Vietnam's seasons by region: north, centre and south, as official sources state them

One country, three calendars

Vietnam's north, centre and south do not share a rainy season, and the two official bodies XTOUR read on 11 October 2026 agree on that much. The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism puts it down to geography, saying the country has "both tropical and temperate zones", and describes a north that is cool to cold in winter and rainy in summer, a central coast whose rains come late, from autumn into the new year, and a south that is either hot and dry or hot and rainy.[1] The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, the national forecasting centre, uses the same regional frame in its bulletins: it calls October and November the main months of the rainy season on the coast from Hà Tĩnh to Huế and on the south-central coast, while it tracks cold air and severe cold in the north over the same winter.[2]

This article reports what those two bodies say. It is not XTOUR's advice on when to go, and it gives no temperature or rainfall figure, because XTOUR has not read a climate normal from the forecasting centre that would support one.

The north: Hanoi, Ha Long and Sa Pa

The tourism authority's month bands for Hanoi and Ha Long are almost identical: cool to cold, misty and cloudy from December to March; warm to hot with clear skies from April to June; hot, humid and rainy, or stormy at Ha Long, from June to August; and from September to November clear, cool weather in Hanoi and a mix of sun and cloud at Ha Long. For Sa Pa, in the northern mountains, the same page describes a chilly, misty winter from December to March and says the town sees occasional snow in January.[1]

The forecasting centre's language for the northern winter is about cold air and cold spells. Its annual bulletin, issued on 15 July 2026, expects cold spells in the 2026–27 winter to be concentrated in January and warns of frost and snow in the northern mountains; its seasonal bulletin of 15 September 2026 expected fewer days of light rain and drizzle than usual in the north from late February.[3] These are forecasts for one winter, not the long-term climate, but they show what the centre watches for in the north: cold air, severe-cold days (rét đậm, rét hại), frost and drizzle, with strong winds at sea from the north-east monsoon (gió mùa Đông Bắc).[2]

The centre: Huế, Hội An and the coast

The central coast is where the official calendars matter most, because its rains fall when much of the north is dry. The tourism authority gives Huế "a late rainy season", wet and cool from September to February, with occasional flooding from September to November. It gives Hội An a rainy band from September to January and says tropical storms hit central Vietnam from September, with a lot of rain and a few small floods from September to November.[1]

The forecasting centre is narrower. Its seasonal bulletin calls October and November the main months of the rainy season for the coast from Hà Tĩnh to Huế and for the south-central coast, and its annual bulletin expects heavy rain in 2026 to fall mainly on the centre in November and December.[3][2]

The two are not in conflict so much as measuring different things. The tourism authority describes the whole wet and cool part of the year at each town; the forecasting centre names the core months of the rains for a stretch of coast. A reader comparing them should notice that Huế's band on the tourism page runs a month longer than Hội An's.[1]

Further south on the same coast, the tourism authority gives Nha Trang a rainy band from September to December, and describes it as having the country's shortest rainy season.[1] That last phrase is the tourism authority's; XTOUR has not read a forecasting-centre statement that compares rainy-season lengths.

The south and the highlands: Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta and Đà Lạt

For Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, the tourism authority gives a wet season from May to November, with an afternoon downpour of a few hours, and clear, hot weather from December to April.[1] The forecasting centre's seasonal bulletin of 15 September 2026 expected the rainy season in the south and the Central Highlands to end early in 2026, and early heat in the south from February 2027.[2] Its annual bulletin dates the start of hot weather in 2027 region by region: the south-east from about February, the south in March, and the north and centre from about early April.[3]

Đà Lạt, in the Central Highlands, follows neither coast. The tourism authority gives it a rainy season from April to October and a cool, dry season from November to May. The same page gives the island of Phú Quốc a stormy band from July to September.[1]

Storms

Typhoons in Vietnamese forecasting are "bão" (storms) and "áp thấp nhiệt đới" (tropical depressions) on the East Sea, the Vietnamese name for the South China Sea. The forecasting centre's bulletins quote long-term averages: 9.6 storms and tropical depressions on the East Sea between August and January, of which 3.8 make landfall, and 4.5 between October and December, of which 1.9 make landfall.[2] Its annual bulletin says storms are unlikely from February to the first half of May and that they begin to appear from about late May to June, in line with the climate pattern.[3]

For 2026 specifically, both bulletins expect fewer storms than the long-term average, under a strong El Niño.[3] That is a forecast for one season, issued in July and September 2026, and the centre replaces its seasonal bulletin every month.[2]

Where official forecasts and warnings are published

The forecasting centre's website, kttv.gov.vn, also served at nchmf.gov.vn, carries 24-hour forecasts for land and sea, 10-day forecasts, monthly and seasonal outlooks, and separate sections for dangerous weather: storms and tropical depressions, heavy rain, cold air, heat and thunderstorms, as well as floods, flash floods and landslides. The site is in Vietnamese and links an English version.[4] Each destination page on XTOUR has its own weather topic; this page covers only the regional contrast.

What XTOUR does not know

• Temperatures and rainfall totals. XTOUR has not read a long-term climate table from the forecasting centre and gives no figure.
• Which month is "best" for anywhere. The tourism authority says March to May offers the best weather countrywide; that is its view, and XTOUR does not adopt or repeat it as advice.[1]
• How the 2026–27 forecasts will turn out. The bulletins above are forecasts issued in July and September 2026.
• Conditions on any route, boat trip or mountain road in bad weather. Neither body's pages read here address them.