Where Is Warm in March? 21 Dry Places and the Traps

Which places are warm and dry in March?

Twenty-one places pass our test in March: an average daytime high of at least 24°C and rain on no more than 45% of days, over ten years of daily weather. That is one fewer than in February, but the list is not the same list. Several February winners have left and several new places have arrived.

The shape of it: Santiago is still the driest warm place and has moved to 27.5°C, a comfortable late-summer temperature. The heat is the other story. Chiang Mai climbs from a 30.3°C high to 34.6°C, Tamarindo to 33.9°C and Ho Chi Minh City to 34.2°C. If you work from a room without strong air conditioning, this is the month you notice. Our February version shows the places that dropped off.

Where to be next: your 3 to 12-month plan

Tell us your months and the places you're considering. We'll send a month-by-month plan with the reason for each move: rain, heat, smoke, typhoons and crowds, from our data.

$19, one payment, no subscription. Delivered by email within 48 hours.

Get my plan, $19 See a sample plan

What changes between February and March?

Three things matter more for planning than the ranking.

First, the rain returns at the edges. Cartagena goes from 21% of days to 54% and Mexico City from 27% to 46%; Perth and Cape Town edge up too. Tamarindo goes the other way, getting drier.

Second, the Southern Hemisphere starts to cool. Cape Town's high falls from 26.8°C to 25.8°C and Perth's from 30.5°C to 28°C.

Third, southern Vietnam pulls ahead while most Thai coasts that looked dry in February start to slip; Koh Samui is the one that improves.

Is Chiang Mai worth it in March?

This is where the weather number and the lived experience diverge most. Rain is almost absent (27% of days, 12 mm for the month) but smoke from burning across northern Thailand typically peaks around now. These are the monthly averages from the air-quality model for the last four seasons.

March is higher than February in all four seasons, by 6 to 11 µg/m³. 2024 was the lightest year (26) and 2025 the heaviest March (43). In 2026 the peak came later, with April the highest month at 53. None of the March averages is below the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³, and these are model values that read lower than ground monitors on the worst days, so the real peaks were higher.

The take: Chiang Mai in March is a 34.6°C day with haze for company. If your work is indoors and you have a good air purifier it is bearable. If you run outside, hike, or have breathing problems, it is the wrong month. The week-by-week data is in our Chiang Mai burning season guide. For alternatives, look at Nha Trang or Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam or Mérida in Mexico (see the first table). The south coast of Sri Lanka is not one: Weligama has rain on 75% of days in March.

Is Thailand drier or wetter in March?

Wetter, almost everywhere we track. The dry season starts to break from the south.

Krabi and Phuket cross or approach the half-of-days line, and Krabi's rainfall goes from 22 mm to 56 mm. Hua Hin jumps from 19% of days to 69%, a bigger leap than we would expect for a coast like that, so open its destination page before you plan around it. Koh Samui is the one improving coast, from 49% of days to 41%. Bangkok stays hot (33.6°C) with rain on 39% of days. The practical take is that March is a good month on the Thai islands only if you accept a few wet days, and February was the cleaner month for the Andaman side.

Is Vietnam warm in March?

Southern and central Vietnam both pull ahead as the dry months settle in.

Ho Chi Minh City is hot and dry. Nha Trang drops from 48% of days to 33% and warms to 29.2°C. Da Nang warms from 23.8°C to 26.8°C and its rain days fall from 67% to 45%, so it is at its most comfortable before the summer heat. Hanoi remains the weakest of the group: 24.5°C with rain on 62% of days.

Is Bali still wet in March?

Yes, but it is easing. Canggu has rain on 96% of days (was 95% in February, but the rainfall falls from 396 mm to 196 mm). Uluwatu follows the same shape at 179 mm. Wet days are still the norm, so March is a transition month: usable if you are flexible, not yet a bargain on weather.

One practical Bali point that has nothing to do with rain: Nyepi, the Balinese day of silence, usually falls in March. The island shuts down for over 24 hours, including the airport, so check the date for your year before booking a flight.

Siargao also eases (86% of days, 175 mm), but Zanzibar's Paje goes the wrong way: rain on 78% of days and 146 mm, up from 42% and 49 mm in February, as the long rains begin.

Why does the rain-day percentage sometimes mislead?

This page ranks by share of days with rain because that is what interrupts a working week. It is a blunt measure. Cartagena's rain days more than double from February to March (21% to 54%), but the rainfall is only 28 mm, so most of those are brief showers. Buenos Aires does the opposite: 34% of days but 52 mm in the month, which means fewer and heavier downpours. When two places tie, look at the rainfall column and the destination page before you decide.

Goa shows the problem from the other side. In our stored data its February figures contradict each other (rain on 67% of days but only 0.2 mm), so we left it out of the February list. March is clean: 24% of days and a 33.5°C high.

What about Europe?

Europe is a shoulder month, not a warm one. Lisbon reaches 16°C, Málaga 18.1°C, the Canary Islands 19°C, Seville 20.7°C and Cyprus 20.3°C. None passes a 24°C test. These are good spring places for light layers and cheap flights, not beach places.

Which warm place works for a month-long stay in March?

If you want one place and a calm routine, three combinations hold up. A dry city: Santiago (27.5°C, rain on 12% of days) or Dubai (28.8°C, 29%), the latter before summer heat takes over. A beach with heat: Tamarindo (33.9°C, 13%) or Nha Trang (29.2°C, 33%); mornings and evenings will carry your outdoor time. The mild one: Cape Town (25.8°C, 19% of days), whose high is near 26°C, which most people find easy to work in.

If you are moving through, the shape of the month is simple: skip northern Thailand because of the smoke, start in southern Vietnam or the Pacific coast of Central America for the middle, and watch the first rains arrive in East Africa.

How we built this list

Daily weather history from the Open-Meteo archive is grouped into month-of-year averages for each destination's coordinates over ten years. A place is listed if its average March high is at least 24°C and rain falls on at most 45% of days, ordered by fewest rain days and then by the warmer high. It does not know prices, crowds, visas, festivals or, apart from the Chiang Mai table, air quality. See our data sources page for the method and open any destination page for the range across the month.