What hemisphere is Bangkok in? Bangkok is in both the Northern Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere. The Thai Meteorological Department's Bangkok weather station, whose coordinates are published by the World Meteorological Organization, sits at about 13.7 degrees north of the equator and 100.6 degrees east of the Greenwich meridian. North of the equator puts the city in the Northern Hemisphere; east of Greenwich, and well short of 180 degrees, puts it in the Eastern Hemisphere.
The more useful fact for a traveler is that Bangkok is also inside the tropics, and that shapes its seasons far more than its hemisphere does.
Northern and Eastern, in numbers
Hemispheres are simply halves of the globe. The equator divides north from south, and by convention the Greenwich (prime) meridian at 0 degrees and the 180th meridian divide east from west. Bangkok's position of roughly 13.7 degrees north and 100.6 degrees east answers both questions:
- North or south? North. At 13.7 degrees of latitude, Bangkok is about 1,500 kilometers north of the equator (each degree of latitude is roughly 111 kilometers).
- East or west? East. At about 100 degrees of longitude, the city lies more than a quarter of the way around the world east of London.
That places Bangkok in the north-eastern quarter of the globe, together with the rest of mainland Southeast Asia, China, Japan, India and Europe east of Greenwich. For more on the coordinates themselves, see our explainer on the absolute location of Bangkok, and for the continent question, what continent Bangkok is in.
Inside the tropics
The Tropic of Cancer runs at about 23.4 degrees north. Bangkok, at 13.7 degrees, is well south of it, so the city is tropical: the midday sun climbs high overhead all year, and there is no cold winter in the European or North American sense. Our post on how far Bangkok is from the equator looks at that distance in more detail.
The World Meteorological Organization's climate table for Bangkok, which uses Thai Meteorological Department data for 1961 to 1990, shows how little the temperature swings. The coolest month, December, has an average daily high of 31.3°C, and the hottest, April, reaches 34.9°C. What changes much more is the rain.
What the hemisphere means for Bangkok's seasons
Being in the Northern Hemisphere does fix the calendar of the seasons. Bangkok's wet months fall in the northern summer and autumn, and its driest months around the turn of the year, the opposite of places at a similar latitude south of the equator. In the same WMO table:
- November to February is the dry, slightly cooler stretch, with December and January averaging about one rain day each.
- March to May is the hottest part of the year.
- May to October is the wet season, peaking in September with an average of 344 millimeters of rain over 18 rain days.
If you are planning around the weather, our guide to when the rainy season is in Bangkok covers the wet months, and why Bangkok is so hot explains the heat.
Time zone and the other side of the world
Bangkok keeps Indochina Time, seven hours ahead of UTC, with no daylight saving time. A UTC+7 zone is centered on 105 degrees east, close to Bangkok's own longitude.
The point on the globe directly opposite Bangkok, its antipode, lies at about 13.7 degrees south and 79.4 degrees west. That is in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru.
Seeing the city from above
If the geography question comes from curiosity about the place itself, the best way to take in the flat river plain Bangkok is built on is from a height. The rooftop of the Mahanakhon SkyWalk in Silom looks out over the city to the horizon, and across the river Wat Arun gives a lower, older view of the Chao Phraya. Our Bangkok attractions guide has more.
Sources: World Meteorological Organization, World Weather Information Service: Bangkok (Thai Meteorological Department data). Checked September 26, 2026.
The Northern Hemisphere. Bangkok lies at about 13.7 degrees north of the equator.
The Eastern Hemisphere. Its longitude is about 100.6 degrees east of the Greenwich meridian.
The Thai Meteorological Department's Bangkok station is listed by the World Meteorological Organization at 13.706944 degrees north and 100.568056 degrees east. Other points in the city differ slightly.
Yes. It is about 10 degrees south of the Tropic of Cancer, so it has a tropical climate with no cold winter.
About 1,500 kilometers, based on a latitude of roughly 13.7 degrees north and about 111 kilometers per degree of latitude.
Not in the temperate sense. WMO climate figures for Bangkok show average daily highs between 31.3°C in December and 34.9°C in April. The seasons are defined more by rain: dry from about November to February, hottest from March to May, and wet from about May to October.
Indochina Time, UTC+7, with no daylight saving time.
