Best time to visit Singapore: weather, monsoon

In Singapore you don't ask whether it will be warm, only how often it will rain. The city lies just over 100 kilometres north of the equator, and temperatures barely change through the year. What does change are the monsoon seasons – and with them how much rain falls and when the thunderstorms come. We analysed the weather data for 2015 to 2024.

The short answer

You can visit Singapore all year round. February is the driest month, and March, July, August and September are also good. The most rain falls in November, December and January. Even then it rarely rains all day: usually a heavy shower or thunderstorm passes and the sun comes out again. For a stopover on the way to Asia or Australia, any month works.

Singapore's climate: all 12 months

Temperature and rain: average of 2015–2024 from the ERA5 reanalysis (via Open-Meteo) for the city centre, rounded. The values describe a grid cell of about 25 km that partly lies over the sea; weather stations in the city often record 1 to 2 degrees more by day.

The temperature curve is almost flat: on average only one degree separates the coolest and the warmest month, and nights rarely drop below 24 °C. Humidity is high all year, so it often feels hotter than the numbers say. Rainfall, on the other hand, varies a lot: November gets three times as much as February.

The monsoon seasons, simply explained

Singapore's weather service divides the year into four parts: two monsoon seasons and two inter-monsoon periods in between.

Northeast Monsoon (December to early March): At the start, in December and January, it is the wettest time of year, often with longer spells of rain lasting several hours. From late January it becomes much drier and breezier, which is why February is the driest month.

First inter-monsoon (April and May): Winds are light, and thunderstorms are common in the afternoon and early evening. It is one of the muggiest times of the year – night lows are highest in May at 26.2 °C.

Southwest Monsoon (June to September): Comparatively dry. Typical are short, intense lines of thunderstorms that cross the city before dawn or in the morning, after which the day often stays dry. In some years smoke from forest and peat fires in neighbouring countries drifts over during this season, known as haze. The government publishes current readings daily.

Second inter-monsoon (October and November): Light winds again, with thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. November is on average the wettest month of the year.

What this means for your trip

Because it rains at some point in almost every month, how you plan the day matters more than the month. Outdoors is best in the morning – at Gardens by the Bay, the Botanic Gardens or on a walk around Marina Bay. For the afternoons, when the storms arrive, there are museums, the big malls on Orchard Road, or the two conservatories at Gardens by the Bay, Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. Evenings are often dry again – good for the hawker centres, where you eat cheaply and very well.

Festivals through the year

Chinese New Year falls in January or February, depending on the lunar calendar. Chinatown is festively decorated, but on the holidays themselves some small shops and eateries close. As a city with Chinese, Malay and Indian communities, Singapore celebrates many other festivals too, such as Hari Raya and Deepavali, whose dates move every year.

Entry and practical tips

• Entry: Visitors from the UK, the EU and many other countries do not need a visa for a tourist stay. Before arrival you fill in the free SG Arrival Card online with the immigration authority. The current rules are on the official website.
• Clothing: Light, breathable clothes plus a thin layer – trains, museums and malls are strongly air-conditioned.
• Plugs: Singapore uses the same three-pin plugs as the UK, so travellers from Britain need no adapter; most others do.
• Umbrella: Keep one in your bag, for rain and for shade.

How to plan the trip

From London a direct flight to Singapore takes approx. 13 hours. Many people use the city as a stopover on the way to Bali, Thailand or Australia – two to three days are enough for the main sights. To see Singapore at a relaxed pace, plan four to five days.

In YesTrip you enter Singapore and your dates and get a day-by-day plan with a map – with the forecast for your travel days, so you can put gardens and walks into the dry hours. The packing list suggests clothes to match the weather and reminds you about plugs. You can take over our ready-made plan directly.

Singapore trip planDay by day, with map and tips