Weather in Dubrovnik in January

A hard month. January asks something of you. Go in knowing what. Highs sit at 11.4 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

January ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of Dubrovnik's year. June is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 41 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

This is wet-season rain: 13 wet days and 5 genuinely heavy ones, which in this climate means concentrated downpours rather than all-day grey. The pattern is usually a clear morning and a loud afternoon, so front-load the day and stop fighting the 3pm hour. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 11.4 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 2.8 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest January day reached 17.1 °C and the coldest night fell to -4 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 61 mm — roughly 43% of the month's rain in one day.

January is moderately variable: 53 mm in the driest year against 288 mm in the wettest, around an average of 143 mm. Roughly two Januarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 15.1 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 74%.

How January sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 13 °C in December, 11.4 here, 11.9 in February. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in January

January sits at the dark end of Dubrovnik's year — 9.4 hours of daylight against 15.3 at midsummer, gaining 0.8 hours across the month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 14.3 °C in January — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 26 °C in August and bottoms out at 14 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

January in Dubrovnik versus nearby

If Dubrovnik is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Split is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain. Bari is a better bet in January — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: January is a compromise. June is 41 points better and is what Dubrovnik is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Dubrovnik

See all twelve months in Dubrovnik, or where else to go in January.