Myths About Monsoon in Cambodia – We Dispel Common Ones – Beragampengetahuan

Myths about monsoon in Cambodia don’t seem to be going anywhere, despite the inconsistency and unpredictability of the weather due to climate change. Barely a day goes by when we don’t hear someone say “it rains like clockwork every afternoon”. But it doesn’t anymore. What’s worse is that most travellers are under the misapprehension that rainy season isn’t a good time to visit Cambodia. In fact, the ‘green season’, when Cambodia is lush and gorgeous is a great time to visit.

The continual pitter-patter of rain on our rooftop in Siem Reap is music to our ears. The geckos seeking shelter on our balcony are more than welcome, along with the green frogs that grace the building steps night after night. The wet season is well underway and the rains will continue for a few more months; like the myths about monsoon in Cambodia they won’t be going anywhere for a while.

For travellers, the unpredictability of the wet season weather can mean that it’s a gamble to visit during monsoon. If you’re on a tight schedule and have just a few days in Siem Reap then you’re going to be disappointed if it rains the entire time, ruining your temple plans, despite there being many other engaging indoor things to do. See some things to do in Siem Reap when it rains for ideas.

If you’re a backpacker, budget traveller or slow traveller with no fixed schedule and all the time in the world, the wet season is a wonderful time to visit. We absolutely love it. Not only is the countryside stunning, and experiencing the riverside cities during a downpour when streets temporarily flood is an adventure (and misadventures make the best travel stories!), the wet season is low season. That means fewer tourists, relaxed locals and everything is cheaper.

The Myths About Monsoon in Cambodia – We Dispel A Few Common Myths About Wet Season Travel

The monsoon season, also called the wet season and green season, is a great time to travel to Cambodia. Yet we continually see travellers advised not to visit during this period. We’re going to dispel some of the myths about monsoon in Cambodia, help you develop a better understanding of the weather during the period, and provide tips for travelling in Cambodia during the wet season.

The Myths About Monsoon in Cambodia

Here are some of the myths about monsoon in Cambodia that we’re going to dispel for you, starting with wet season travel not being the best time to travel to Cambodia. Not true at all!

Monsoon Season is Not the Best Season for Travelling in Cambodia

The monsoon season is called the ‘green season’ for good reason. It’s our favourite time of year. The countryside is gorgeous and lush and the rice paddies are an incandescent green. Farmers fish in their flooded rice fields and kids play in the water and catch frogs. Butterflies flutter about and geckos and frogs are in abundance, making music at night.

There is water everywhere, moats and pools prettily reflect the temples, while the water on the sandstone and laterite bricks enhances their colours, making the most intricate details on decorative carvings and bas-reliefs stand out. The lime coloured moss and lichen that dapple the temples is also more pronounced.

In practical terms, accommodation is plentiful and rates are as low as they’ll get. During the wet season, you can get Siem Reap luxury five-star lodgings for the price of four-star boutique hotel rooms in Siem Reap in high season, a four-star hotel for the price of a three-star hotel in high season, and so on. Low season is the season to visit if you’re looking for luxury accommodation on a budget.

When we first moved to Siem Reap in 2013, we spent two months while we searched for an apartment staying at a lovely mid-range hotel in the cool Wat Bo neighbourhood, for which I was able to negotiate budget hotel rates. There were some days when there were no other guests and we had the property entirely to ourselves, including the swimming pool.

During the monsoon season, the restaurants are empty and the streets are quiet, especially in Siem Reap, which can get busy during the high season. Best of all, there are no crowds at Angkor Wat during the dampest months and we often found ourselves alone at other temples. Bliss.

Afternoon Rains No Longer Fall Like Clockwork in Cambodia

Guidebooks, magazine articles and websites covering the climate in this part of the world typically generalise on the subject of the weather in Cambodia. You’ll read countless times about how the monsoon rains arrive like clockwork each afternoon. They used to but they don’t anymore. This is one of the biggest myths about monsoon in Cambodia.

Having lived in Siem Reap since 2013, we’ve experienced 12 wet seasons in Cambodia. While it’s true that it’s more likely to rain in the late afternoon and early evening, depending on the month, it can rain in the morning, the middle of the day, the evening, and overnight.

Sometimes it doesn’t rain at all for a day or two, while at other times it rains relentlessly for days. It is true, as weather charts attest, that it does rain more in the afternoon than the morning, however, nothing runs like clockwork here in Cambodia, particularly the weather!

Seasons Are Not Limited to ‘The Wet’ and ‘The Dry’

The tourist high season reliably begins in December, coinciding with the start of the dry season. Although sometimes mid-late November can also be dry. We recently did a tour where the guide, having recited the same old script far too many times, told our group how Cambodia has two seasons, the wet and the dry, and the wet had ended and the dry started. Tuk tuk drivers will tell you the same. It’s a bit more complex than that. Yes, this is one of the other myths about monsoon in Cambodia.

Most websites state the wet season lasts from May to October, bringing with it 75% of annual rainfall, while the dry runs October to April, with a dry and cool November-January period and a scorching April. In fact, October can be one of the wettest months in Cambodia, and the first weeks of November can also be wet. I vividly remember back in November 2013 much of Cambodia was underwater from floods that affected 21 provinces from September through November.

A free Siem Reap Angkor Visitors Guide booklet available in the city goes some way in better explaining the nuances, identifying four seasons: December-February, cool and dry; March-May, hot and dry; June-August hot and rainy; and September-November, cool and diminishing rain.

When I first researched this story way back in 2013, I looked at data gathered at the Siem Reap weather station at the old Angkor International Airport: in Siem Reap, the wettest month in 2013 was September, when it rained for 77% of the month, and after that October, then July, then August. There was very little rain in May, although there were more thunderstorms than other months, and the rain diminished in late June-early July, and there were brief lulls for periods in August and early September.

Northern Australia’s Six Seasons Help Us Understand Cambodia’s Seasons

Our experience of the weather in Cambodia reminds me of the weather patterns of the monsoonal north of Australia, which has a similar tropical savanna climate, six main seasons and two transitional mini-seasons as identified by Australia’s northern indigenous peoples, who have been observing weather patterns for 50,000 years.

There, Dhululdur is the pre-wet season from October to November; Barra’mirri is the growth season, December to January; Mayaltha, the lush flowering season, February to March; Midawarr, from March to April, the fruiting season, which includes Ngathangamakulingamirri, the two-week harvest season in April; Dharratharramirri, from May to July, the early dry season; and Rarrandharr, from August to October, the main dry season; while the period known as Burrugumirri, from July to August, is identified as the time when marine life such as sharks and stingrays give birth.

Having said that, because there are so many indigenous tribes in Australia, especially across northern Australia, who are living in different areas with different micro-climates, along with different languages and dialects, there are also different seasonal calendars.

In the Northern Territory’s Katherine region, for instance, the Jawoyn people identify the seasons in their area slightly differently: Jiorrk, from January to February is the main part of the wet; Bungarung, from March through to mid-April is when the last of the rains fall; Jungalk, from mid-April through May is the early hot dry; Malaparr from June to August is the cooler middle-dry time when burning of the land takes place (a preventative measure against bushfires); Worrwopmi in September and October is the hot and sticky early build-up; while Wakaringding in November and December is the build-up, marked by brooding thunderstorms, when the first rains fall.

If you’re interested in learning more, see this piece on The Lost Seasons on the ABC site and the Indigenous Weather Knowledge project on Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology site. There’s more insight here too on Climate in Aboriginal Australia.

While the months when different weather cycles occur obviously differ between Australia and Cambodia, Australia being in the southern hemisphere and Cambodia in the northern hemisphere, indigenous Australians’ more nuanced understanding of the seasons have more closely reflected our experience in Cambodia.

The Only Constant is Inconsistency and Unpredictability

If there was one constant here in Siem Reap, and in Battambang and Phnom Penh where we have also spent a lot of time during the wet season, it’s the unpredictability of the weather. As a travel photographer, Terence is constantly checking weather websites so we know when to schedule activities and photo shoots. Never has he spent so much time looking at storm patterns and never have I made and changed plans as much as I have during the monsoonal months.

What surprised us most when we first moved here was how quickly the weather could shift and wouldn’t settle in as we’d envisaged it might. There were days where it would rain like mad for half an hour then the clouds would pass and the sun would come out and a gorgeous afternoon would unfurl. In some cases it could be raining heavily in one part of the city and in another the sun would be blazing.

I’m not sure which days I liked more, when we woke to grey skies and heavy rain and had to walk in ankle deep water to get anywhere, only to be pleasantly surprised when it cleared in the afternoon to reveal a perfect blue sky, a clarity of light that reminded me of early spring in Sydney, and swimming pool weather. Or those late afternoons when we would watch in amazement from our balcony as slate-grey clouds dramatically rolled in, quickly blackening the sky.

The Downside to Visiting Cambodia in Monsoon

Of course, we have to be honest, there are downsides to travelling in Cambodia during the monsoon season.

Temples Are Slippery and Sometimes Inaccessible

The rain makes the temples very slippery and sometimes there is so much water around, some temples may not be accessible at all. At times there is no way to avoid being ankle- or even knee-deep in water so leave your best walking shoes or hiking boots at home. Each night you’ll be scraping mud off your soles and wiping splatters from your clothes.

Parts of Cambodia Flood (Though Not the Parts Travellers Visit)

Then there are the floods. The heaviest rains typically start in Cambodia in late September and continue throughout October until early November – sometimes not receding until the middle or end of the month. I remember during one of the wettest monsoon seasons back in 2013 there was flooding in 21 provinces, which affected 1.7 million people, resulting in around 150,000 people being evacuated, and almost 200 deaths.

Riverside City Streets Can Temporarily Flood

Most of Cambodia’s cities are set on rivers, which makes them special. But when the water peaks, the rivers rise and inevitably flood the streets. In the worst case scenario, you might be forced to stay in your hotel for a bit or even leave town. But generally the water subsides quickly, and you can be out and about exploring again in no time.

Regional Travel Can Be Slow-Going and Require Detours

In the countryside and more remote parts of Cambodia, it’s another story. The flooding can be so bad in places that roads can get cut off completely, requiring detours that could add many hours to a trip, or, if you visit Cambodia’s lesser visited temples, stranding you completely.

In October, the usual 3-hour journey by car between Siem Reap and Battambang can sometimes stretch to seven hours. In early November, it can still be a slow journey overland between the two cities, and also from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. After the wet season, roads are damaged from the rain and colossal pot holes form everywhere, so roadworks to repair them can also make travel a little slower than usual. But misadventures do make great travel stories…

Tips for Visiting Cambodia During Monsoon

Here are our best tips for visiting Cambodian during the monsoon season, based on 12 years living in Cambodia and writing about travel in Cambodia.

Research the Weather Before You Book

Do some thorough research well ahead of time so you know what you’re getting yourself into to determine which season is right for you. I’ve found the Insider Journeys site’s weather posts to be the most detailed of any when it comes to describing weather in different regions of Cambodia, as well as Vietnam and Laos. Also look at historical weather patterns – I like how they’re presented on weather-and-climate.com, which is easy to use.

Use Weather Underground

Check the 10-day forecasts on Weather Underground to see how weather will change throughout the day. We’ve found this site to be the most accurate weather site, and Terence uses many websites, continually comparing them on a daily basis so he can plan his photo shoots.

Be Prepared

Bring quality walking shoes with good grip so you don’t slip when exploring the temples; leave the white runners at home, as they’ll be brown by the time you leave. Flip flops are best for the city streets. A quality wet weather jacket will get used but you might find it too steamy; you can buy cheap light ponchos ($1-2) and more durable ones ($10) at the local markets, along with cheap hats and umbrellas. Zip-lock bags, sold in supermarkets here, will keep tickets, money, phones, and cameras dry.

Be Flexible

Try to build additional time into your itinerary so you can extend your stay if you find you arrive and there are three days of rain but it’s going to be clear the day you plan to leave. When you’re here, check the weather forecast before you go to bed and when you rise and have contingency plans for activities to do indoors in case of rain. (See our ideas above.)

Book Last Minute

There’s no need to book flights and hotels well ahead of time. There are plenty of hotels and we recommend booking accommodation at the last minute, which is when you’ll find some fabulous deals.

Book Local

There’s no need to book tours from home before you travel during wet season. Book when you arrive and use local tour companies so you can be sure the money is staying in the community. Visit the travel company’s office so you can discuss options and whether it’s going to be possible to change a tour date at the last minute if it rains.

If I haven’t persuaded you to visit Cambodia during monsoon, see our guide to end of monsoon trip planning and travel in northern Southeast Asia.

First published 13 December 2013; Last updated and republished 1 August 2025

Have you been to Cambodia or other parts of South East Asia during monsoon? Would you return during the wet season? We’d love to hear about your experiences and your thoughts on our myths about monsoon in Cambodia.