The best time to visit Varkala is November to February if you want the easiest weather and don't mind company, and October or March if you want the sea in good shape with fewer people and lower prices. June to September is the monsoon: green, dramatic and quiet, but the wrong time for a first surf lesson. For surfing specifically, Kerala Tourism's guide to surfing in Varkala puts the season at October to April.
That is the short answer. The right month for you depends on what you want from the trip, so below is the year month by month, then a quick way to choose.
Varkala's seasons in one paragraph
Kerala has a tropical climate with two monsoons. Kerala Tourism describes the southwest monsoon of June and July as bringing the major share of the year's rain, with the northeast monsoon following in October and November. December to February is the pleasant, slightly cooler stretch, and March to May is humid and sultry on the coast and in the midlands, where temperatures run from roughly 25 to 36 degrees (Kerala Tourism). The station averages further down put winter nights a little cooler than that, at around 22 or 23 degrees. The India Meteorological Department draws the lines a little wider, counting June to September as the southwest monsoon season and October to December as the northeast monsoon (IMD glossary).
Varkala weather, month by month
It is warm here all year. What changes from month to month is the rain, and with it the state of the sea and the number of people on the beach, so the table tracks the weather, the sea and the crowds.
| Month | Weather | The sea | Crowds |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Warm, dry, pleasant | Surf season; good for beginners on the right tide | Busy, easing after New Year |
| February | Warm, dry, pleasant | Surf season; often settled | Busy |
| March | Heating up, humid | Surf season continues | Quieter; a sweet spot |
| April | Hot and humid, showers building | Last month of the surf season | Quiet |
| May | Hot, humid, pre-monsoon showers | Starting to change | Very quiet |
| June | Monsoon arrives around 1 June | Rough; high risk for surfing | Very quiet |
| July | Monsoon | Rough; high risk | Very quiet |
| August | Monsoon, easing late | Rough; high risk | Quiet |
| September | Monsoon tailing off | Still unsettled | Quiet |
| October | Northeast monsoon rain, greener | Surf season opens | Quiet; a sweet spot |
| November | Warm, still showery | Surf season | Filling up |
| December | Pleasant, cooler evenings | Surf season | Busiest, peaking at Christmas and New Year |
The monsoon dates come from the India Meteorological Department, which gives 1 June as the normal onset over Kerala; the actual date shifts by a week or so either way. The surfing column follows Kerala Tourism, which calls June to September "a high risk period" for surfing because of the rough seas.
Temperature, rain and humidity by season
The figures below are long-term averages for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala's capital, which sits down the coast in the same district as Varkala. Temperatures and humidity are the India Meteorological Department's 1981 to 2010 climate normals for the city observatory (a very large PDF), also reproduced in Wikipedia's Thiruvananthapuram climate table. The rainfall is rounded across that table and the Japan Meteorological Agency's climate normals for the same station, which agree to within about 20 mm a month. Varkala will not match the city to the millimetre, so read these as the shape of the year rather than a forecast.
| Season | Day / night | Rain in a typical month | Humidity (5:30 pm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| December to February | 32 to 33°C / 22 to 23°C | About 20 mm in January and February, 60 to 70 mm in December; 1 to 4 rainy days | 63 to 69% |
| March to May | About 33°C / 24 to 25°C | Under 50 mm in March, about 200 mm by May; 2 to 9 rainy days | 66 to 75% |
| June to September | 30 to 31°C / 23 to 24°C | About 140 to 310 mm, wettest in June; 9 to 16 rainy days | 77 to 80% |
| October and November | About 31°C / 23°C | 210 to 300 mm; 10 to 13 rainy days | 78 to 80% |
Three things are worth taking from that. The temperature hardly moves: daytime highs stay between about 30 and 34 degrees all year, so you are really choosing between dry heat, sticky heat and rain. Late-afternoon humidity climbs from the low 60s in January and February to around 80% in the monsoon, and mornings are damper still. March to May are the hottest months, and by April and May even the afternoon humidity is in the 70s, which is why they feel so heavy. And October, on these averages, gets almost as much rain as June, spread over fewer rainy days.
One note on reading the numbers: IMD counts any day with 2.5 mm of rain or more as a rainy day (IMD glossary), so one decent shower is enough to put a day in that column. The humidity figures are IMD's 5:30 pm readings; the same IMD table gives 8:30 am readings that are higher, about 78 to 81% from December to May and 85 to 88% from June to November. For the week you are actually travelling, check the current forecast on the IMD website rather than the averages.
November to February: the easy months
This is the Varkala most people picture: blue skies, warm water, sunsets over the sea from the cliff above Varkala beach and every café busy by evening. November is the exception on the rain: on the averages above it still gets about 210 mm over roughly ten rainy days as the northeast monsoon tails off, so within this stretch the reliably dry months are December to February. Kerala Tourism's own travel advice notes that the peak season of November to February brings pleasant weather along with "higher crowds and prices" (Kerala Tourism).
If these are your dates, book early, especially anything touching Christmas and New Year, which are the most expensive nights of the year here. At our house the room rates rise in step: the house fills from mid-November, and the full calendar by date is on the rooms page.
If you want these months without the crush, it helps to sleep a little out of the centre. Edava, where we live and teach, is on the quieter northern side of Varkala, about ten minutes by scooter from the North Cliff. Our guide to Edava vs Varkala Cliff weighs up the two.
October and March: the sweet spots
These are the months we would pick for ourselves.
October is the end of the monsoon year and the start of the surf season. The land is at its greenest and the crowds have not arrived. The catch is rain: Kerala Tourism dates the northeast monsoon's arrival to mid-October, and on the averages above October is one of the wetter months of the year, so bring a rain jacket and surf in the mornings. It is also the quietest and cheapest part of the season for rooms. The first surf camp of our year runs in October for exactly these reasons.
March is the other end: the peak crowds have gone, the sea is usually still in good shape for learning, and the days are getting properly hot. Surf early, rest through the afternoon heat, and come back out for the sunset.
April and May: hot and quiet
April is the last month of the surf season and May is the run-up to the monsoon. Both are hot, humid and heavy, with nights that stay around 25 degrees on the averages above, and in May the sea starts to change as the monsoon approaches. Either is fine for a quiet beach break if you handle heat well; neither is the month to plan a first week of surfing around.
June to September: the monsoon
The southwest monsoon changes Varkala completely. The sea turns rough and brown, rain comes in heavy bursts, and plenty of the cliff cafés close or cut their hours until the season returns. It is also when Kerala looks most like the photographs: everything green, the sky enormous, and almost nobody else around. Kerala Tourism promotes the monsoon season as a reason to visit in its own right.
What it is not is surf season for beginners. If you come in the monsoon, come for the rain, the food and the quiet, and leave the surfing for October. Our guide to whether surfing is safe for beginners explains why.
If you're coming to surf
For beginners, the window is October to April, and within any day the early morning is best, when the wind is lighter and the sea is flatter. Lesson times move with the tide, so they vary from day to day; ours run in slots between 06:30 and 09:30.
For a fuller picture of how the waves change through the season, and which months suit which surfers, see our Varkala surf season guide. If you want the structure of a surf week with the planning done for you, the camp calendar lists six fixed dates between October and March.
Dates worth planning around
Some weeks are worth building a trip around, and some are worth avoiding if you want quiet. The big ones are the holidays, when both Indian and international visitors arrive at once.
- Diwali (late October or November, shifting each year) brings a wave of domestic travellers.
- Christmas to New Year is the single busiest and most expensive stretch of the Varkala calendar.
- Republic Day (26 January) makes a long weekend for much of India.
- Holi (March) is another busy long weekend for domestic travel.
We run our surf camps around several of these on purpose, because a fixed-date week with the same group is a good way to spend a holiday: this season they fall on 6 to 10 November for Diwali, 23 to 27 December over Christmas, 23 to 27 January for Republic Day and 19 to 23 March for Holi. The camp calendar has the rest.
What to pack, by season
- October to February: light cotton clothes, a thin layer for cooler December evenings, sunscreen, and a light rain jacket for October and November.
- March to May: the lightest clothes you own, a hat, and more water than you think you need. The afternoon heat is serious.
- June to September: a proper rain jacket, quick-dry clothes, and shoes that do not mind being wet.
- All year: modest clothes for temples, including something that covers shoulders and knees, and a reusable water bottle.
How to choose your month
- First time in Varkala, want it easy: late November to February, booked early.
- Want to learn to surf with fewer people around: October or March.
- On a budget: October, or the shoulder weeks either side of the peak.
- Want Christmas or New Year here: book as early as you can; it is the busiest week of the year.
- Love heat and emptiness: April.
- Want the monsoon, not the beach: July or August, and plan indoor days.
Planning the rest
Once you have your month, our guide to getting to Varkala covers trains, flights and the last few kilometres, and Varkala in 2 to 3 days turns a short stay into a plan. Our local guide has the beaches, cafés and dinner spots we send our own guests to.