Best time to visit Istanbul

Istanbul is a city of two halves. May scores 87 and January scores 39 — a 48-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 October — 6 months within ten points of the best.

August is the warmest month at 29.4 °C and January the coolest at 8.4 °C — a 21 °C spread across the year. 9 nights a year dip below freezing.

There is a real wet season here. January, February and December carry the rain — up to 13 wet days in a month — while July to August drop as low as 4. That 9-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Istanbul, and it moves further than the temperature does.

The sea is comfortable for swimming in June to September — 25.6 °C at its warmest against 7.5 °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 9.3 hours in winter to 15.1 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are May, June, September. 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.

Istanbul month by month