Phu Quoc's best stretch: hot and sunny with the least rain and the lowest risk of a lingering tropical cyclone. December still carries a small, fading chance of a late-season storm, and by February the heat is already climbing back up, but this is as comfortable as the island gets. Expect the busiest beaches and highest resort rates of the year too.

This tier spans quite different halves of the year. March is still dry season, but noticeably hotter than December through February. April sees rain start building again, alongside some of the most intense heat of the year, before the real monsoon arrives. September, October, and May sit within the wetter half of the year, rain is frequent, but conditions haven't reached the deepest, most saturated stretch of the monsoon yet. November sees the rains ease off fast as the season turns, one of the more pleasant transitional months.

The heart of the monsoon, when rain falls on the majority of days and August, the wettest month of the year, can bring flooding to low-lying parts of the island. Humidity and wind both climb here too, with rougher seas around the southern islands. Hotel prices drop to their lowest point of the year to match.