Atlas Ranger Score · ranked by worst month

Worst time to travel, ranked

Every destination scored 0–100 for all twelve months on the Atlas Ranger Score, then ranked by its single lowest month— hurricane peaks, monsoons, 40°C heatwaves, and the winters when whole islands shut. Below: the month to skip for each place, what actually goes wrong, and how far it falls from that destination's peak.

Toughest month anywhereIceland in Novemberscores 26/100

Mildest “worst month”Hawaii in Septemberstill scores 81/100

Biggest seasonal swingDa Nang47 points between March and October

#	Destination	Worst month	What goes wrong	Swing
1	Iceland	November26Tough	Worst weather + Iceland Airwaves festival	−34vs July (60)
2	Philippines	July36Tough	Wettest month — monsoon at full force	−36vs February (72)
3	Da Nang	October38Tough	Worst month of the year — typhoon peak, 628mm of rain	−47vs March (85)
4	Bali	January38Tough	Peak wet season — 388mm of rain, daily storms	−38vs September (76)
5	Thailand	September39Tough	Wettest month in Bangkok — peak SW monsoon	−37vs January (76)
6	Hoi An	October41Tough	Worst month — typhoon peak, 628mm of rain, Old Town floods	−45vs March (86)
7	Vietnam	September42Mixed	Worst month — typhoon peak hits central Vietnam	−39vs March (81)
8	Koh Samui	November42Mixed	Worst month — peak monsoon, 445mm of rain	−30vs February (72)
9	Okinawa	September43Mixed	Typhoon peak — the worst single month to visit	−16vs May (59)
10	Costa Rica	September45Mixed	Wettest month on the Pacific — Caribbean at its driest	−27vs February (72)
11	Krabi	September48Mixed	Wet season deepens — third-wettest month	−16vs February (64)
12	Key West	September49Mixed	Wettest month and the hurricane peak — the month to skip	−34vs April (83)
13	Mexico	September51Mixed	Wet and stormy: the hurricane peak is under way	−29vs February (80)
14	Cancun	September51Mixed	Hurricane peak as the heaviest rains arrive	−29vs February (80)
15	Bahamas	September53Mixed	Statistical hurricane peak — the month to avoid	−23vs April (76)
16	Miami	September53Mixed	Hurricane peak and the second-wettest month — the month to avoid	−36vs February (89)
17	Maldives	June54Mixed	Heart of the wet season — wettest, windiest month	−18vs February (72)
18	Tulum	September55Mixed	Peak hurricane season — wet, quiet, cheapest	−24vs February (79)
19	Kyoto	August56Good	Hottest month + Daimonji on August 16	−5vs November (61)
20	Punta Cana	October56Good	Still in the hurricane window, sunshine at its lowest	−24vs March (80)
21	Osaka	August57Good	Hottest month — basin heat, Obon nationally	−12vs October (69)
22	St. Thomas	September58Good	Statistical hurricane peak — Irma and Maria both struck in 2017	−20vs March (78)
23	Japan	August59Good	Hottest month + Bon Festival domestic travel peak	−-1vs April (58)
24	Tokyo	August59Good	Peak heat + Obon — domestic shutdown mid-month	−0vs April (59)
25	Jamaica	October59Good	Wettest month of the year — the single month to avoid	−19vs February (78)
26	New Orleans	September63Good	Peak hurricane month — single highest-risk window of the year	−21vs October (84)
27	Cabo San Lucas	September63Good	Wettest month — peak hurricane season, deep value	−24vs March (87)
28	Mexico City	July65Good	Wettest stretch — reliable afternoon downpours	−22vs April (87)
29	Aruba	November65Good	Wettest month of the year	−2vs April (67)
30	Mallorca	November71Great	Wettest month — most beach hotels close for winter	−13vs June (84)
31	Spain	July72Great	Brutal interior heat — escape to coast or mountains	−7vs June (79)
32	Ibiza	January72Great	Ghost town — most beach restaurants and hotels are closed	−16vs June (88)
33	Greece	August75Great	Still scorching, Greek holiday month — maximum crowds	−18vs May (93)
34	Hawaii	September81Great	Statistical hurricane peak, still hot — the cheapest month	−-3vs May (78)

Scores are computed from month-by-month climate, season and festival data and refresh as that data is reviewed. “Swing” is the gap between a destination's best and worst months — a big swing means timing matters a lot; a small one means it barely matters. The bar strip runs January to December; the outlined bar is the worst month. See the full method on the Atlas Ranger Score page.

How to read this ranking

A low worst-month score is not a verdict on a destination — it is a verdict on a month, and the worst time to visit one place is often the best time for another. Costa Rica's October and Jamaica's October both score badly because they are the wettest, riskiest weeks of the year in places that are otherwise superb. The useful question is the swing: Greece drops more than 30 points from May to January because its islands literally close; Aruba barely moves because it sits outside the hurricane belt and has no wet season to speak of.

Three patterns account for almost every bad month on this list:

Hurricane peaks (August–October). The Caribbean, Florida, the Gulf Coast, and Hawaii: see the worst time to visit Punta Cana, Jamaica, Cancun, Miami, New Orleans, the Bahamas, Key West, St. Thomas, Mexico's Caribbean coast and Hawaii, plus Cabo San Lucas on the Pacific side. The weather is often fine on the day — the problem is probability, cancelled trips, and seasonal closures.
Monsoons and wet seasons. Thailand, Vietnam, the Maldives, and the Philippines from roughly May to October. Bali runs the other way, with its rainy season from December to March, and Koh Samui's Gulf monsoon peaks in November. Then come Costa Rica's Pacific coast; Japan's June rains and September typhoons, which hit Osaka and Tokyo in the same months as their summer heat, and reach Okinawa first; and Mexico City's June–September afternoon storms.
Extremes of heat and cold. Greece and Spain in July–August; Iceland and mainland Greece in deep winter, when daylight, temperature, and open businesses all fall away at once.

Each row links to the destination's full worst-time guide — what goes wrong in detail, what to do if your dates are locked, and the better windows either side.

How to read this ranking

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