Best time to visit Cape Town

February is the best month in Cape Town, scoring 97 out of 100, with August the weakest at 64. The 33-point spread means timing is worth planning around without being decisive. 5 of the twelve months sit within ten points of the best, so there is more than one right answer.

February is the warmest month at 22.1 °C and August the coolest at 15.6 °C — a 6.5 °C spread across the year. It never reaches 30 °C in an average year, which takes heat off the list of reasons to avoid any particular month.

There is a real wet season here. May to August carry the rain — up to 12 wet days in a month — while January, February, March and December drop as low as 2. That 10-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Cape Town, and it moves further than the temperature does.

The sea peaks at just 20.8 °C, which is wetsuit territory even at its warmest — a coast to look at rather than swim in. Daylight runs from 9.9 hours in winter to 14.4 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

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

Cape Town month by month