Weather in Hanoi in December

Prime time. December is about as good as Hanoi gets. Highs average 21.6 °C, lows 12 °C, and rain falls on 4 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

December is the highest-scoring month of the twelve. The nearest rival is January, and the month at the other end of the year is June.

Rain falls on only 4 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average December reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 31.4 °C and the coldest night fell to 2.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 26 mm — roughly 104% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 2 mm in the driest year against 70 mm in the wettest, around an average of 25 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 6.1 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 80%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 25.5 °C in November, 21.6 here, 21.3 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in December

December sits at the dark end of Hanoi's year — 10.9 hours of daylight against 13.4 at midsummer, holding steady all month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 21.2 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

December in Hanoi versus nearby

If Hanoi is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Haiphong is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain. Thanh Hóa is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day more rain.

So: December is the answer for Hanoi. If it is booked out or priced out, January is the next best thing at 1 points behind, and June is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in Hanoi

See all twelve months in Hanoi, or where else to go in December.