Best time to visit London

London is a city of two halves. September scores 84 and January scores 35 — a 49-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 June to September — 4 months within ten points of the best.

July is the warmest month at 22.8 °C and January the coolest at 7.2 °C — a 15.6 °C spread across the year. 37 nights a year dip below freezing.

There is a real wet season here. January, October and November carry the rain — up to 14 wet days in a month — while September drops as low as 9. That 5-day gap is the biggest single difference between a good month and a bad one in London, and it moves further than the temperature does.

Daylight swings hard — 16.6 hours at midsummer against 7.9 at midwinter. That 8.7-hour difference changes how much fits into a day more than the temperature does.

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

London month by month