The pint-sized country of Laos comes served in two ways, wet or dry - luckily, this makes it easy to plan your trip around the best weather. To suit most activities and locations, November to January is the sweet spot for travel. With little to no rain, trekking in the highlands is idyllic and, after the monsoon season, the waterfalls are flowing and the Mekong River is full to bursting so boat trips are definitely in order. If it's the country's famous temples and mysterious caves that call, it's best to explore these before the oppressive heat arrives in March (although other visitors often have the same idea so you won't have them all to yourself). In the north, temperatures can dip as low as 5°C but most areas remain rather temperate. As the rains begin in May, roads become more difficult to travel on and trekking is near impossible. If you travel to Luang Prabang at the tail end of the monsoon, the Festival of Light Boats is an October highlight.