When to go

April.

The last dry month for Costa Rica, Belize, Panama and Guatemala before the rains, and the first prime month for Bali. Borneo and Hawai‘i are open.

Photo: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 3.0

Home/When to go/April

Prime season

Go now.

Photo: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 3.0

Central America

Costa Rica

The easiest serious jungle on earth — sloths over breakfast, surf twenty minutes away.

Best months: December – April (dry), May – August (green, quieter) 6 stays in Costa Rica

Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0

Southeast Asia

Bali

Nowhere else builds like this — five-story bamboo houses over river gorges, for the price of a city hotel room.

Best months: April – October (dry season) 6 stays in Bali

Photo: edenpictures, CC BY 2.0

North America

Tulum & the Maya Jungle

Low, dense Maya jungle riddled with cenotes — swim in a cave before lunch, ruins before dinner.

Best months: November – April 6 stays in Tulum

Photo: Jami430, CC BY-SA 4.0

Caribbean

Puerto Rico

The only tropical rainforest in the US national forest system, no passport required for Americans.

Best months: December – April (driest), but green year-round 6 stays in Puerto Rico

Photo: Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0

North America

Florida

Banyans, bamboo groves and blackwater swamps — the jungle hiding inside the United States.

Best months: November – April 6 stays in Florida

Photo: AlaskaDave, CC BY-SA 3.0

Pacific

Hawai‘i

Fern forests growing on fresh lava — the youngest jungle on the planet, and it feels like it.

Best months: Year-round; April – October slightly drier 6 stays in Hawai‘i

South Asia

Sri Lanka

Wet-zone rainforest, misty tea-estate hill country and dry-zone forest, with two monsoons that run on opposite calendars.

Best months: Southwest rainforest and hill country (Sinharaja, Ella) best Dec–Apr; dry-zone south and east (Yala, Sigiriya) best May–Sep, the opposite calendar 6 stays in Sri Lanka

Photo: Laslovarga, CC BY-SA 3.0

Central America

Belize

More than half the country is forest, the ruins still wear their canopy, and the treehouses sit on real rivers.

Best months: Late November – May (dry); June – November is green, wet and cheaper 7 stays in Belize

Photo: Aaron O'Dea, CC BY-SA 3.0

Central America

Panama

Caribbean island jungle in Bocas del Toro, cloud forest in Boquete, and sloths in the trees of the capital.

Best months: December – April (dry); Bocas often clears in September and October 6 stays in Panama

Photo: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0

Central America

Guatemala

Temples above the treeline, a river canyon to the Caribbean, and turquoise pools in the limestone hills.

Best months: December – April (dry); wettest from September to November 6 stays in Guatemala

Photo: shankar s. from Dubai, united arab emirates, CC BY 2.0

Southeast Asia

Borneo

Wild orangutans, pygmy elephants and eight kinds of hornbill, in some of the oldest rainforest on Earth.

Best months: March – October (drier); November – February is the wet monsoon 6 stays in Borneo

Shoulder season

Also works, and quieter.

01 Brazil Coast: year-round · Amazon: June – November 6 stays 02 Thailand Islands: January – April · North: November – February 6 stays 03 Peru Dry season May–Oct best for wildlife and trails; wet Nov–Apr cheaper, and Iquitos high water Dec–May improves boat access to flooded forest 6 stays 04 Colombia Caribbean side (Minca, Tayrona) driest Dec–Mar and Jul–Aug; Chocó wet year-round but humpback whales Jul–Oct; Leticia no true dry season, easier trails Jun–Nov 6 stays 05 Ecuador June – September for Mindo; the Amazon works year round, with high water March – July 6 stays 06 Australia May – October (dry, stinger-free seas); December – April is the wet 6 stays

Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0

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