Weather & seasons · last checked 10 July 2026
Andaman weather, month by month: what actually happens
Most guests arrive with one wrong idea — that June and July mean non-stop monsoon rain across the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The truth is more useful: the islands get sudden tropical thunderstorms, not weeks of drizzle. A storm's real cost is a cancelled ferry and murky snorkelling water, not a ruined trip. This page is the weather picture we give our own guests, with the numbers we plan around.
The numbers we plan around
5–6 days
Genuinely disruptive weather days in a typical May–August season — in our experience running trips through it, as of 2026. Not five to six weeks.
23–31°C
The year-round air temperature band across the Andaman & Nicobar Islands; the sea holds 27–29°C. No month is cold — the variables here are rain and sea state, never temperature.
Dec 15 – Jan 15
The hotel surcharge window. December's weather is lovely — and September's is close to it at a fraction of the price.
Every month, honestly rated
Temperatures barely move all year. What changes is rain, the sea, and what your money buys. The verdicts are ours — the same ones we give on the phone.
| Month | Temp | Rain | Sea | Crowds & prices | Our verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23–29°C | Low | Calm | High · peak prices | Excellent — book 60–90 days out |
| February | 24–30°C | Very low | Calm | High | Excellent — clearest water |
| March | 25–31°C | Low | Calm | Medium | Very good, warming up |
| April | 25–32°C | Low–medium | Mostly calm | Medium, easing | Good — hot afternoons |
| May | 25–32°C | High | Rough spells | Low · budget rates | Fine if flexible — see monsoon notes |
| June | 24–30°C | High (thunderstorms) | Rough spells | Low | Doable with buffer days |
| July | 24–30°C | High (thunderstorms) | Rough spells | Low | Doable with buffer days |
| August | 24–30°C | High | Rough spells | Low | Doable with buffer days |
| September | 24–30°C | Easing | Improving | Low · good rates | Our pick — with October |
| October | 24–30°C | Medium, easing | Calming | Low–medium | Our pick — weather, rooms & airfares align |
| November | 23–29°C | Low | Calm | Medium | Very good — pre-surcharge window |
| December | 22–28°C | Low | Calm | Very high · surcharges | Overrated — same weather costs less in autumn |
Climate figures are typical ranges for the islands; verdicts reflect how we advise our own guests. Peak-season ferry and hotel inventory genuinely sells out — for December–January, book 60–90 days ahead.
What each month costs is its own story — the season-by-season price picture is on the month-by-month verdict page, and the full per-person breakdown on the trip cost page.
The two rules we give every guest
Arriving
Land in Port Blair and stay the first night. A guest recently missed Havelock entirely because his flight arrived late in bad weather — a same-day flight-to-ferry connection is the most fragile plan in the Andamans. Day one Port Blair, day two Havelock.
Leaving
Keep a buffer day in Port Blair before your flight home. The question we're asked most on WhatsApp is whether the return crossing from Havelock or Neil can get disrupted — it can, so we never schedule it against a flight.
Every plan on our day-by-day itineraries page has both rules already built in.
May to September, without the brochure gloss
The southwest monsoon runs May to September. On the ground that means green islands, empty beaches, budget prices — and a handful of days when the sea says no. Ferries sail on most days — we published the actual cancellation numbers from 29,000 bookings so you don't have to take our word for it. When it rains, crossings get uncomfortable and snorkelling visibility drops. Glass-bottom boat rides and some water activities pause on rough days. Everything else — hotels, sightseeing, Cellular Jail, the beaches themselves — carries on. Pack for it with the what-to-wear guide and the season is genuinely pleasant.
When a crossing does get cancelled, this is the job: rework the day, hold the itinerary together, and get the refund moving. Guests have described it better than we can —
“The tour guide Rohit did a fabulous job coordinating the trip despite the ferries being cancelled by the operator, alternate arrangement was done on time to keep the trip on track.”
— Arjun, August 2019, 5★ Google review
And sometimes the honest answer is to change the plan before the trip starts. In October 2023, with rain wrecking the road north, we advised a family travelling with a 2½-year-old to drop Diglipur altogether and rebuilt their itinerary three days before departure. They kept their holiday; we lost a booking segment. That trade is the point.
Turn the weather into a plan
Asked constantly, answered straight
Is it always raining in Andaman in June and July?
No — and this is the thing guests get wrong most often. The islands don't sit under a week-long monsoon curtain; they get sudden tropical thunderstorms that pass. The real cost of a storm is a cancelled or uncomfortable ferry crossing and murky water for snorkelling or diving — not a washed-out holiday. In our experience, May to August brings roughly 5–6 genuinely disruptive weather days in a season.
What is Andaman weather like in October?
October is one of our two favourite months (with September): the sea is calming, hotels still have availability, airfares are reasonable, and the December surcharges are two months away. Day temperatures sit around 24–30°C.
Is December a good month to visit?
The weather is genuinely lovely — calm seas, 22–28°C. But December is the most expensive month on the islands: hotels apply peak-season surcharges from December 15 to January 15, and flights price accordingly. If you can travel in September–November instead, you get near-identical weather for meaningfully less money.
Can my return ferry from Havelock or Neil get disrupted before my flight?
This is the question we hear most on WhatsApp, and it's the right one to ask. Yes — rough weather can delay or cancel crossings back to Port Blair. Our standing rule: keep a buffer day in Port Blair before your flight home, and don't plan a same-day ferry-to-flight connection in either direction.
Does everything shut down in the monsoon?
No. In practice everything keeps running except glass-bottom boat rides and some water activities on rough days. Ferries sail on most days, hotels and sightseeing operate normally, and the islands are at their greenest. What changes is predictability — which is why monsoon itineraries need slack built in.
What about cyclones?
Direct cyclone hits are rare; the elevated-watch window is roughly October to December. When a weather warning is issued we contact affected guests, rework the itinerary around the disruption, and rebook crossings — that's the practical protection of booking with an operator based in Port Blair.
How this page stays true
Written by the Tropical Andamans editorial team from operator field notes · reviewed for weather and ferry accuracy by our Port Blair operations team · last checked 10 July 2026. Seasonal figures (surcharge windows, disruption-day counts) come from our own operating records and are rechecked before every season — pre-monsoon (May) and pre-peak (September).
Tell us your dates.
We'll tell you what the sea is doing that month, what it costs, and whether we'd travel then ourselves — before you book anything.