You can go to Climate-Data.org and check out the climate where you want to travel to. Their data for Dumaguete shows that the monthly precipitation varies between 90 mm (April) and 270 mm (July) over the year.

Climate Change

Another issue is that – guess what! – the climate is changing. In the last couple of years I and many other locals have noticed that weather patterns shifted to later in the year. There is not yet any statistical study of this out, as far as I know, but the pattern seems consistent.

Don’t miss my travel tips for exploring the Philippines:

Number One: Take Your Time:

Number Two & Three: Dive, Not Drive