Best time to visit Kyoto

Kyoto is a city of two halves. May scores 75 and January scores 28 — a 47-point swing, which is the difference between a holiday and an endurance test. The month you pick matters more here than almost anywhere. Only 3 months come close to the top, which makes the timing narrow.

August is the warmest month at 30.9 °C and January the coolest at 7.3 °C — a 23.6 °C spread across the year. Around 45 days a year top 30 °C, concentrated in August and the months either side. 33 nights a year dip below freezing.

There is a real wet season here. January, July and December carry the rain — up to 18 wet days in a month — while April, May, October and November drop as low as 11. That 7-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in Kyoto, and it moves further than the temperature does.

Daylight runs from 9.8 hours in winter to 14.5 in summer, enough to notice on a sightseeing itinerary.

The three strongest months are May, October, April. The one to think twice about is January. Each month below has its own page with rainfall reliability, extremes, daylight and crowd levels.

Kyoto month by month