Places to avoid in October

Hurricane season on101 places

Statistically quiet most weeks, occasionally catastrophic.

• 🇲🇽 Puerto Escondido · Mexico — Hurricane season, 15 May – 30 Nov — The eastern Pacific season opens in mid-May and runs to the end of November. · instead December
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• 🇲🇽 Huatulco · Mexico — Hurricane season, 15 May – 30 Nov — The eastern Pacific season opens a fortnight before the Atlantic one. · instead February
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• 🇨🇴 San Andrés · Colombia — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov · instead March
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• 🇺🇸 Everglades National Park · United States — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov · instead January
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• 🇵🇷 San Juan · Puerto Rico — Hurricane season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov — Maria came ashore in September 2017 and the island still plans around that month. · instead January
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• 🇲🇽 Acapulco · Mexico — Hurricane season, 15 May – 30 Nov — The official season runs from mid-May to the end of November, with September and October the active weeks. · instead April
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…and 95 more, 57 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.

Monsoon on67 places

The wet season proper — heavy, daily, and the reason prices fall.

• 🇱🇰 Colombo · Sri Lanka — Monsoon, 1 Oct – 20 Nov (usually) · instead February
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• 🇵🇭 Cebu City · Philippines — Monsoon, 1 Jun – 15 Nov (usually) — Cebu sits behind the mountain spine and takes the southwest monsoon in afternoon bursts rather than all day. · instead February
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• 🇹🇭 Khao Sok · Thailand — Monsoon, 1 Oct – 30 Nov (usually) — Rain from both directions at once. · instead January
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• 🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur · Malaysia — Monsoon, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) · instead February
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• 🇹🇭 Bangkok · Thailand — Monsoon, 15 May – 15 Oct (usually) · instead December
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• 🇰🇭 Phnom Penh · Cambodia — Monsoon, 15 May – 31 Oct (usually) — Late-afternoon downpours that flood the low streets for an hour and then clear. · instead January
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…and 61 more, 51 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.

Typhoon season on40 places

A system a summer stops the trains for a day; it rarely ruins a week.

• 🇻🇳 Hội An · Vietnam — Typhoon season, 1 Sep – 30 Nov (usually) — Central Vietnam takes the landfalls. · instead February
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• 🇻🇳 Hue · Vietnam — Typhoon season, 1 Sep – 30 Nov (usually) · instead February
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• 🇵🇭 Cebu City · Philippines — Typhoon season, 1 Jun – 20 Dec (usually) — The central Visayas are in the track and the December storms have done the most damage here in recent memory. · instead February
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• 🇹🇼 Taipei · Taiwan — Typhoon season, 1 Jul – 15 Oct (usually) — A typhoon day is declared by the city and everything stops: offices, schools, the MRT above ground. · instead March
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• 🇵🇭 Manila · Philippines — Typhoon season, 1 Jun – 30 Nov (usually) · instead February
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• 🇻🇳 Da Nang · Vietnam — Typhoon season, 1 Sep – 30 Nov (usually) — The central coast takes the storms that cross from the Philippines, usually one or two that matter. · instead March
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…and 34 more, 17 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.

Smoke season on30 places

Burning fields or forests; the air, not the weather, is the problem.

• 🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur · Malaysia — Smoke season, 1 Aug – 15 Oct (usually) · instead February
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• 🇸🇬 Singapore · Singapore — Smoke season, 1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually) · instead February
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• 🇮🇩 Lake Toba · Indonesia — Smoke season, 15 Jul – 15 Oct (usually) · instead July
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• 🇲🇾 Penang · Malaysia — Smoke season, 1 Aug – 15 Oct (usually) · instead February
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• 🇲🇾 Langkawi · Malaysia — Smoke season, 1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually) · instead February
  65
• 🇮🇳 Delhi · India — Smoke season, 1 Oct – 31 Jan (usually) · instead February
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…and 24 more, 14 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.

Flood season on26 places

The river comes into the streets most years.

• 🇻🇳 Ho Chi Minh City · Vietnam — Flood season, 15 Sep – 15 Dec (usually) · instead February
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• 🇻🇳 Hội An · Vietnam — Flood season, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) — The Thu Bon comes up into the lanes nearest the water most years, usually for one to three days at a time. · instead February
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• 🇻🇳 Hue · Vietnam — Flood season, 25 Sep – 15 Dec (usually) · instead February
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• 🇹🇭 Bangkok · Thailand — Flood season, 15 Sep – 15 Nov (usually) · instead December
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• 🇵🇭 Manila · Philippines — Flood season, 1 Jun – 15 Oct (usually) · instead February
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• 🇳🇿 Franz Josef · New Zealand — Flood season, 1 Jan – 31 Dec · instead February
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…and 20 more, 13 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.

Storm season on9 places

Tornadoes, derechos, hail — the afternoons to watch the sky.

• 🇳🇴 Svolvær · Norway — Storm season, 15 Oct – 15 Mar (usually) · instead July
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• 🇳🇴 Ålesund · Norway — Storm season, 15 Oct – 28 Feb (usually) · instead July
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• 🇮🇪 Dingle · Ireland — Storm season, 15 Oct – 28 Feb (usually) — Named lows come in off the ocean from mid-autumn and the peninsula takes them first. · instead June
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• Tórshavn · Faroe Islands — Storm season, 1 Oct – 31 Mar (usually) · instead July
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• 🇿🇦 Johannesburg · South Africa — Storm season, 15 Oct – 15 Mar (usually) — Storms build over the reef most summer afternoons: hail, lightning and intersections under water for an hour. · instead August
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• 🇿🇦 Pretoria · South Africa — Storm season, 15 Oct – 15 Mar (usually) · instead August
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…and 3 more, all lesser-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.

Cyclone season on7 places

The southern-hemisphere storm season.

• 🇮🇳 Chennai · India — Cyclone season, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) — A system or two a season comes close enough to shut the airport for a day and put the fishing fleet ashore. · instead February
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• 🇴🇲 Muscat · Oman — Cyclone season, 15 May – 15 Nov (usually) — Two risk windows, before and after the Indian monsoon, and most years pass without one. · instead January
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• 🇮🇳 Pondicherry · India — Cyclone season, 15 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) · instead February
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• 🇧🇩 Chittagong · Bangladesh — Cyclone season, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) — The second window, peaking in November, and statistically the more active of the two across the Bay. · instead January
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• 🇧🇩 Sundarbans · Bangladesh — Cyclone season, 1 Oct – 30 Nov — The mangrove is what stands between the delta and the storms, and it takes the damage each time. · instead January
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• 🇧🇩 Cox's Bazar · Bangladesh — Cyclone season, 1 Oct – 30 Nov — The second and historically deadlier of the two storm peaks, arriving as the rains withdraw. · instead February
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…and 1 more, all lesser-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.

Extreme heat on7 places

The weeks the city lives indoors.

• 🇦🇺 Kakadu · Australia — Extreme heat, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) · instead July
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• 🇳🇦 Etosha National Park · Namibia — Extreme heat, 1 Oct – 10 Dec (usually) — October and November are the hard end of the dry season, when the heat builds until the rains break it. · instead June
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• 🇿🇼 Victoria Falls · Zimbabwe — Extreme heat, 20 Sep – 10 Nov (usually) — The local name for the weeks before the rains break, when the valley bakes and the bush is grey. · instead June
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• 🇳🇦 Sossusvlei · Namibia — Extreme heat, 1 Oct – 31 Dec (usually) · instead July
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• 🇺🇸 Phoenix · United States — Extreme heat, 1 May – 5 Oct (usually) — Five months over forty degrees with nights that no longer drop below thirty in July. · instead March
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• 🇦🇺 Darwin · Australia — Extreme heat, 1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually) · instead July
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…and 1 more, all lesser-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.

Winter smog on6 places

Coal smoke and a valley inversion; the air, not the cold, is the problem.

• 🇮🇩 Jakarta · Indonesia — Winter smog, 15 Jun – 15 Oct (usually) · instead August
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• 🇮🇳 Varanasi · India — Winter smog, 25 Oct – 10 Feb (usually) — Stubble burning upwind, firecrackers and a cold air trap put the plains under a brown haze from Diwali onward. · instead December
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• 🇮🇹 Turin · Italy — Winter smog, 1 Oct – 31 Mar — The city sits in a bowl with the Alps on three sides, and winter inversions trap particulates for days. · instead September
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• 🇹🇼 Kaohsiung · Taiwan — Winter smog, 1 Oct – 31 Mar (usually) — The rain stops, the wind drops and the petrochemical belt on the north side has nowhere to go. · instead February
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• 🇹🇼 Taichung · Taiwan — Winter smog, 15 Oct – 31 Mar (usually) · instead December
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• 🇵🇰 Lahore · Pakistan — Winter smog, 15 Oct – 31 Jan (usually) · instead November
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Algae & red tide on6 places

Blooms that close beaches and clear the water of fish for a few weeks; not the Caribbean weed.

• 🇺🇸 Austin · United States — Algae & red tide, 15 May – 31 Oct (usually) — The city posts warnings for toxic cyanobacteria on Lady Bird Lake through the warm months. · instead March
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• 🇺🇸 Naples, Florida · United States — Algae & red tide, 1 Sep – 28 Feb (usually) — Blooms of Karenia brevis drift onto this coast most often between autumn and late winter. · instead April
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• 🇺🇸 Clearwater · United States — Algae & red tide, 1 Aug – 28 Feb (usually) · instead April
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• 🇺🇸 Pensacola · United States — Algae & red tide, 1 Aug – 15 Dec (usually) · instead May
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• 🇺🇸 Sarasota · United States — Algae & red tide, 1 Sep – 1 Mar (usually) · instead March
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• 🇺🇸 Tampa · United States — Algae & red tide, 1 Sep – 28 Feb (usually) · instead February
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Avalanche season on3 places

Backcountry and passes on forecast; the weeks the road closes after a dump.

• 🇳🇿 Aoraki Mount Cook · New Zealand — Avalanche season, 1 Jun – 31 Oct (usually) — The regional advisory runs through winter and into spring. · instead February
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• 🇳🇿 Te Anau · New Zealand — Avalanche season, 1 May – 30 Nov (usually) · instead January
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• 🇳🇿 Taupo · New Zealand — Avalanche season, 1 May – 31 Oct · instead January
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Extreme cold on2 places

The weeks the city stops going outside — dzud, ice storms, minus thirty.

• 🇦🇺 Cradle Mountain · Australia — Extreme cold, 1 Jan – 31 Dec — Snow falls on this plateau in every month of the year and the summit track can be a whiteout in January. · instead January
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• 🇳🇿 Tongariro · New Zealand — Extreme cold, 1 May – 31 Oct (usually) — From May to October the Crossing is an alpine route: ice axe, crampons and the skills to use them, or a guide. · instead February
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Sargassum season on1 place

The months the seaweed comes ashore on Caribbean and Gulf beaches.

• Virgin Gorda · British Virgin Islands — Sargassum season, 1 May – 31 Oct (usually) · instead March
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Too wet by the numbers366 places

Eighteen or more rainy days, or a soaked month by volume — the real rainy season, not afternoon showers.

• 🇨🇷 Jacó · Costa Rica — 31 rainy days, 829 mm · instead February
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• 🇵🇦 Boquete · Panama — 31 rainy days, 552 mm · instead February
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• 🇨🇷 Nosara · Costa Rica — 31 rainy days, 508 mm · instead February
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• 🇵🇪 Ollantaytambo · Peru — 30 rainy days, 170 mm · instead July
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• 🇨🇷 La Fortuna · Costa Rica — 30 rainy days, 366 mm · instead February
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• 🇵🇭 Bohol · Philippines — 30 rainy days, 374 mm · instead April
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• 🇨🇴 Medellín · Colombia — 30 rainy days, 309 mm · instead January
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• 🇵🇪 Aguas Calientes · Peru — 30 rainy days, 186 mm · instead July
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…and 358 more, 159 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.

Too hot by the numbers125 places

Afternoons that feel like 35 °C or more, or heat the humidity turns sticky. A dry, sunny month cannot average this away.

• 🇦🇺 Kakadu · Australia — 41°C afternoons · instead July
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• 🇮🇳 Mumbai · India — 40°C afternoons · instead January
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• 🇦🇪 Ras Al Khaimah · United Arab Emirates — 40°C afternoons · instead November
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• 🇸🇦 Jeddah · Saudi Arabia — 39°C afternoons · instead January
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• 🇲🇽 Valladolid · Mexico — 39°C afternoons · instead January
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• 🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi · United Arab Emirates — 38°C afternoons · instead January
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• 🇶🇦 Doha · Qatar — 38°C afternoons · instead January
  56
• 🇦🇪 Dubai · United Arab Emirates — 38°C afternoons · instead January
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…and 117 more, 39 of them well-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.

Too cold by the numbers4 places

Afternoons that feel like −5 °C or below. Fine for a ski trip; not for walking a city.

• 🇺🇸 Gates of the Arctic National Park · United States — -13°C afternoons · instead July
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• 🇺🇸 Wrangell-St Elias National Park · United States — -9°C afternoons · instead July
  45
• 🇺🇸 Kobuk Valley National Park · United States — -6°C afternoons · instead June
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• 🇷🇺 Yakutsk · Russia — -6°C afternoons · instead June
  45

Bad air by the numbers19 places

A monthly mean air-quality index in the poor or unhealthy bands.

• 🇸🇦 Riyadh · Saudi Arabia — AQI 192, unhealthy air · instead February
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• 🇨🇳 Beijing · China — AQI 155, unhealthy air · instead April
  80
• 🇮🇳 Agra · India — AQI 136, poor air · instead February
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• 🇨🇳 Chengdu · China — AQI 133, poor air · instead April
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• 🇨🇳 Xi'an · China — AQI 123, poor air · instead April
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• 🇨🇳 Chongqing · China — AQI 112, poor air · instead March
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• 🇨🇳 Hangzhou · China — AQI 107, poor air · instead October
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• 🇨🇳 Guangzhou · China — AQI 102, poor air · instead December
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…and 11 more, all lesser-known. Every destination page carries its own October verdict.