Hiking East Asia

When to hike East Asia

In June and in September, all 12 destinations clear our recommendation criteria. The area is quietest in January and February, with 8 of 12.

Averaged across the destinations, July is the warmest month at 22 degrees in the hiking window and January the coldest at 2.

How far apart the destinations are

The selected grid cells run from 413 metres at Kumano Kodō to 3,290 metres at Tiger Leaping Gorge, with a median of 1,177 metres. Both clear the criteria in 12 months (all year).

The longest season belongs to 6 destinations, including Jeju and Alishan, at 12 months each; the shortest to Changbaishan, at 4 months (from June to September).

What closes the missing months

Where a destination loses months, a critical climate component falls below the threshold at which we stop recommending a month. The main reason is snow cover for 4 of the 12 destinations and heat for 2. 6 are recommendable in all twelve months.

In January, the quietest month, 4 of 12 destinations are closed, 3 of them by snow cover.

Conditions in September

September is when the open destinations score highest on average. Hiking-window temperature then runs from 11 degrees at Changbaishan to 24 at Yakushima, and rain falls on 38 to 93 percent of days depending on the destination.

What these figures cover

Each destination is described by one selected ERA5-Land grid cell, averaged over 1991 to 2025. The figures above summarise those 12 cells. They are not a map of the whole area or of any route, and they are not a forecast.