WORST Time to Visit Singapore

Hello adventurer. If you're planning a trip to Singapore, you must watch this video because I'm going to be sharing the worst time to visit that may ruin your trip. After watching this video, you'll know exactly when to visit for the least crowd and the best weather. Let's begin.

There are three main things that can make or break your trip. Number one, the weather. Tropical Singapore is mostly sunny and rainy throughout the year. So, if you're visiting when it's too hot or when there's too much rain, you might end up with a wet blanket over your plants.

Number two, crowd level. Singapore is a very popular destination in the region. If you visit during the peak holiday seasons, expect to be packed like sardines.

And number three, there are seasonal events and festivities that may result in closure of businesses or attract even more search of visitors. I will review each of these factors in each month before playing a little game of elimination to summarize which is the best month to visit.

Starting with January. It's hard to tell from the charts, but most of the rainfall in January falls in the first half of the month. Due to the northern monsoon season, it's common to experience a monsoon surge which brings in rain that can last for days. However, in the later part of the month, it's one of the best weather in Singapore because it barely rains relative to the rest of the year and there's lots of cooling wind resulting in the marked drop in the monthly mean temperature. I don't even use my house air conditioning units in January. Statistically, the longest without rain in Singapore was on the 18th of January in 2005, where it didn't rain for 40 days.

Regarding the crowd, January is considered a peak period. About 10 to 15% more tourists compared to the rolling average. In this period, we welcome about 30% more Australians and 10% more Indonesians. However, if the Chinese New Year also falls in January, we'll see 30 to 40% more Chinese tourists than usual, which is a lot considering they are our top contributor of tourist numbers.

February has got the best weather. The cooling and drier weather continues. After living in the heat for most of the year, the cooling winds in February is really a good welcome. Statistically, February only has 8 days of rain. Considering February only have 28 days, 8 days is a lot.

The crowd in February is only slightly higher, about 5% above average. However, similar to January, if the Chinese New Year falls in February, we'll also see a huge influx of Chinese tourists spending their holiday in Singapore. Unless you're planning to observe or take part in the Chinese New Year celebrations, it's better to avoid this period. Firstly, there will be a blackout when most Chinese FNB establishments are closed because most of the Chinese staff are home celebrating with their family and relatives. This blackout usually happened the night before the first day of Chinese New Year and the first few days of it. So, finding somewhere to eat in this period might be a little bit difficult. In the past years, some restaurants choose to remain open, but they will charge you an extra percentage festive fee. Even our supermarkets are closed for at least half a day. It's not a dealbreaker though because big food chains like McDonald's, Burger King, Malay or Indian hawker stalls and most major tourist attractions remain open. And on the bright side, the festivity come with interesting events that you can enjoy such as the Chinatown light up where the whole streets is decorated with Chinese zodiacs. And if you're lucky, you might catch a lion dance performance. Regardless, if you prefer a trip with no hiccup, maybe just avoid this period.

In March, the weather starts to worsen because the temperature starts to rise. On most days, it will hit up to 32 degrees C outside. This is because the cooling monsoon winds are starting to slow down, which also results in more convection born rain clouds that bring short tundre showers in the afternoon to early evening. In short, it's now hotter and wetter in the later part of the day.

The crowd in March is slightly peak, about 10% above average. However, I only have the data to reflect the international visitors. The problem with March is that it's also our local school holiday. This is when many of us locals bring our families to visit the popular tourist attractions like the GBTV or Sentosa, resulting in a significantly higher level of crowd. However, it's super easy to avoid the school holiday periods because they are well documented way ahead of time. Just click into this link which will bring you to the MOE calendar website. Filter for the school holidays. Click on any level because they're all the same holiday. And ta, these are the dates that you might want to avoid visiting. Basically, there are four school holiday period in Singapore, one week in March and in September, and two monthlong holidays in June and December, which I'll touch on later.

Similar to March, April is also generally hot due to the weak wind plus the occasional thundery showers in the late afternoons. However, this is also the period when the winds might change direction, resulting in very heavy short thunderstorms that's locally known as the Sumatra squalls. This often come with super strong winds that makes it look like it's raining horizontally, but this shouldn't affect your plants too much because they usually strike very early in the mornings before dawn and usually clears by 10:00 a.m.

The crowd level in April is slightly higher, about 10% above average. Fun fact, we attract 20 to 30% more visitors from Philippines in April, likely due to their long Easter holidays. There's also one weekend to avoid in April, the Good Friday, unless you want to meet a lot of us local Singaporeans. The Good Friday, similar to all other public holidays in Singapore, is also very easy to predict. Simply visit our Ministry of Manpower website here, who officially publish all of the public holidays in Singapore where possible. These are the dates you want to avoid. so that you don't have to bustle with the local tourists.

Now, the month of May, which is our hottest month. Also, expect short and heavy thunderstorms in the afternoons. Fun fact, April and May are our thunderous months, or is it thunderful, lightning most? The worst part about the heat in May is that it persists through the night. It's not as hot as when the sun's out in the day, but our high humidity makes it super uncomfortable. If you come from a drier climate, you might want to get a hotel with a very good air conditioning. The temperature hangs around 28 to 29 degrees C throughout the night.

The crowd in May is only slightly higher, about 5% above average. But the good news is May is usually the meteor exam period for most schools. This is when most of the local families lock their children at home so that they can study for exams. Okay, just kidding. They don't lock their children. Only mine did. No, no, no. My parents were nice to me. As a result, you can expect less of the local crowd. Just try to avoid the Labor Day in the first week of May.

In June, the sun is almost as hot as May. So, expect scorching day and sweltering nights. But this month, we get more than squalls from Sumatra. So, Sumatra is this land mass in Indonesia that's to the west of Singapore. Due to the hotter and drier season in Sumatra, forest fires are more common in June. All the smoke and ash from the forest fire gets picked up by the southern winds and blown into Singapore resulting in poorer air quality that we call the Sumatra haze. In 2015, the haze was so bad the air particle measurement numbers were above 400s resulting in a huge spike of respiratory illness. Even the schools were closed because the air was just too hazardous. I remember the dry smoky sensation in my throat whenever I try to swallow my saliva. Upon investigations, they actually found out that the plantation owners in Sumatra were also doing slash and burn agriculture, resulting in more fires. Ironically, some of these plantations have offices in Singapore. My friends used to jokingly blame me for the haze because I actually came from Indonesia. I'm not even from Sumatra. I came from Jakarta. Anyway, I just blame them back saying that the haze is from the Singaporeans burning all the incense paper. Both are very bad jokes.

On the bright side, there are less afternoon showers in this period. In June, the international crowd is also slightly higher, about 5 to 10% above average, except when it's haze season, because who wants to come here just to breathe in all these pollutants. The influx is likely due to the start of school holidays in neighboring countries Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippines, usually in the later half of June. It's also the start of locals month-long school holiday resulting in greater number of domestic tourist crowd. The highlight in June is free fireworks. To prepare for the upcoming National Day celebrations in August, there will be weekends in June and July where they rehearse and fire real fireworks. I have another video guide on how to catch that you can watch later.

July is generally the same as June. During the day, burning, during the night, sweating. Expect early morning thunderstorms and occasional afternoon showers. I also shower a lot in this period. Can't stand all the sweaty feeling. The crowd in July is exceptional. It's our busiest month. We get up to 25% more visitors in July. This influx is due to the regional school holidays continuing into July and the start of summer holidays in the northern hemisphere. Can you imagine? It's so hot and there's so many people. It'll be so uncomfortable.

August weather is generally the same as June. Hot and sweaty. Pro tip, shower in the morning to get rid of all the yuckiness from sweating throughout the night. You can expect early morning thunderstorms, plus the occasional afternoon showers. The crowd in August is not as bad as July, but it's still considered super peak, about 50% above average. The regional school holidays is over, but the summer holidays from the northern hemisphere continues. Beware, if you're traveling in the first week of August, you might hit our national day. During this time, some streets around the civic area will be closed off for the National Day celebrations. As a result, some bus services might be diverted or they may not stop around these streets anymore. So, you better check if your bus is affected, otherwise you'll get lost. Train services are not affected. On the bright side, if you're interested in watching Singapore military assets zipping by, this is the only time you can do that and it's free. Just hang around Marina Bay and City Hall on the rehearsal evenings. Guys, I poured over so many charts and graphs to make this video. So, if you find this helpful so far, please leave a like so that more people can find it. Thank you very much.

In September, the southern winds start to slow down, resulting in more frequent afternoon showers. It's not that much cooler in the day, but now the nights are much more bearable. September is our least crowded month with visitors as low as 10% below average, likely due to the end of summer holidays and little to none regional holidays in this period. The highlight of September is the start of F1 season. Usually, the race is scheduled in late September, but in some years, it's in October. During this time, you can expect 100,000 people daily crowding around the circuit area. So unless you're there to watch the race, I recommend staying away from here. There's also one week of local school holiday that you want to avoid, usually in the first half of the month.

In October, the winds are at their lowest, resulting in more frequent afternoon showers. As the month progresses, the northern winds starts to pick up resulting in wetter weather. The temperature remains hot throughout the day, but gets bearable in the night. The crowd level in October is average, but relative to July and August is super chill. October's highlight is the Deepabali festivities, but you got to check because sometimes this falls in November. During this time, the streets around Little India will be lit up in decorations and comes to life with celebrations. Similarly, avoid this area if you want to stay out of the crowd.

November, our second wetest month with an average of 20.9 rainy days. You should never leave home without an umbrella in November. As the month progresses, we'll see more and more rain from the monsoon surge due to the stronger northeastern wind. At the same time, as the wind is still winding up, the afternoon tundry showers will still be pouring in. At least the temperature is cooling down significantly, both during the day and in the night. Similar to October, November is a very chill month for the crowd, but the local crowd will start to pick up in the last week of November when exams over and school holiday starts.

And our wetest month of the year, December. Although it clocks only 19.2 days of rain compared to the 20.9 days of rain in November, the December rains are heavier with monsoon surges that will bring rain that last for days. This is the worst month to plan outdoor activities. Maybe if you get lucky, it will be just clouds with no rain, so you get to do your things under the shade. At least the cooling trend continues. The cool temperature and the rain outside might help you get very good sleep. The crowd level in December peaks at 10 to 15% above average as visitors from the northern hemisphere flock to Singapore to escape the winter chill just to enjoy the tropical showers. We also welcome a lot of regional visitors spending their year-end holiday. The highlight for December is Christmas. My favorite activity is to walk down the orchard road to admire the lights and the Christmas trees. Sometimes there are also fun Christmas markets that you can visit.

No, no, no. When is the best time to visit Singapore? Let's play our little game of eliminations. First, to avoid too much rain, we get rid of the wet monsoon period in the late October to early January. And to avoid too much crowd, we don't want to visit in March, April, July, or August. To avoid the local school holidays, June and part of September is also out. to avoid extreme heat, maybe not. And ta, these are the periods that you want to visit for the best cooling weather with minimal rain and the least crowded, late January to February or September to mid of October. Just try to avoid the Chinese New Year period and the September school holiday.

A damn, you already bought tickets or can't visit at any other time. No worries. I have just the solutions for you. If you want to stay alive in Singapore while visiting the peak sunny hot season, especially in March, April, and May, avoid being outdoors between 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Otherwise, you just need three things: a hat, some sunglasses, and sunblock. For greater protection, I actually like wearing sporty long sleeves and long pants because covering up from the UV rays tend to keep you cooler compared to having more circulation with less clothing. Even better, carrying an umbrella, which doubles as protection against rain.

To survive the heat and humidity between May to August, for your own comfort, find an accommodation that has a good air conditioning. Otherwise, you will easily drown in your sweat. Wearing the right clothes may also contribute to your level of comfort. If you're planning to move around a lot, clothes made of synthetic fibers tend to manage sweat better. But if you're not planning to do a lot of moving, cotton is superior in comfort.

If you're coming in the rainy season between November to early Jan, here's how not to end up with wet blanket over your plants. To safeguard your plans, simply keep a list of outdoor and indoor activities that you plan to do. Before each day, check the weather forecast at the NEA weather website. If the forecast is dry, go ahead and buy your tickets for your outdoor plans. If the forecast is wet, for example, a monsoon search is expected, go for your indoor plans. I've actually made a table of all the top Singapore attractions and marked those that are weatherproof. Basically, these are the attractions that you can enjoy whether it's rain or shine. If you'd like to support this channel, please consider making your bookings in Singapore via my affiliate link on Kook. Thank you very much.

This NEA weather website is actually very powerful because you can also visualize the live cloud cover, which is super useful to make a guess if the rain is getting lighter, heavier, or going away. This is a common pattern of a passing squal. It hits really hard, but it clears fast. Either way, it's best to never leave the house without an umbrella in this rainy season. I also recommend wearing waterproof footwear. Personally, I love wearing Crocs in Singapore because it's airy and it doesn't slip on wet surfaces. No, I'm not sponsored by Crocs.

If you're visiting during peak periods like in July and August, here's how you can combat the crowd. The easiest trick is to visit your destinations at opening or near closing because the first and the last hours of any attractions is always the least crowded. It also helps to avoid weekends and public holidays to avoid competing with the domestic crowd. And if it's not your first time here, consider exploring the less touristy path such as Fort India in Sentosa or food adventures at hawker centers that are outside the town area like Gimmo Funan or Tongbaro market or go for hidden city walks like the Marina East, Henderson Waves or Bukichin.

And congratulations, now you know when is the best time to visit. However, what are the best things to do here? Well, just watch this next video over here. I'll see you there. Let me show you a magic trick. Just kidding.