Best time to visit India: seasons, monsoon, heat, smog and festivals

Four seasons, and which one suits which region

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) divides the year into four seasons: winter in January and February, the pre-monsoon season from March to May, the southwest monsoon from June to September, which IMD calls "the principal rainy season of the country", and the northeast or post-monsoon season from October to December. They do not reach every region in the same way, and that is what decides the month for your route.

For Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and the rest of the north, the dry, cool months from November to February give the easiest sightseeing, with the trade-off of cold nights, fog and the worst air of the year; October to March is the best season for Agra. The southwest monsoon from June to September is the main rainy season in Kerala and Goa, as in the rest of the country, and Kerala has a second wet season from October to December, so January and February, IMD's winter, fall between its two rainy spells. From March the plains of the north heat up quickly, and May is the peak of IMD's heat-wave season.

The month also changes the price of the 30-day e-Tourist visa, which costs less from April to June; our India entry guide has the full fee table and the exceptions.

November to February in the north: clear days, cold nights, fog and smog

This is the season most first trips to the Golden Triangle are built around. IMD's 1991-2020 table for New Delhi (Safdarjung) gives a mean daily maximum of 28.4°C in November, 22.8°C in December and 20.1°C in January, with nights falling to a mean minimum of 7.5°C in January. Rain is rare: 4.1 mm in an average November. Jaipur is a little warmer by day, with a mean maximum of 22.5°C in January and 29.6°C in November, and an average of 1.9 mm of rain in November. Pack a warm layer for early starts and evenings.

Fog is the price of the clear winter. The same Delhi table counts an average of 12.3 days with fog in November, 19.2 in December and 21.6 in January, against 3.4 in October and 3.5 in March. Road accidents are most common at night and in fog, so plan long drives for daylight, and leave a wide margin before the international flight home, most of all in December and January, when fog delays trains across the north.

Air pollution is the other side of the northern winter. The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) calls severe air pollution a major health hazard, especially during the winter months from October to February, with north Indian cities and metros across the country most affected; other governments word their advice differently, so read your own government's travel advice as well. Children, older people and travellers with pre-existing medical conditions feel it most; if you are pregnant or have a respiratory or heart condition, see a doctor before you travel, because asthma and COPD can worsen markedly in the winter smoke.

Daily readings come from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), whose National Air Quality Index sorts each day into six categories: Good (0-50), Satisfactory (51-100), Moderately polluted (101-200), Poor (201-300), Very Poor (301-400) and Severe (401-500). CPCB's guidance for Very Poor and Severe days is to minimise travel and use public transport; for a visitor that means keeping outdoor sightseeing short and taking the metro or a train rather than spending hours in road traffic. March falls outside the FCDO's October-to-February window, which is one reason to consider it for a northern trip. Our health and safety guide for India covers the health side in full.

March to June: when the plains get dangerously hot

Heat waves come mainly from March to June, in rare years even in July, and May is the peak month. Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka are prone to them, and sometimes Tamil Nadu and Kerala, so the Golden Triangle, Rajasthan, Varanasi and Khajuraho all sit inside the heat belt. In New Delhi the mean daily maximum is 36.5°C in April, 39.9°C in May and 39.0°C in June; in Jaipur it reaches 41.1°C in May.

In Delhi and Jaipur that means afternoons above 40°C on the hottest May days. IMD and the National Disaster Management Authority issue colour-coded heat warnings, yellow, orange and red, and IMD's special heat-wave bulletins appear every day from 1 March to 30 June on its website; read the day's bulletin before you plan outdoor sightseeing.

If your dates fall in this window, shape the day around the heat. Sights that open at sunrise, like the Taj Mahal (30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes before sunset, closed on Fridays), are best done first thing, with a long indoor break at midday; our Agra guide has the Taj tickets and entry rules. IMD's advice for heat alerts is to avoid exposure to the sun, wear light, loose cotton clothes, cover your head with a cloth, hat or umbrella, and keep drinking water even when you are not thirsty, with oral rehydration salts, lemon water, lassi or buttermilk. Heat stroke, a body temperature of 40°C or more with delirium, seizures or coma, is potentially fatal and needs medical help at once.

If you can choose, keep a week of forts in Rajasthan or temples in Khajuraho for the cooler months.

The southwest monsoon, from Kerala to the north

The southwest monsoon normally sets in over Kerala around 1 June, advances northwards, usually in surges, and covers the entire country around 8 July. In 2026 it set in over Kerala on 4 June, three days after the normal date. It withdraws from the north-west first: IMD's normal date for the start of withdrawal from north-west India is 17 September, and the monsoon normally leaves the whole country around 15 October. Rain does not fall all day every day: July and August bring "breaks", dry spells of several days between active spells.

In the north the monsoon arrives as heavy showers on hot days. Delhi averages 195.8 mm of rain over 9.7 rainy days in July and 226.8 mm over 10.2 days in August, and Jaipur 190.5 mm in July and 203.4 mm in August, against almost nothing in winter. The countryside turns green and the heat eases a little, Delhi's mean maximum falling from 39.0°C in June to 35.6°C in July, but the air is humid and outdoor days are shorter. Heavy rain from July to September regularly disrupts transport across much of the country, flights included, and brings flash floods and landslides, especially in mountainous areas, and flooding in big cities. Mumbai in particular can flood badly, so on a monsoon trip keep a spare day there before the train or flight on to Goa; if your route includes Rishikesh or the hills, read the warning in our health and safety guide before you book.

On the west coast the monsoon is the off-season for the beach. Goa's water sports policy allows no water sports "in unsafe weather conditions, monsoons, period of storm", and powerful currents run off Goa and the Karnataka coast during the monsoon; Miramar beach in Panaji is particularly dangerous. Konkan Railway runs a monsoon timetable with sectional speed restrictions along the route; its 2026 monsoon timetable runs from 15 June to 20 October; after that date the non-monsoon timings in our guide to transport in India should apply, but check IRCTC for your date.

Kerala sells the same months differently. Kerala Tourism calls June, when the monsoon is "quite active", the period for rejuvenation therapy, with oil massages and medicinal food at the centre of it. It links this period with karkkadakam, a Malayalam month that its event calendar places in July and August. If you want green landscapes and a treatment programme more than beach days, this is the period Kerala Tourism links with rejuvenation therapy; if you want dry days on the backwaters, go in winter.

October to December: the south's second rains and the cyclone season

As the southwest monsoon leaves, the northeast monsoon begins over south-east India. IMD gives 20 October as the normal onset date over coastal Tamil Nadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh. Over October to December, Tamil Nadu normally receives 442.8 mm of rain, 48% of its year, and Kerala 492.0 mm. For a Kerala trip this means a second wet season, after the main one from June to September.

October to December is also the primary cyclone season of the North Indian Ocean, on both the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, so it concerns the Goa and Kerala coasts as well as the east. IMD's cyclone FAQ adds that cyclones there peak in November, with a second peak in May, and that May-June and October-November are known to produce cyclones of severe intensity, so a late-May trip to the Goa or Kerala coast falls in a cyclone window too. On a coastal trip in these months, follow IMD's cyclone warnings and keep away from the shore during an alert.

Meanwhile the north is at its best. October and November bring dry weather back to the north before the winter fog sets in, and in Delhi the October mean maximum is a comfortable 33.0°C. Most of the big festivals below also fall in these two months.

Festivals that move with the calendar

Most Hindu festivals follow a lunisolar calendar, so their dates change each year; the Ministry of Tourism's Incredible India festival pages announce them. Diwali, the festival of lights, falls in October or November and lasts five days, from the shopping day of Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj; homes and streets are lit with clay lamps, and Incredible India names Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi, Lake Pichola in Udaipur and Johri Bazar in Jaipur among the places to see it. In Varanasi, Dev Deepavali follows fifteen days later, when thousands of lamps line the ghats along the Ganges.

Dussehra (Vijay Dashmi), which Incredible India says usually falls in October, closes the nine nights of Navratri and, in Kolkata, Durga Puja (which none of our routes visits): effigies of Ravana are burnt at dusk, and Ramlila plays, the Ramayana performed in the open air, run for days in towns across the north, with Ramnagar and Varanasi among the most famous. Holi, the festival of colours, falls on a full moon of the Hindu lunisolar calendar, usually in March, and begins with the Holika Dahan bonfire the evening before; on the day itself expect to be sprayed with coloured powder and water, so wear clothes you can throw away.

The Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan takes place in October or November around Kartik Purnima, the full moon of the month of Kartik, when pilgrims bathe in Pushkar Lake; Incredible India describes camel parades, folk music and moustache competitions on the fairgrounds. For 2026 it lists Diwali on 8 November and the Pushkar Camel Fair from 17 to 24 November; it adds each later year's dates once they are announced. Kerala's festival dates follow the Malayalam calendar: Onam falls in August or September, and the Nehru Trophy Boat Race of snake boats on Punnamada Lake at Alappuzha usually takes place in August; Kerala Tourism's event calendar gives the year's dates, and our Kerala backwaters guide covers Alappuzha and its houseboats.

Three things change when you travel at festival time. Alcohol sales are often banned during major religious festivals, national holidays and elections. Take particular care around Republic Day (26 January), Independence Day (15 August) and Diwali, and keep to the edges of the densest crowds: stampedes have occurred at large religious gatherings. And trains fill early: if your dates include Diwali or a fair, book the main train legs as soon as you know them.

Matching the months to your route

Month by month, in short. January and February suit the north, Rajasthan, Mumbai and Goa, and Kerala, with Munnar in January only. March brings warmer days in the north as the heat builds, and in Kerala it closes the months from October to March that Incredible India calls the most pleasant for Kochi. April to June is the heat on the northern plains, with Rishikesh as the April alternative, and the monsoon reaches Kerala around 1 June. June to September is the southwest monsoon across the country, with the rejuvenation treatments that Kerala Tourism links with the monsoon, and no rafting in July and August. October brings dry weather back to the north while the south's second rains begin, and November and December are the north at its best, with more foggy mornings, and the cyclone season on both coasts. IMD's monthly normals in this guide are for Delhi and Jaipur; for Kochi and Goa, plan by the monsoon dates above.

Delhi, Agra and Jaipur: from October to March, with November to February the coolest. Our Golden Triangle itinerary works in any of these months, and Jaipur is at its most comfortable from November to February; in December and January expect foggy mornings. Rajasthan, Varanasi and Khajuraho follow the same calendar. From April to June, sightsee only in the early morning and evening; in April, consider Rishikesh instead, which the Ministry of Tourism recommends from September to November and from February to April. Under the state's rafting rules, the season on the Ganga runs from 1 September to 30 June, or as the board directs according to the water in the river, so there is no rafting in July and August. In Varanasi, winter mornings often bring fog over the river, and in the monsoon the river rises, and no official page says when boat rides stop for high water, so ask your hotel before you plan a dawn trip.

Kerala: January for dry days in the tea hills and on the backwaters, because Eravikulam National Park near Munnar closes each year for the Nilgiri tahr's calving season, from 1 February to 1 April; February still suits the backwaters alone. June to August is the green monsoon, the period Kerala Tourism links with rejuvenation therapy, and October to December brings the northeast monsoon's rains. Our Kerala backwaters guide has the room prices. Our South India itinerary suits the dry winter best. Mumbai, Goa and Hampi: from November to February, after the monsoon has withdrawn and before the heat of April and May; the beaches lose their water sports from June to September, and beach shacks may open from 15 September to 31 May, so the beach season starts again in the second half of September. Goa Tourism names December and January as its peak season, when rooms are hard to find unless you book well ahead and the price of a simple guesthouse room usually doubles, so for Christmas and the New Year book the room before anything else.

If your dates are fixed by school holidays or work, choose the region by the month rather than the other way round: the north in winter, Kerala's monsoon for green landscapes and treatments, and the early mornings only if you must see the northern plains between April and June.