Best time to visit Boston

Boston is a city of two halves. September scores 81 and January scores 21 — a 60-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. The good window runs May to September — 5 months within ten points of the best.

July is the warmest month at 28 °C and January the coolest at 0.8 °C — a 27.2 °C spread across the year. At the other end, 121 nights a year fall below freezing: the winter here is a real one.

Rain is spread evenly through the year — between 9 and 13 wet days in every month — so there is no dry season to aim for and no wet one to dodge. Whatever you plan, the odds of rain are much the same.

The sea peaks at just 19.7 °C, which is wetsuit territory even at its warmest — a coast to look at rather than swim in. Daylight runs from 9.1 hours in winter to 15.3 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are September, June, May. The one to think twice about is January. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight, sea temperature and crowd levels.

Boston month by month