Best time to visit Catania

Catania is a city of two halves. May scores 94 and August scores 48 — a 46-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 April to May — 2 months within ten points of the best.

July is the warmest month at 36.5 °C and January the coolest at 15.5 °C — a 21 °C spread across the year. Around 113 days a year top 30 °C, concentrated in July and the months either side.

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

The sea is comfortable for swimming in June to October — 27 °C at its warmest against 15 °C at its coldest. The water peaks a month or two after the air does, so the best swimming falls later in the year than the best weather. Daylight runs from 9.6 hours in winter to 14.7 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are May, April, March. 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.

Catania month by month