India in Monsoon Season

The monsoon season is approaching in India. After months of increasing summer heat, the rains feel welcome when they finally arrive in June. But in many parts of India monsoon also means thousands of deaths, destroyed crop and spreading disease such as cholera.

Manali in Himachal Pradesh During Monsoon

For travellers, India’s monsoon means flight delays and cancellations and sometimes severe delays in train schedules, but also smaller everyday problems. It is hard to keep clothes dry and everything soon starts to smell damp. Mosquitoes arrive in hordes, power outages happen daily and can last for hours, and the prospect of having to walk in ankle-deep dirty water through an Indian city is far from appealing. It is easy to get sick during monsoon, too.

If you are planning to go, here are some tips for monsoon travel in India.

When is the Monsoon Season in India?

The monsoon season starts in early June in Kerala in Southwestern India (the exact date is predicted in advance every year: read this month’s monsoon prediction here) and ends around November/December. This does not mean that it rains all the time in all parts of India.

India has two monsoons: the southwest and the northeast monsoon. The southwest monsoon starts from Kerala some time in June, and by July it covers most of the country. The southwest monsoon usually ends around October/November.

The northeast monsoon is a separate monsoon front that rains on the East coast in October and December. Tamil Nadu gets a lot of rain this time of the year, and some other parts of South India can experience some rain, storms and cyclones.

This BBC page has more information about the Asian monsoon season.

How Much Does it Rain During Monsoon?

It totally depends on where you are in India. There are parts of India that hardly get any rain at all, including Ladakh in the Himalayas. There are places that suffer badly from monsoon rains and floods, such as West Bengal, Assam and Sikkim, and there are areas that are affected by the monsoon, but not so much as to cause significant damage.

No Rain: Escape to Ladakh During Monsoon

I spent several monsoon seasons in Mysore in South India. We usually had some heavy thunderstorms, afternoon rain showers that lasted for a couple of hours, lots of mosquitoes, daily power cuts that could continue for several hours, and sometimes rain at night or in the early hours of the morning. Most of the time we did not have bad floods (unless you count having several inches of water flooding the street for an hour or so, because the drainage system didn’t function so well. But compared to the floods in some parts of India, this was not bad at all).

Does Monsoon Affect Flights or Trains in India?

Monsoon can affect public transportation and it can affect your travel plans. Trains can run late of schedule (but then again, they always can in India); some train services might be cancelled due to flooding, flights can be delayed or cancelled.

I once travelled from Bangalore to Mumbai by train during monsoon, and for a while we were not sure if the train could actually get to Mumbai, because of floods on the tracks. In the end it did arrive, just a couple of hours later than scheduled.

Can You Go to India During Monsoon?

Yes, it is possible to travel in India during monsoon. There are even some areas that are perfect for monsoon travel. If you don’t mind a bit of rain, it is also possible to get some very cheap deals during monsoon.  In the next post I’m going to write more about monsoon travel destinations.

Share