Comoros & Mayotte: When to Go

The wet season between November and April is not a particularly healthy time to visit Comoros. If you don't die from dehydration or sheer frustration at the oppressively humid conditions, you might find yourself caught in a monsoonal wind ( kashkazi ), or cyclone. The best time to visit is in the cooler months between May and October. In July and August plane tickets to the Comoros are expensive and hard to come by, thanks to expat Comorians returning from Europe for their annual holiday. During Ramadan , commencing between August and October til 2010, the collective Comoran temper can suffer from the double whammy of continual fasting and oppressive heat. Shops open for only a couple of hours a day in this period and many restaurants, bars and discos are closed.

Weather

The climate is marine tropical, with two seasons: hot and humid from November to April, and cool and dry the rest of the year. In fact, for a significant part of the year Comoros enjoys a near-perfect, balmy 25°C (77°F), with the scent of ylang-ylang, cloves, cinnamon and vanilla wafting gently in on the trade winds. But when it's not perfect paradise weather, it's tempestuous and surly, with monsoonal winds and cyclones screaming in off the ocean.