Best time to visit Beijing

Beijing is a city of two halves. April scores 92 and December scores 30 — a 62-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. Only 2 months come close to the top, which makes the timing narrow.

July is the warmest month at 33.6 °C and January the coolest at 2.6 °C — a 31 °C spread across the year. Around 98 days a year top 30 °C, concentrated in July and the months either side. At the other end, 131 nights a year fall below freezing: the winter here is a real one.

There is a real wet season here. June to August carry the rain — up to 15 wet days in a month — while January, February, March, November and December drop as low as 1. That 14-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Beijing, and it moves further than the temperature does.

Daylight runs from 9.4 hours in winter to 15 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are April, October, September. The one to think twice about is December. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight and crowd levels.

Beijing month by month