Best time to visit Sandakan

Sandakan has no real season. The best month scores 57 and the worst 52, a spread of just 5 points, so the honest answer to "when should I go" is whenever the flights are cheapest. The good window runs January to December — 12 months within ten points of the best.

April is the warmest month at 29 °C and January the coolest at 27.6 °C — a 1.4 °C spread across the year.

There is a real wet season here. July to December carry the rain — up to 29 wet days in a month — while February to April drop as low as 18. That 11-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Sandakan, and it moves further than the temperature does.

The sea never drops below 27.8 °C, so swimming is on the table year round. Daylight barely moves: about 12.5 hours whatever the month, which removes one variable from the decision entirely.

The three strongest months are February, January, March. The one to think twice about is May. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight, sea temperature and crowd levels.

Sandakan month by month