Planning a Trip? These Are the Best Times to Beat the Crowds in Every Country

If you’re in the midst of mapping out your next big vacation, you may want to consider more than just which cities have the best weather during the summer. Thrillist found this map made by LastMinute.com that details the high, low, and in-between seasons in countries throughout the world, showing when you’ll be elbowing a million other tourists to get to hotspots and when you’ll be the only visitors in town.

The GIF is color-coded to show when the high (red), low (green), and in-between (yellow) seasons fall for travel in each country throughout the world. The timing varies for every region, with some European countries seeing high levels of tourists for more than half the year and in-between levels most of the rest of the year, while other countries (particularly cold ones like Canada) have relatively long low-tourist seasons.

Don’t immediately book a flight for December in Moscow though—there’s often a very good reason why people stay away from particular destinations during certain months (like average temperatures that are below freezing). Indonesia doesn’t see many tourists between October and May because much of that time period constitutes monsoon season. Plenty of countries don’t get tourists in the dead of winter. But if you are willing to tough out or risk bad weather, you’ll be rewarded by fewer crowds and likely better deals.

[h/t Thrillist]