Best time to visit Kota Kinabalu

Kota Kinabalu has no real season. The best month scores 59 and the worst 43, a spread of just 16 points, so the honest answer to "when should I go" is whenever the flights are cheapest. The good window runs February to March — 2 months within ten points of the best.

April is the warmest month at 31.5 °C and January the coolest at 29.9 °C — a 1.6 °C spread across the year. 229 days a year top 30 °C, more than a third of the calendar, so heat is the baseline here rather than a season.

There is a real wet season here. October to December carry the rain — up to 27 wet days in a month — while February to March drop as low as 11. That 16-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Kota Kinabalu, and it moves further than the temperature does.

The sea never drops below 27 °C, so swimming is on the table year round. Daylight barely moves: about 12.5 hours whatever the month, which removes one variable from the decision entirely.

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

Kota Kinabalu month by month